Being brave: the art of brand v performance marketing
If you’re looking to grow and gain a competitive edge, it’s not enough to focus solely on performance marketing. Here are 3 areas to consider to actively nurture your brand as you grow.
BIG PICTURE THINKING
If you’re looking to grow your startup and gain a competitive edge, it’s not enough to focus solely on performance. Whilst optimising operations and making sure that things are running smoothly is a smart thing to do, if you want to make sure your brand can withstand choppy waters for the next round of investment or a future acquisition, then your brand needs to be a priority too.
I started my career working at Chanel’s head office (and yes it was as much Devil Wears Prada as you want it to be), 24 years later that double C logo still gives me the same feeling as it did when I first walked into their luxury office in Mayfair and spritzed myself with lavish perfumes. In December 2020 Chanel’s worldwide brand value amounted to c. $15.3 billion US dollars, an increase from the previous year with 32+growth according to Interbrand.
BUILD AN EMOTIONAL CONNECTION
Branding serves as an effective way to differentiate yourself from competitors and create an all-important emotional connection with your customers. It’s something that will help investors recognise the value of your company and increase brand equity over time.
BE BRAVE
Sure, investing in performance marketing is crucial to driving customer acquisition and you can impress your boss or investors with above benchmark metrics and conversions across digital campaigns, but if you want your brand to last you need customer retention and brand affinity. To dare to branch out of the short term and nurture your brand by allocating some budget with no tangible immediate returns will pay dividends in the future when your competition grows. This takes a brave marketeer, but the business will thank you for your boldness in years to come.
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