Liam Moroney’s Post

Performance Marketing vs. Brand Marketing: Finding the Right Balance As a business, it's important to invest in marketing to reach your target audience and drive sales. However, with so many marketing strategies available, it can be difficult to know where to focus your efforts. Two popular marketing strategies are Performance Marketing and Brand Marketing, each with its strengths and weaknesses. Performance Marketing focuses on immediate conversions. This means that the goal is to get the consumer to take a specific action, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter. On the other hand, Brand Marketing focuses on building brand awareness, loyalty, and emotional connection. The goal is to create a strong brand image that resonates with consumers and encourages them to choose your product or service over competitors. Tactics used in Brand Marketing include social media marketing, content marketing, and influencer marketing. So, which one should you invest in? The answer is both. It's important to find the right balance between Performance Marketing and Brand Marketing, depending on your brand stage and goals. For example, if you're a new business just starting out, you may want to focus more on Performance Marketing to drive immediate sales and generate revenue. However, as your brand grows and becomes more established, you'll want to shift more towards Brand Marketing to build brand awareness and emotional connection with your audience. I believe in investing 10% of our topline in brand marketing to build sustainable brands beyond performance marketing. While performance marketing can be effective in the short term, relying solely on it can hinder brand building and long-term success. Building Sustainable Brands: Beyond Performance Marketing For Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) brands, brand marketing is essential for long-term success. While performance marketing can drive immediate sales, it can also be unsustainable. Relying solely on immediate conversions can hinder brand building and long-term success. To build a sustainable brand, it's important to shift towards Brand Marketing and invest in building brand awareness and emotional connection with your audience. This means creating content that resonates with your target audience and speaks to their interests, values, and needs. In conclusion, finding the right balance between Performance Marketing and Brand Marketing is key to building a sustainable brand. Investing in both, based on your brand stage and goals, can help you drive immediate sales and build long-term brand awareness and emotional connection with your audience. Additionally, brand storytelling and being transparent and genuine in your communication can help you establish trust and build a loyal following of customers who believe in your brand. #performancemarketing #d2c #d2cbrands

9 Steps to Solid Brand Awareness Strategy [2023]💡 Brand awareness is the extent to which consumers are familiar with a brand and its products or services. It is an important metric for any business, as it can lead to increased sales, loyalty, and customer engagement. Here are 9 steps to create a brand awareness strategy: 1. Define your brand: What are your brand values, mission, and vision? What makes your brand unique? Once you have a clear understanding of your brand, you can start to develop a strategy to communicate it to your target audience. 2. Understand your target audience: Who are you trying to reach with your brand message? What are their needs, interests, and pain points? Once you understand your target audience, you can tailor your content and messaging accordingly. 3. Create a consistent brand image: Your brand image should be consistent across all touch points, including your website, social media, marketing materials, and customer service. This will help consumers to easily recognize and identify with your brand. 4. Develop a unique selling proposition (USP): What makes your brand different from the competition? What value do you offer to customers that no one else does? Your USP should be clear, concise, and persuasive. 5. Create high-quality content: Content is king when it comes to brand awareness. Create informative and engaging content that is relevant to your target audience. You can share your content on your website, social media, and other online platforms. 6. Promote your content: Once you have created great content, you need to promote it so that people can see it. Share your content on social media, reach out to bloggers and journalists, and run paid advertising campaigns. 7. Build relationships with influencers: Influencers are people who have a large and engaged following on social media. Partnering with influencers can help you to reach a new audience and build brand awareness. 8. Run contests and giveaways: Contests and giveaways are a great way to engage your audience and generate excitement around your brand. 9. Track your progress: It is important to track your progress so that you can see what is working and what is not. There are a number of different metrics you can track, such as website traffic, social media engagement, and brand mentions. Here are some additional tips for creating a successful brand awareness strategy: Be authentic: People can tell when you are being fake, so be yourself and let your brand personality shine through. Be consistent: Your brand messaging and image should be consistent across all touch points. Be patient: It takes time to build brand awareness. Don't expect to see results overnight. What is your favorite tip for building brand awareness? Let me know in the comments below! 👇 #brandawareness #marketing #socialmedia #contentmarketing #influencermarketing #branding #smallbusiness #startups #businesstips #marketingtips #socialmediatips #brandingtips #growthhacking

