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Small
Business Marketing And Advertising - Branding
vs Direct Response
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by:
Joel Walsh
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Too
often, small business advertising and marketing campaigns prioritize
branding at the expense of direct response--i.e., actually getting
leads and/or sales right now. That is almost always a foolish and even
dangerous proposition.
Small Business Branding Advertising and Marketing an Oxymoron?
Unless you're a ubiquitous consumer products company, the value of
branding is far, far less than the value of direct response. What good
is impressing someone with your brand if he or she never comes into
contact with your business again? Why would they come into contact with
your business again if you haven’t gotten a direct response?
Branding is essential for Coca Cola and Microsoft and all the other
consumer giants because they don't need direct response. Their offering
is available every time you drive down the street, so burning their
logos into your eyeballs will actually make you more likely to buy. But
if you have to search out the business, having a logo floating in your
consciousness won't be enough to motivate you.
Even if branding alone could drive business, how long will it be before
that logo or slogan or jingle has left your memory forever? A few
hours? A day?
One of the basic requirements for branding is repetition. Numerous
repetitions. Like seeing the little Microsoft flag every single day, in
the lower left corner of your screen, on your computer's case, in
magazine advertisements and on television commercials.
One visit to your website or one glimpse of your advertisement won't
accomplish this—and remember, unless you have Microsoft’s budget, one
exposure is all you’ll likely get if you don't get a direct response.
In reality, even numerous exposures to your brand might not be enough.
There's only so much room for logos in people's minds, and you've got
an awful lot of deep-pocketed competition for that space.
In contrast, if someone requested a whitepaper from you, or called in
for more information, you would have their attention for much longer,
even if you never followed up--which you could do, since you had their
contact information.
The Two Cases when Branding Makes Small Business Marketing Sense
1. When branding enhances direct response rather than detracting from
it.
Good branding enhances trust in your business. A good tagline, graphic
design, and logo can also make it instantly clear what your business
does, allowing users to go directly to your message without having to
decide if you’re worth listening to.
Simply put: if you’re a watchmaker, put a watch in your logo, and the
word “watch” in your name and your tagline or slogan. When you’re
selling services picking a logo can be trickier, but it can be done.
UpMarket Content’s logo is a scroll and pen. Just make sure your logo
communicates what you do, rather than something foolish like a black
rocket for an advertising agency.
Yet while branding usually enhances direct response, you should not
hesitate to sacrifice branding if it hurts your response. If you find
that a different tagline or font does significantly better in getting
responses, run with them.
2. When you actually do have the opportunity to impress your brand on
the same person dozens of times over the course of an average month.
For branding to work, you don’t just have to maximize total exposures,
but exposures to unique individuals. Let’s be absolutely clear: in
terms of branding, exposing 1,000,000 people to your brand once each is
infinitely less valuable than exposing 1,000 people to your brand 1,000
times each. You have to maximize exposures to the same individuals. Aim
for a hundred exposures per individual if you want to really enter
people’s consciousnesses.
Of course, it may take far fewer than a thousand individual exposures.
If someone is sitting in front of your branding advertisement for more
than a few minutes, they may in fact be exposed to it dozens of times,
each time their line of sight crosses it. But this kind of long-term
exposure is likely going to cost you more.
How can you ensure that your brand advertising will maximize your brand
exposure per unique individual? Place your brand advertising where
users will come back often to see it. For instance, a banner on a
website that has a strong following of returning users, or an
advertisement on the local diner's placemat.
Even when branding does make sense, direct response will often also
make sense, so you should combine the two if possible. For instance, at
the bottom of a banner advertisement with your logo and tagline looming
large, put a button labeled “get more information.” Or, underneath your
businesses sign, put a telephone number with an offer to get more
information.
Because if they never visit or call, who cares if they have your logo
burnt onto their retinas?
About the Author
Joel Walsh is a professional content writer and
founder of UpMarket Content, whose site has information on promoting
your business with great website content: http://upmarketcontent.com
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anchor text: "website content"]
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