At this moment in time, you are invisible to your growth audience. They do not know that your brand exists.
Well... sh*t! Now what?
When you’re communicating with people who are unaware of your brand, it is important to build trust immediately.
TV is the most trusted platform for advertising, mainly due to the strict BCAP code regulations, imposed by Clearcast, in order to air an ad on TV in the UK. It’s also worth noting that big, trusted and long-established brands advertise on TV, and so your brand will be trusted by association.
Video is a more effective way to market a brand than static content. According to Lumen Research, video ads capture 92% more attention than static ads. Video is also more efficacious for brand recall, with audiences being 139% more likely to remember a brand and its marketing message from a video rather than a static ad.
TV is not the only place where video is king! Social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook/Meta prioritise video content over static, with Instagram reels outperforming static content by over 30%. This trend is also mirrored on B2B social network LinkedIn, where video content receives 5x more engagement than static content.
Video works at every stage of the buyer’s journey. The top funnel for brand awareness, the mid-funnel for brand consideration and the bottom of the funnel for conversion. The average customer requires around 8 touchpoints with a brand before they make a purchase, and video is the most effective tool to achieve this.
The result? On average, brands saw a 2.5x higher overall ROAS (this is both performance and brand marketing combined).
Conclusion
Performance marketing has its limitations. Once your business enters a stage where 90% of its acquisitions are from paid channels and CPAs have stagnated, then it’s time to invest in brand marketing. There may be other warning signs, such as your market share remaining the same or decreasing despite an increase in spend, or your brand searches accounting for less than 15% of your search traffic. Any of these signs should act as an indication that you have hit a performance plateau.
The solution is to switch your strategy from 100% performance to something which resembles a 60:40 brand/performance budget split.
There will be a period of pain, a period of testing and learning, which may result in an increase in CPA, but the long-term impact and results will be similar to those reported from a client case study:-
- Organic acquisition grew from 20% to 65% in 18 months
- CPA decreased by 22% despite increased competition
- Brand search volume tripled
So be prepared to get uncomfortable and enter a realm of marketing where everything isn’t measurable, but when executed correctly, is hugely impactful.
Think of touchpoints and how many your potential customers may need to convert them from being someone who is unaware of your brand into a buyer.
Ask yourself the following questions:-
- Who is your growth audience?
- What is their demographic?
- Where do they live?
- What are their interests?
- Where will they most likely see your brand?
- How would you effectively communicate with them?
- What type of message will grab their attention?
- What type of message would resonate with them the most?
- What type of message would allow you to build an emotional connection with them?
You may not be able to answer all these questions immediately, but understanding your growth audience is essential to your future success. Do your research, create a plan and then execute your brand marketing strategy. It won’t be long before you start to see that plateau turn into an upward trajectory again.
The other articles in this series can be accessed here:
Article 1: What Is The Marketing Performance Plateau?
Article 2: How To Break Through The Marketing Performance Plateau
If any of this information sounds like your current position, drop us a line. We’d love to help you break through the plateau!