Whether you are in the business-to-consumer (B2C) or business-to-business (B2B) space, you need brand marketing.
1 Idea – 1 Challenge – 1 Quote
Idea From Me
As best practice, Binet and Field via the LinkedIn B2B Institute, suggest a 60% brand building and 40% sales activation budget allocation for B2C and a 46% brand building and 54% sales activation budget allocation for B2B. This shows the importance of brand building for B2C and B2B markets.
Brand marketing vs. sales activation
The difference between brand marketing and sales activation is that:
Brand marketing:
• Has a long-term focus
• Creates demand
• Captures demand
Whereas sales activation:
• Has a short-term focus
• DOES NOT create demand
• Captures demand
For both B2C and B2B a significant portion of your spending should be devoted to long-term brand building.
Brand marketing – top of the funnel
From a top of the funnel perspective, Binet and Field further support the idea that reach is where the brand-building game is at. Salience, brand awareness and brand positioning need to be communicated to a large audience. This will make people aware of your brand and what you stand for so that when they are in the market for the solution you offer, they will recognize and hopefully recall your brand or better still your brand would be top of mind.
Sales activation – bottom of the funnel
You need to prepare the mindscape with brand marketing so that your sales efforts can be more successful. One example of this is the perimeter or skirting advertising around sport fields where people are made aware or reminded of the brand and little else. People then may visit the brand’s website and sign up for their newsletter, connect via social media or visit a store. And this is where sales activation shines, at the bottom of the funnel, via direct response advertising (newsletter and email sequence marketing) and selling to warm leads.
Challenge To You
I know you need sales now! And the long game seems too iffy. But I want to challenge you to plan, budget and action long-term brand marketing. This is the answer to brand longevity, smoother demand and more successful sales activation.
Quote
“A brand’s future (literally) lies with long-term brand marketing and not with short-term sales activation only.” – Pieter Steenkamp
Let’s BRAND FOR SUCCESS!
Pieter Steenkamp, BrandDoctor
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Meet Dr Pieter Steenkamp, your BRAND FOR SUCCESS guide.
I am actually a brand doctor with a PhD in brand management from University of Stellenbosch Business School. As a brand management lecturer and researcher at a university in Cape Town South Africa and a regular visiting professor at universities in Germany, I stay up to date with the latest brand management developments. This affords me the incredible opportunity to consult with leaders of some of the most admired brands.
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