When money is tight, why invest in brand awareness when performance marketing delivers more direct, attributable returns on the investment …is the question most Finance Directors will be asking Marketing Directors right now, as costs spiral and proving value and return on investment is paramount.

Many e-comm brands and digital start-ups focus on sales to prove a market demand and the quickest route to a sale is investing in bottom of funnel social advertising, targeting consumers who are primed and ready to buy.

This is a sustainable strategy, so long as you only have a short-term vision for the business and so long as your competitors do not compete on price, invest more in advertising and have a brand that means more to the customer. 

If you have longer term plans for your brand and business, here are ten commercial reasons to invest in brand marketing:

1. Reach more customers ready to buy now

When your customer's purse is being squeezed, they will be looking for brands they can trust to deliver value. Value is found in customer service, product performance and by answering an emotional need.

Vista will find ways to tell your brand story so that consumers feel connected emotionally to it.

2. Future-proof your business

If you focus only on immediate sales, your brand will suffer in the long term. Tell your story widely, so when tomorrow’s customer comes into your market your brand will already mean something to them and its identity and purpose will pop off the shelf.

Vista makes cultural connections and gives your future customers a reason to care about your brand before they purchase.

3. Deliver more bang to your bottom of funnel investment

If you invest in social media advertising, then running brand awareness ads alongside conversion ads lowers the overall cost and increases the ROI. Brand awareness ads are cheaper to buy (approx. 57% cheaper per 1,000 impressions, and 37% cheaper per ad click) but with the right set of objectives will leverage the bottom of funnel conversion ads.

Meta attributes 60% of the long-term value of its advertising to ‘Brand effect’. This means that if a business puts too much emphasis and investment in ‘Performance’ advertising at the bottom of the funnel, then it is missing out on a significant potential impact of social ads to drive brand awareness and longer-term growth and value.

Vista will handle your social paid delivery and combine it with traditional paid media strategies to deliver a joined-up programme with demonstrable results.

4. Build an asset with a commercial value outside of your product base or service

Brand value is a financial gauge of your brand’s worth and is a separate value to the product or service you sell. It is the monetary worth of your brand if you were to sell it. We are now so immersed in a culture of consumerism where brand identity and meaning plays a significant part in a purchase decision, today’s brands are valuable commodities. Ask yourself, at a minimum what is the cost to maintain your brand value?

Brand equity relates to your customer’s positive perception. It is a factor that influences your brand's value. Brand equity is hard to measure as it relates to consumer perception and motivation around purchasing, but this perception contributes to building a higher value for your brand.

Vista defines brand purpose and drives an understanding about your brand, how it relates culturally and is relevant to your consumer. In doing so Vista will amplify your brand equity and improve your brand value.

Vista will audit your brand perception and trial your brand assets to ensure they reflect your intended positioning and provide you with a competitive edge. We will provide you with a strategic communications framework and propose media, influencers and ambassadors who will enhance your brand values.

5. Standing for more than your product gives you a competitive edge

Your market is growing and competition is intense. When brands price match, then the one that can leverage a more emotional connection with the consumer, will be the one that is purchased.

Vista will identify the emotional need that your products and brand satisfies. We will develop brand stories and key messages that will drive a connection.

6. Give customers a reason to care and trust because…
People build a bond with a brand and repeat purchase using emotion.

Harvard Professor Gerald Zatlman said: “Humans are driven by feelings. If you want the consumer to remember your product or brand, they must be engaged and impassioned by the interaction with your company... Emotion is what really drives the purchasing behaviours…”

Deloitte has found that 60% of long-term customers use emotional language to describe their connection to favourite brands and 62% of consumers feel they have a relationship with a brand and repeat purchase.

Vista will link your brand to cultural and relevant emotional needs to drive loyalty and repeat purchase. 

7. Trust drives repeat purchase

Invest in your hard-won customers. Prove to them they made the right choice.

In a Deloitte 2020 study consumers cited several emotional factors of their favourite brands:

83% trustworthiness

79% integrity

77% honesty

Vista will help you make relevant connections and find an authentic voice so that your customers can make a quick connection to your brand and products.

8. Repeat customers cost less to acquire than new customers

Persuasion is costly. Provide a good service and a great product and your competitors will need to invest more in your customers to win them back. Give your customer little reason to leave you.

Vista will ensure you maintain a consistent brand message alongside persuasive and relatable ambassadors so your customers can be confident of their continued loyalty to you.

9. Recommendations will increase and that’s the most compelling sales tool
Friend and family recommendation is still the single most compelling sales driver.

87% of consumers who say they have been loyal to their favourite brand for three or more years, lavish these brands with powerful emotional language, using words like love and adore to talk about the brands. And this connection is a powerful sales tool.

Social media is the most personal and direct channel for any brand to connect with its customers. Vista will develop a social media presence that encourages peer-to-peer recommendation.
 

10. Distinguishable brands will weather the economic downturn

Trust in product performance, customer service and integrity are longer term sustainable values that will stand a brand in better stead than slash-and-burn price wars. 

Recessions are an opportunity for any ambitious brand. Stay beside your customer and make them feel protected while they weather the storm.  If you depart when the going gets tough they will forgot about you.

Vista's channel and brand strategy will keep your business front of mind, through the good times and the bad.