Brand vs Performance Marketing: Is it really one or the other?
What I learned after spending more than $20,000 on various marketing campaigns
As a marketer, I often find myself in this dilemma: do I focus on brand impact or conversions?
Whether it is to produce content for social media or to launch a large-scale marketing campaign, I would ask myself how can I find the balance or if I should prioritize one or the other.
I’ve had the opportunity to develop digital marketing strategies for businesses small and large. And truth is, there is no longer a choice between brand and performance marketing — it’s now brand + performance marketing.
Let’s do a deep-dive into the statement.
First, what’s the difference between brand and performance marketing?
In brand marketing, you focus on the story and attributes of the product to help develop the brand over the long run rather than short-term results.
While performance marketing is as it sounds, marketing that is metrics-driven. This performance can be an array of executed desired results, such as a completed lead, sale, booking or download — all in all, acquisition-focused to drive revenue.
Both may appear to coexist individually.
But without a well-thought story or creative for your product, how are you able to optimize for conversions or sales?
In the same vein, without performance data or actual feedback, how can you decide whether your campaigns are really effective? Or if the brand recall is strong among your customers and prospects?
Simply put, to get the most from your marketing efforts, you need both.
What happens when you combine both brand and performance marketing?
By using storytelling and leveraging performance data, marketers can create stronger brand impact than ever before in less time and at a lower cost. Or in other words, data-driven marketing.
Doesn’t this sound dreamy already? The good news is it’s not a dream.
Whether it’s shirts, deodorants, skincare or bedsheets, you can utilize brand marketing to appeal to your targeted buyers by inferring certain personality traits like carefree or spirited. Then test different messages with high-targeted audiences in real time to improve your results.
In fact, this is why top DTC (Direct-to-consumer) brands churn out multiple variations of their brand stories and creatives. They would map each creative asset to a point in the customer’s buying journey and leverage on data to improve their strategy.
Bottom line is, marketing is more than just telling and selling. It’s no longer about just achieving awareness — it’s about generating leads and sales as well.
