Branding Versus Performance

I am talking to a lot of clients at the moment that are getting internal pressure about needing to justify their online spend through performance based metrics. And this I can understand, given budgets are tight for everyone. So brand campaigns are being set aside, and email marketing, search engine optimisation and database building are becoming priorities.

But what I am seeing is a dichotomy being set up, where people feel that they have to choose between a brand campaign and a performance based campaign.

The reality is that brand campaigns are the bed upon which engagement with the consumer takes place. Think of branding as courting, and direct response as seduction. A brand can't expect a good response rate with a consumer if it has not paid adequate attention to establishing the relationship and gaining a degree of authentic trust.

So what can happen is that branding goes by the wayside, and people wonder then wonder why their performance based campaigns don't work as well as they used to.

There is a theory bandied about that says a brand should spend its way out of a recession. On one hand this makes sense as a brand will have a greater share of voice when their competitors are on the retreat.

However, I will posit an alternative theory: during recessionary times, a brand should prepare itself for a boom by spending on itself - in other words, it is time to pamper.

Go back to your core brand and attributes, and make sure that your brand's house is in order.