Is it branding? Is it direct response?
Allow me to pose a question. If the ultimate goal of most for-profit companies is to drive sales, is there a real difference between branding and direct response? Isn't the end goal of both to generate more sales? Isn't the real difference the impact and time it takes? For example, someone exposed to a "branding" ad might convert in 3 months because the brand is now top of mind or they had interacted with an ad or a site. Shouldn't that conversion count? Someone exposed to "branding" who becomes a loyalist, will hopefully spend more, increase share of wallet, and become an evangelist thus driving sales from others.
This is where innovation in measurement comes in and needs to play a HUGE role. For example, I would argue that companies should not measure DR and branding separately, but they should measure how they impact each other. Does branding build cookie pools that can be re-targeted with DR? What is the effect that branding has on search queries? Do DR efforts hijack dollars with offers of sales, discounts, etc? These are all things that can now be measured. Holistic measurement is coming and can be done with online programs. Companies should take the time to look at how their marketing is performing together and how programs influence each other. Measuring the traditional way, a program at a time, is not giving anyone a real picture.
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If you use warfare as an analogy, DR is tactics and Branding is strategy. And in the case of consumer warfare you could even label DR as offense and Brand as defense. While the goal of both is indeed to win the war, both are necessary and neither is sufficient.
ReplyDeleteWhile I don't have any data to answer your above questions, as a consumer I can say that if I identify with a brand it makes an alternative brand's coupon less attractive.
When times are tight coupons may have more effect, although with long term purchases where durability and service are involved, coupons may have less impact. And that dimished impact would be due to the image of the brand that has been created in the consumer's mind.