There is a difference between “brand marketing” and “direct marketing”.
Brand Marketing
Also known by the more generic term “Brand Awareness”, has two goals. The first is moving the knowledge of your product or service from the unknown or unconscious mind to the conscious mind. The second is making a positive association with the brand.
According to John Jantsch in his book “Duct Tape Marketing”, a customer needs to Know, Like, and Trust you to make a purchase. Brand marketing helps with the “Know” part and may contribute to the “Like” part of your marketing effort.
A prospect’s awareness of your brand aids in the sales conversation but does not necessarily produce a sale. Brand marketing helps to associate the company’s name with the brand’s message.
As we stated in a previous post, the rule of seven applies to brand marketing. Therefore, brand marketing requires a constant effort and can’t be done just a few times and then abandoned because it has not produced sales.
Direct Marketing
By contrast, direct marketing has one goal: to convert the prospect into a customer through direct means.
Direct marketing accomplishes the “Like” and “Trust” part of the marketing effort. Direct marketing need not always be done face-to-face or on the phone but can include direct email, interactive websites, etc. If the prospect is aware of your product and thinks positively about it, it is infinitely more likely that that s/he will buy from your company when they are a viable buyer.
When it comes to sales, direct marketing alone without any brand awareness is far more difficult.
How much time and money do you put into brand marketing vs. direct marketing?
