Traditional marketing has been one of the main ways brands connect with people, with years of empirical results showing how different channels can influence consumers, whether it is a billboard, a radio spot, or collateral in stores. At the same time, the expansion of digital marketing has helped decrease the cost of advertising and has allowed companies to gather much more data about prospects, leads, and customers. Nowadays, companies can use hyper-segmentation and create specific content based on people’s interests and behavior on social media. This represents a big opportunity for both marketers and customers, since people can find more easily what they like or what they are looking for. However, in some cases, this level of personalization can also feel like a lack of privacy or like companies know too much about us, but that is another discussion. (Wood, 2023) highlights how personalization and AI are increasingly shaping customer experiences and allowing brands to deliver more relevant interactions.
This big step that technology has given companies has also made it easier to connect marketing expenses more directly to numbers, KPIs, and ultimately revenue, which is what companies are looking for. (Wood, 2023) explains that marketing is increasingly being understood as a revenue driver because digital channels such as social, search, and programmatic advertising are highly measurable. The risk, however, is that companies may start focusing only on campaigns or strategies that can provide immediate transactional value.
Because of this, traditional marketing or awareness-focused activities can sometimes be ignored simply because it is harder to attach a direct value to them. For example, it is difficult to know exactly how many people saw a billboard and later became interested in or purchased a specific service because of it. But avoiding these types of investments can sacrifice the long-term value of the company, including brand awareness, top-of-mind presence, and the ability to create a lasting presence in consumers’ minds. (Balis, 2022) makes a similar point by explaining that over-focusing on performance-based marketing can sacrifice brand health and equity, and that the strongest strategies should balance short-term and long-term results.
My point is not that awareness or traditional marketing should not be measured, but that not every marketing activity should be expected to generate an immediate and directly attributable ROI. Different strategies have different objectives, and their success should be measured with KPIs that reflect those objectives and the timeframe in which they are expected to create value.
Bibliography
Wood, C. (2023, December 29). 2024 predictions: Better customer experience is on the way. From MarTech.
Balis, J. (2022). 5 Ways Marketing Leaders Can Drive More Value in 2022. From Harvard Business Review.