Are you over dependent on Performance Marketing?
Are we as marketers too obsessed with direct “performance”? For the past decade the focus on what we call Performance Marketing has exploded. Despite what many think, this area of marketing is not new. Rather, it is the foundation of what we used to call response or direct response marketing and was the focus for credit card and subscription-based companies for years. But, we marketers like coming up with new names, don’t we?
I have noticed over the past number of years, as a CMO, CEO and now advisor to a series of young technology companies, a growing state of performance paralysis in Marketing. The companies I have worked at and work with now, are beyond the start-up phase yet all struggle at some stage to scale in a more predictable and repeatable manner. My observation is that all of these companies share marketing approaches, which I believe to be the root of their challenges in achieving consistent growth.
Channel First, Message Second
This inhibiting similarity is their over-dependence on Performance Marketing, or what I refer to as Channel first marketing. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with Performance Marketing and the tactics and initiatives that go along with it, but inherent in this approach is a focus on buyers that are “in market” to buy a product with the features and functionality your product has. This creates a scenario where consumers are coming to your company because they need a product with particular features.
Performance marketing has a very specific purpose which is to optimize channels to acquire and move prospects who have the problem your product solves and have made a commitment to solve that problem through the funnel. Demand generation channels are built around the same principle of sales methodology (Identify the problem, budget, etc.) where the approach is we are going to target key words or we are going to target audiences that we believe have a problem that we are trying to solve.
So, what is “wrong” with this?
You’re late to the conversation. I would go further and suggest that you lost the conversation because buyers are not coming to you because they need you, they are coming to you because they need a thing and they’re wondering if you (product) are a thing.
Message First, Channel Second
Somewhere along the road Marketers moved from a message first to a channel first approach. I suspect this was due to the pressure to measure and attach demand pipeline and revenue directly to a marketing tactic.
Or perhaps it is because very few marketers excel at both brand and performance marketing. It is challenging to go deep into both.
However, the best marketers must and do understand both the art and science of marketing and are able to bring forward foundational brand elements into communication with the consumer across every channel.
Brand marketing was the foundation of my career. Identifying authentic consumer insights and using that as a basis to develop an inspiring story that has clarity and is meaningful to a well-defined audience.
Brand marketing defines a company’s purpose, reputation, its values, the quality of its offerings, its trustworthiness, and more. It seeks to enhance credibility, prompt an emotional response from the consumer, increase customer loyalty, and motivate buyers. Performance marketing, on the other hand, deals with the realm of concrete data, such as lead generation and conversions (e.g., email sign-ups and number of purchases).
Brand marketing isn’t trying to reach people at the time of need, it’s trying to reach your audience before they have the problem so that when they have the problem, they already know who you are. Think of the money you have to pay on Performance Marketing as the money you have to pay because you didn’t get in front of that same person three months ago — it’s expensive because you’re late to the conversation.
As CEO, you may have a good understanding of where your business wants to go in terms of business strategy but to build a strong and relevant brand you need to clearly define how you want your business to make an impact on peoples’ lives and in society.
Building brand with great story telling
In a story, audiences must always know who the hero is, what the hero wants, who the hero has to defeat to get what they want, what tragic thing will happen if the hero doesn’t win, and what wonderful thing will happen if they do.
In business this translates to if we haven’t identified what our customer wants, what problem we are helping them solve, and what life will look like after they engage our products and services, we don’t have much of a story to develop a relationship with.
When you have a brand that is not well known or relevant you end up, among other things, in feature comparisons because the buyer coming to you isn’t coming with your narrative in mind they’re coming with a product, an idea or thing in mind.
Great stories showcase the positive impact your brand is having on your customers’ lives
Every brand makes a promise. But in a marketplace in which consumer confidence is low and budgetary vigilance is high, it’s not just making a promise that separates one brand from another, but having a defining purpose.
Do not confuse positioning with purpose. With positioning you are establishing the space your brand wishes to occupy in the consumer’s mind. With purpose you are establishing the impact your brand wishes to have in people’s lives.
A company that looks at its brand and asks not simply what promise does it make, but what purpose does it serve, to its customers and its shareholders, and brings this purpose to life through every customer experience will be the company most likely to beat its competition.
Great performance comes from a strong brand
Great brands obsess about the transformation of their customers and the meaningful impact on their lives.
Brand marketing and Performance marketing are becoming increasingly interdependent in a world where personalization and building relationships with your consumers are of paramount importance.
By knowing your brand’s purpose, position, and attributes, and how to translate that position into messaging and imagery that resonates with your target audience, you’re able to create Performance marketing that helps reinforce the brand and Brand marketing that improves the outcomes of performance marketing.
