Brand Awareness Won’t Ring the Register

Isn’t it awesome, when everybody knows your name? You’re getting the word out, creating some buzz, and everybody’s talking about you—but your company still has serious cash flow issues. You’re getting the attention you want, but no one is buying (anyone remember Pets.com and their sassy sock puppet spokesperson?). 

You’re not in business for the name recognition. You’re in business to provide a great product or service and get PAID for it. Social media and public relations are great for building name recognition, but knowing who your company is and buying from you are two very different things.

Brand Awareness and Direct Response have very different goals

Name recognition or brand awareness is different from direct response marketing. Both brand awareness and direct response can help your company achieve incredible things, and both can even work with the latest and greatest marketing channels, but they have different tactics, costs and expected returns. You should know the difference and have clearly set expectations about any ROI before you throw a chunk of your budget at either one.

Both brand awareness and direct response can help your company achieve incredible things, and both can even work with the latest and greatest marketing channels, but they have different tactics, costs and expected returns. You must know the difference and have clearly set expectations about any ROI before you throw a chunk of your budget at either one.

What Brand Awareness marketing is designed to do.

Brand Awareness is all about exposure and attracting as many potential customers as possible know who you are and the value you bring.

Generating awareness is what big, creative, memorable ad campaigns do for companies. Awareness is the viral video every company wants, the celebrity spokesperson and, any marketing that makes people think of your company when they see this marketing repeatedly. Awareness can generate an emotional response; like humor, relief or trust. Positive association with your company is a good thing.

Just remember brand awareness is still a long way from making a sale and, typically, has lower specifically trackable ROI.

Increasing your reach doesn’t directly move the needle on your P&L.

What Direct Response marketing is designed to do.

Direct Response focuses on making the sale or making a connection that keeps a relationship going which, hopefully, leads to a sale.

A newsletter subscription, asking for a like on a company Facebook page, these are examples of low-commitment Direct Response marketing.

Direct Response typically focuses on product or service value points and seeks to satisfy a customer need or problem. The best implementations of Direct Response marketing *show* potential customers how their problem is solved by buying your product and encourages the sale. Other factors that impact Direct Response are company reputation, satisfaction guarantees, and even price point for commodities.

Brand Awareness vs. Direct Response – Which works better?

Answer: they both work – but in different ways and on different timetables.  Instead, you should ask if we should focus on Direct Response or Brand Awareness first? You need both brand awareness and direct response, but how much of each truly depends on your business, your

Instead, you should ask if you should focus on Direct Response or Brand Awareness first. You need both brand awareness and direct response, but how much of each truly depends on your business, your ideal customer segments, your budget, and your product.

Buying a brand new Tesla from an online dealer is oh, so much different than picking up the phone and buying a Ronco chicken rotisserie at midnight from QVC. Both products have very different customer buying journeys, satisfy different customer needs and target different customer personas (and budgets!).