There's a narrative in B2B tech that brand awareness without demand generation results in stagnated growth, when decades of advertising data show the exact opposite. This narrative has come about as part of the demand creation movement, and I believe it has conflated bad brand marketing efforts with an inherent limitation of brand marketing that needs to be compensated by demand creation. Take this data from the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising), which consistently shows that activation efforts (demand generation in B2B), while very efficient at near-term result generation, reach a point of plateau quickly, while also being only as effective as there is active spend. This is very representative of data we see in reports like the one HockeyStack released recently, showing that even the new demand gen motion suffers the same fate without support. Brand building, which is what brand awareness is in pursuit of, has the opposite effect. There is even evidence that brand building alone can show increasing gains, but it's much less efficient than when paired with activation efforts. Demand generation as a combo with effective brand marketing is a powerful force, resulting in long term sustainable growth. But, even the best demand generation efforts will never reach their real potential with ineffective brand building, and that fails those talented demand generation marketers. The narrative that brand awareness is an incomplete marketing effort - only getting people to know who you are but not showing why to choose you - is reflective only of a lack of training of brand marketing. In reality, brand awareness is an umbrella strategy covering everything from recognition to recall to preference. If it never pursues anything beyond basic recognition, then it's bad strategy and shouldn't result in throwing the baby out with the bathwater. I truly believe that it's imperative that we as an industry start to recognize that we have marketing theory gaps, and in many ways we have failed to train B2B marketers on necessary marketing fundamentals. It's resulting in us trying to invent new concepts to solve problems that already have applicable answers, and it opens up the door to serious credibility risks when our concepts are challenged by decades of data and theory.

B2B marketers looking for great examples of peer brand marketing may struggle to find them -- but here is a simple framework to help you get started. First, remember the goal of brand marketing is not demand generation so you will need to shift your perspective in four key areas: (1) GOAL: build a know/like/trust relationship with ICPs to get on their vendor short list when they are ready to buy (future). (2) FOCUS: your company, not your solutions. (3) TACTICS: engaging ICPs to create meaningful connections via aligned values and value exchange with a "give to get" mindset (see below examples) (4) KPIs: brand awareness, brand recall/association (category entry points), brand sentiment, and likelihood of purchase consideration -- all measured among your key ICP segments. So the obvious question is "how" to do it. For those familiar with the Google & CEB study "Promotion to Emotion: Connecting B2B Customers to Brands" it contains hints for both Brand and Demand strategies. [see the link to research report in the Comments] First, the study revealed that delivering personal value had 2X the impact on closing the sale versus merely delivering business value (the latter viewed as table stakes by members of the buying group). However, it also revealed less than one-third of buyers (non-customers) believe B2B brands will provide personal value. And when they don’t see personal value, they are over 3X less likely to purchase and over 7X less likely to pay a premium. So how do vendors authentically create and deliver personal value to future buyers? By appealing to the four categories of personal value drivers that members of the buying group and end users care about: PROFESSIONAL BENEFITS - Performance measures - Improving leadership - Simplifying life SOCIAL BENEFITS - Acceptance - Recognition - Respect / peer admiration EMOTIONAL BENEFITS - Daily frustrations - Job security - Sense of optimism SELF-IMAGE BENEFITS - Accomplishment - Giving back Your Brand Marketing playbook should include a mix of SUSTAINED initiatives to involve your brand in pay-it-forward efforts to help your target audiences achieve one (or more) areas from this list. The result of these brand marketing efforts is that buyers and their peers associate your brand with positively impacting their personal and/or professional life without asking for a sale ("give to get"). What's more, their brand recall is higher because your brand was associated with memorable experiences (the brain encodes experiences with deeper meaning), instead of ad impressions or spam email containing selling messages (ignored when someone is not in-market). Tactics can include: bespoke events, peer meetups, code/boot camps, up-skilling workshops, cause-related activities, knowledge certifications, joint research, helping your ICP buyers elevate their personal brand, and more. I'll share a few detailed examples from my first Tech CMO role (2011) in a separate post. Good hunting 💪🏼

