A Measurement-Focused Approach To Brand Building: For Digital Native Businesses
A Measurement-Focused Approach To Brand Building: For Digital Native Businesses
1
Adapted from Media in Focus, Marketing Effectiveness
In The Digital Era, 2017 (Les Binet, Peter Field)
Take a data-
driven approach
Brand building is often not as simple
to evaluate as other efforts, such as
activation/direct response, and so it can
be tempting to tackle less rigorously.
That’s a mistake because a data-
driven approach is the foundation of
successful modern brand building.
Validate
Triangulate among different measurement
approaches and data sources to confirm results
are accurate and to gain greater confidence.
CONSISTENTLY VALIDATE
YOUR ASSUMPTIONS
Embrace digital
It is inexpensive and simple to try new brand ideas “Constantly check that the measurement
online, so use these channels as a testing ground;
you’ve set is right. Always be doing
feedback is quick and customer insight can be rich.
tests to check your assumptions.”
Iterate - ALEX MILLER
Founding Partner, Byte London
Try new brand-building approaches,
measure the effects and adapt to ensure
that efforts are driving results.
Test early
Brand building from the start allows for additional
opportunities to measure, learn and iterate.
Don’t let up
Increased brand focus at later stages can help
raise awareness with new audiences, influence
existing perceptions and drive fresh growth.
Tackle branding
and activation
together
Digital native businesses sometimes think
that brand building is not as important as
activation. This view is understandable;
with intense demands to grow revenue
and prove interest in offerings, focusing on
branding can feel like a luxury compared
to directly encouraging action.
However, what firms often overlook is
that brand building and activation
complement each other in important
ways at all levels of maturity.
A strong brand can aid in everything
from increasing the likelihood of an initial
purchase to encouraging repeat sales. It can
also help to command a pricing premium
because consumers are willing to pay more
if they recognize and trust a brand. In 24
out of 25 independent ad tests, the brand
advertising on Facebook was able to charge
a premium while maintaining market share.
Immediately after advertising, brands were
able to charge an average of 39% more
without losing any buyers to competitors.5
5
“Implicit Brand and Price Preference Study”
by Sentient Decision Science (Facebook-
commissioned study of 49 ads; 15,600 people
ages 21+ in US), December 2018 - January 2019
6
“The Marketing Advantages of Strong Brands”
by Steve Hoeffler and Kevin Lane Keller,
Journal of Brand Management, 2003.
Mix it up
Strong brands are built through a multi-
channel approach. Experiment with everything SOCIAL CAMPAIGNS CAN SPARK
from social ad campaigns and organic CURIOSITY AND CONVEY VALUE
content to traditional media and PR.
“Social is key for us. It’s a big channel
Measure and iterate for driving awareness. In reality most
Measurement is the key to channel optimization. people aren’t looking for us, we need to
Track all efforts and regularly evaluate the mix capture their attention and get them to
to find the optimal approach for your brand. understand the value they get from us.”
- TOM HILLMAN
Adopting digital channels does not mean Head of Paid Social, TransferWise
abandoning traditional channels; it simply
means adding more tools to the brand-building
toolbox. Incorporating the full range of online 7
“Cognition Neuroscience Research Project”
approaches—from paid media to content by Mobile Marketing Association, Advertising
Research Foundation and Neurons Inc., 2019.
marketing—enables modern firms to build brands 8
Facebook Brand Lift Study of nine campaigns
more quickly and efficiently than in the past. in the US and the UK, Apr–Aug 2018
Invest long-term
in brand building
When it comes to brand building, firms
sometimes believe there’s a shortcut to
success that involves less investment
and will achieve results more quickly.
In truth, as with other types of
businesses, building a strong digital
native brand requires significant
spend over a long period of time.
Don’t underfund
Spending just a bit on brand building is not likely to
get you far. Successful businesses often allocate a
significant share of budget to brand marketing.
BRANDS ARE BUILT OVER TIME
Find the right investment level “We don’t do things just for a
While there are many rules of thumb about how short-term return. Everything has
much to spend—e.g., half of your budget—the to be on-brand, otherwise it will
optimal level varies by firm, stage and vertical.
harm the brand in the long-term.”
- MARC VERSCHUEREN
Be patient
Online Marketing and Sales Director,
Brands are not built in an instant. Establishing a
Happy Socks
unique identity and creating lasting memory links
with consumers takes iteration, repetition and time.
Iterate on digital
Use online channels as a low-cost testing ground
for new ideas. Once you know what’s succeeding,
then you can scale to offline channels.
MAINTAIN YOUR CORE
BRAND ATTRIBUTES
Stay focused on strategy
When testing brand creative, don’t get lost in the “You need to be completely joined-up
details. Concentrate on experimenting with ideas and have a consistent message across
rather than variations that aren’t significant.
channels. If you don’t, customers
will get confused and confusion
Don’t rest on your laurels leads to lower conversions.”
It’s not enough to find an approach to
creative that works and stick with it. Keep - ALBERT ABELLO LOZANO
introducing new brand ideas to stand out. Growth Marketing Director, Treatwell
Nurture a test-
and-learn culture
It’s impossible to take a modern
approach to brand building and tackle
timing, channels, budgeting and creative
development effectively if your firm does
not have the right people and mindset.
To build a strong digital brand,
you first need to build a data-
first organization that embraces
experimentation and measurement.
Avoid misalignment
Ensure brand insights and expectations are
clearly shared across teams, especially as the HIRE THE RIGHT STAFF EARLY ON
organization grows and silos inevitably develop.
“[Our] advice to early-stage businesses
would be to start building out a strong
Control the brand in-house analytics and measurement function
Keep ultimate responsibility for brand development
in house but consider outsourcing support and
in-house. It will save a lot of time
tactical capabilities to external agencies. and money in the long run as you’ll
know what is and isn’t working.”
The key is culture: Firms that have the - TOM HILLMAN
Head of Paid Social, TransferWise
organizational aptitude, structure and mindset
to continually test and learn will steadily iterate
toward finding the most effective brand-building
approaches. To foster this culture, full support
from leadership is crucial; without it, testing and
learning will look like an unnecessary indulgence
rather than the foundation of success. 12
“The Measurement Advantage” by Bain & Company, 2019.