Brand Building vs. Direct Response: Making the Right Choice
Brand Building vs. Direct Response: Making the Right Choice
Brand building and direct response strategies are two common approaches to marketing. Direct response seeks a quick reaction from the audience, generating quick sales and driving traffic. Meanwhile, brand building is a long-term investment in the clients' awareness and the company's reputation. Both approaches are an integral part of any marketing campaign. Ideally, 80% of the marketing effort should go to the direct response approach while 20% is left to brand awareness.
Quick and Powerful: Direct Response Strategy
The direct response approach uses powerful calls to actions that prompt the potential client's attention:
Contact: Call Now, Contact Us, Send Email, Send Message or Sign Up
Download: Use App or Play Game
Learn: Learn More or Watch Video
Shop: See Offers or Shop Now
Deals, coupons, discounts are driving forces behind getting a conversion with a direct response strategy.
The main goal of such an approach is to get an immediate reaction. Without this strategy, it would be tough to acquire the desired conversions, generate new business, find new clients, drive traffic to websites, and stimulate mobile app installations. But only when it's part of the bigger marketing effort.
Direct response marketing inadvertently assists with brand awareness by making your company visible to the client and building a good reputation.
Slow and Efficient: Brand Building Strategy
Brand building, also called delayed response marketing, involves investing time and effort in building the company's image. The more aware clients are of a company's presence, the more likely they are to believe in the consistency of quality. An in-depth campaign that describes the key strengths of a company helps build a brand reputation over time, thus achieving high response rates.
The biggest problem with the brand-building strategy is that it takes time and must be continuous. As soon as you stop the brand development process, the attention of your potential customer moves somewhere else (to other content from friends and other brands).
Which One is Better?
While the direct response approach can help you seal the deal quickly, it works the best when based on an existing relationship with clients. These relationships are built using brand awareness efforts.
The eventual goal of any company isn't just to convert for a one-time purchase but to build a long-term relationship with the target audience. Both strategies are part of the same promotional campaign.