Brand awareness and direct response marketing campaigns are two distinct approaches with different goals and strategies. Here's a breakdown of their key differences: Goal: Brand awareness: To increase familiarity and positive associations with your brand. It's about planting a seed in the audience's mind, not necessarily expecting immediate action. Direct response: To elicit a specific action from the audience, like making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or downloading a product. It's all about driving immediate conversions. Focus: Brand awareness: Building emotional connections and brand identity through storytelling, values, and personality. The message focuses on who you are and what you stand for. Direct response: Highlighting product benefits and promoting value propositions. The message focuses on what you offer and why the audience should act now. Metrics: Brand awareness: Brand recall, brand sentiment, social media engagement, website traffic. These metrics tell you how well your brand is resonating with the audience. Direct response: Conversion rates, click-through rates, cost per acquisition. These metrics tell you how effective your campaign is in driving desired actions. Channels: Brand awareness: Social media, public relations, influencer marketing, traditional advertising like TV and billboards. These channels reach a broad audience and generate buzz. Direct response: Search engine marketing (SEM), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, email marketing, landing pages. These channels target specific audiences and guide them towards conversions. Timing: Brand awareness: Long-term play. Building brand awareness takes time and consistent effort. Direct response: Short-term focus. You see results much faster, within days or weeks of launching the campaign. Think of it as a sales funnel: Brand awareness: Building brand recognition and trust at the top of the funnel. Direct response: Driving conversions and sales at the bottom of the funnel. Additionally: Creative approach: Brand awareness campaigns tend to be more creative and emotional, while direct response campaigns are more direct and persuasive. Budget allocation: Brand awareness campaigns often have a bigger budget and require consistent investment, while direct response campaigns can be more targeted and budget-efficient. Remember: These are not mutually exclusive! Combining both brand awareness and direct response strategies can be highly effective, especially for building a strong brand identity and driving sales simultaneously. I hope this helps clarify the differences between these two marketing approaches! How do you best marry both strategies?

We've been riding the waves of change in marketing, where the advent of digital strategies, lead management, and AI present a unique conundrum for every marketer. The central question we often grapple with is, "How do we ensure our brand isn't diluted in this digital age?" or "What metrics should we use to evaluate our brand while keeping pace with technology?" Remember, despite the complex web of stakeholder relationships in today's era, the brand remains at the heart of all business activities. Whether you're steering the ship of a multinational corporation or navigating the waters of a burgeoning Instagram business, your brand's impact on your clientele, be it large or small, is undeniable. Understanding your brand health is akin to holding a compass, guiding you through the strengths and weaknesses of your branding strategy. 𝗟𝗲𝘁'𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝘁 𝘀𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗽𝗶𝘃𝗼𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀: 𝗡𝗲𝘁 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲 (𝗡𝗣𝗦): This iss the ultimate gauge of customer satisfaction. How likely are your customers to advocate for your brand? A high NPSscore resembles has a loyal army of brand evangelists. 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗩𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲 (𝗦𝗢𝗩): It's not merely about volume; it's about making an impact in the right circles. How prominent is your brand in the industry discourse? A substantial share of voice translates to a significant presence in the collective market consciousness. 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Beyond your marketing narrative, it's the public's perception that defines your brand. A sterling reputation is a treasure accumulated over time, both precious and fragile. This metric mirrors the public sentiment surrounding your brand. 𝗨𝗻𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹: Picture your industry. Does your brand effortlessly come to mind? This is the essence of brand recall – an indicator of your brand's entrenched position in consumer awareness. 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹: When nudged about your sector, is your brand still top of mind? This subtler form of recall is crucial, revealing your brand's depth of influence in the market. 𝗣𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁: This is where potential translates into action. It's one thing for your brand to be recognised; it's another for it to inspire purchase. This metric measures the transition from mere recognition to definitive buying decisions. 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘁𝘆: Consider this the aggregate value of your brand, extending well beyond your product offerings. It encompasses the emotional bonds, trust, and loyalty your brand has cultivated. Each of these metrics is critical in evaluating your brand's health, offering insights into its influence and impact. #brandstrategy #MarketingInsights #BrandHealth #MarketTrends #BrandManagement #BrandDevelopment #IndustryInsights #MarketingMetrics

