I can’t remember the last time a client came to me and said, “the main objective of this campaign will be brand awareness.” I mean, I get it. Consumer marketing is increasingly more competitive and consumer attention spans are shrinking. So it’s not surprising that KPI’s (Key Performance Indicators) are shifting away from awareness and more toward direct response, lead generation campaign objectives.
Most clients want us to scream “sale” and lead with a promotional message that really focuses first on an instant consumer response. But it’s important to remember the role brand awareness plays even if you want to scream “sale” for your direct response ad. The fact is, if someone isn’t comfortable with your brand and what makes you so special, they’re not going to care about your new product or your great sale price. The strategy for creating a successful direct response campaign should not exclude brand awareness simply because that is not the primary objective. Here’s why.
We know, it’s really easy to look at brand awareness impressions as “wasted media“ in a direct response campaign. But in reality, if those brand awareness impressions are helping to boost the responses on your direct response tactics, they are just as important as the direct response tactics themselves. The fact is, it’s really hard to get consumers’ attention and even harder to convert their interest into a lead. The more you can reach your audience in different ways, the better your conversion rate will be when that audience has the opportunity to click on an ad and take action.
The traditional marketing “rule of 7” proposed it took 7 times before your ad message would have a real effect. These days it’s more like 6-10 exposures. But the principle remains the same – practically no one is going to click on your ad the first time they see it. So you’re better off softening the ground with awareness media so that by the time they see a direct response ad your conversion rates will be strong.
Integrated multi-media placements always make for a stronger campaign. but integration even within your digital tactics is still important. And sometimes that means making sure that you have tactics that simply help to build top of mind awareness so that when the direct response ad comes along the chances of your target audience clicking are much higher.
So when you start planning your next campaign, which we know will be a lead generation one, we suggest trying to be open to the value of brand awareness tactics within that campaign.
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