Are you a marketer in need of some hard truths? I’d recommend spending some time in the company of Mark Ritson. His Marketing Week Mini MBA with Mark Ritson webinar on differentiation didn’t disappoint in either content or delivery. Here's some of my highlights: 🎯 "Research tells us that most consumers wouldn't care if our brand disappeared tomorrow." As marketers, we often believe our brand is the centre of the universe, but the reality is that customers have their own priorities and concerns. Understanding our customers, thinking like them, and stepping out of our own way is the key to successful marketing. 🎯 "Even the consumers buying your brand regularly don’t care that much. This isn't upsetting, it's liberating, so manage your brand on that basis." It might sound unsettling at first, but the point is genuinely freeing. Instead of chasing universal adoration, we should focus on creating memory structures with our target audience so we’re easy to recall and buy from. By managing our brand based on this insight, we can make smarter decisions and invest our efforts where it truly matters. 🎯 Brand Positioning: The Right Path to Differentiation 🛤️ Mark Ritson's approach to brand positioning is that simple is best – something I’ve been guilty of forgetting previously (hello ‘Golden Circles…).  Here's a quick rundown of his guide to doing it right: 1️⃣ One positioning concept - Keep it simple and focused. More models doesn’t mean better outcomes. 2️⃣ Choiceful attribute list - Determine what attributes define your brand. Build your assets around them and ensure easy recall for your customers. 3️⃣ Category entry points – Understand them, work with them. 4️⃣ 3 C’s framework - Delve into the customer needs, craft compelling claims, and position yourself strategically against your competitors. Easy. 5️⃣ Track your position over time - Embrace proper brand tracking beyond just campaign measures. Understand how your brand evolves in the minds of your audience. That, for me, is the key thing to take away. Sure, there's been a buzz about Ritson vs. Sharp since yesterday's webinar, and similar debates involving Field and Binet in recent weeks, but let's focus on what matters most. It's essential to recognise that no single approach holds all the answers. Instead, let's take what's valuable from each perspective and cut through the noise and dogma. #B2BMarketing #BrandPositioning #Differentiation #MarketingStrategy #ContinuousLearning

Levels of brand awareness (how I think about it anyway): 1. Aware: I know your name and logo, and notice it more in the feed. 2. Familiar: I see you frequently, people talk about you, and I vaguely know what you do or what category you're in. 3. Understanding: I know specific problems you claim to solve, and the POV you hold on your category As a prospective customer, progressing through these stages requires repetition of impressions and messaging (probably more than you think), people in my community shouting you out/liking your stuff (hence the importance of organic content), and really good messaging. The latest company that comes to mind that I went through this progression with was Wynter. 1. I first heard of Peep Laja through his podcast a couple years ago. A friend shared it with me and the unique format stood out to me. 2. Then I came across him a few times on Twitter, and saw Wynter in his bio. Over time, I started seeing it pop up more in my feed here, and became familiar with the brand. People I follow might've cited it as a good example of marketing in one way or another, so it began to form a reputation in my mind. 3. Then I saw this ad copy: "Test your message before it gets there." IMO, a killer message. That's been seared in my brain ever since. I've literally used it to describe what Wynter does to others. I instantly understood the value prop, and could map some of the pains Wynter solves for marketers. I watched one of their creative videos which further drove home the point. My memory is imperfect, but I'd say it took me 2 years to progress through these steps. Of course, it would've been much faster if I was in-market for a solution during that time. And in that time, I've Slacked it to team members, referenced it in other conversations, and evaluated the website for one of our own projects. I'm sure there's a bunch of elaborate thought leadership already written around this that might explain it better. But it's fun to reverse engineer how you come to know a brand. It humanizes and simplifies your marketing efforts. And I think examples like this showcase the place that great messaging, creative, organic & paid, community, time, patience, and personal brand all play in getting someone to evaluate your product. Would love to hear any journeys like this you've gone through. Especially any messaging that got lodged in your brain, like Wynter's did with me.

The best way to short-term profit growth? A long-term plan. Ever heard about the "long and short of it". It's my golden standard on marketing effectiveness. By Les Binet and Peter Field. Here's how it can help you to improve marketing effectiveness. 📊 A decade ago, Les Binet and Peter Field co-authored "The Long and Short of It," a research piece highlighting the balance between short-term activations and long-term brand building. The suggested approach? A 60:40 split. While long-term strategies can yield short-term results, the opposite isn't necessarily true. Is it set in stone? Here's what Les Binet said about that in an interview with PHD: "The 60/40 rule is not an iron rule that you always have to have 60% brand and 40% activation. As Peter (Field)  and I said in our book, “Effectiveness in context“, – It varies from brand to brand, situation to situation, and sometimes it’s 60/40 or perhaps 65/35 or 50/50; it depends on things like brand size, price, category, etc… 🧠 Insights: Emotional campaigns, especially those that create buzz, offer more substantial long-term business impacts. Rational campaigns are tempting for short-term sales effects but may not guarantee long-term success. The perfect blend? Creative campaigns with strong activation to boost short-term sales as your brand reputation builds. 💡 "It's called 'The Long AND Short of It' for a reason," Les Binet says. "Advertising must harmonize emotional tactics with rational activation, typically in a 60:40 ratio." 🌍 Today, global giants like Google, Amazon, and Apple are aligning their strategies with the principles of "The Long and Short of It." 🔥 The challenge? It's not just about following a "simple" formula. Creativity, context, and craft are indispensable. Brands must still continually "reinvent", ensuring they understand and resonate with evolving social, political, and advertising contexts. 💡 Key takeaway? Being focused on your brand is good. But remember to balance this focus between ROI and brand health. It seems true effectiveness in marketing lies at the crossroads of rationality and creativity. It's about thinking long term brand and not just short term activation. 🎫 Want deeper insights? IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) has some great content and an excellent annual conference.

In a world where online shopping dominates, brand awareness is the key to standing out like a vibrant flower in a garden 🌺. Whether a budding startup or an established business, brand recognition is vital for success. Competition is fierce, so how do you make your mark? Brand awareness isn't just about name recognition; it's about building familiarity with your product, its unique attributes, and what sets you apart. A strong brand awareness campaign strategically communicates your values to differentiate you from the crowd. How do you measure success in brand awareness? Consider these metrics: - Awareness of your brand name - Awareness of your product offering - Awareness of your brand attributes To track your brand ROI, start with these 10 tactics: 1. Measure brand awareness 2. Understand your current brand awareness level 3. Analyze website hits, social media following, and search data 4. Create brand awareness surveys 5. Implement marketing, messaging, and nurturing strategies Brand awareness drives online searches and influences purchasing decisions. Consumers prefer familiar brands, indicating the power of 'brand equity.' Increased sales, higher profits, and more influence are the direct results of good brand awareness. Ready to boost your brand awareness? Start with these 16 strategies: 1. Develop a strong tone of voice 2. Utilize referral programs 3. Leverage influencer marketing 4. Focus on SEO and content marketing 5. Maximize branded packaging and touchpoints 6. Form partnerships with relevant businesses 7. Engage authentically on social media 8. Explore new social media channels 9. Share expertise through branded infographics 10. Empower employees as brand ambassadors 11. Make guest appearances 12. Invest in paid ads 13. Host contests and giveaways 14. Secure features in industry publications 15. Implement retargeting campaigns 16. Embrace offline marketing for a refreshing approach Remember, consistency is key in building brand awareness. Keep the momentum going with engaging social media presence, blog content, and a commitment to your brand values. Don't underestimate the impact of brand recognition, it's the gateway to success. https://lnkd.in/gtbTcAez