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Setting Your Campaign Objective Mix
The first step in an integrated Google Ads strategy is deciding the right mix of brand and performance campaign types, including Google Smart Campaigns. Consider factors like:- Product/service complexity
- Typical research time before conversion
- The overall length of a sales funnel
Brand Campaigns | Performance Campaigns |
– Raise Awareness | – Drive Conversions |
– Increase Favorability | – Reduce CPA |
– Educate on Benefits | – Accelerate Sales |
Brand Campaign Best Practices
When you set your brand goals and approximate budget, the next big step is figuring out how to actually implement those campaigns. Start by thinking about what “success” means for your brand, beyond just how many people see your ads or are aware of you (though those still matter!). Consider these other important points too:- How often do people see my ads and then eventually buy something? That’s your view-through rate.
- Am I improving how potential customers think about and perceive my brand? That’s a consideration lift.
- Am I raising positive associations people have with my company or products? That’s a favorability boost.
- Brand keyword research to see what people associate with your company.
- Analyze consumer sentiment to avoid stereotypes or assumptions.
- Check out what your competitors advertise and message—what can you do differently or better?
Performance Campaign Optimization
In addition to brand-building efforts, performance campaigns focus on directly driving the pipeline and generating sales or leads—but they can also support your broader brand goals. Obviously, you’ll optimize for metrics like:- Click-through-rate on ads
- Cost-Per-Click
- Number of conversions
- Return-on-ad-spend
Resource Allocation
To make branding and performance work together, you need shared budgets and pacing so that efforts build instead of operating separately. As we discussed, set blended investments across objectives based on business priorities. However, also map budgets to how buyers interact with you over time. For example, spend more on brand awareness campaigns during new product launches to get on people’s radar. Once consideration lifts, shift the budget to performance so you can capitalize on interest and drive conversions. Build cyclical models to sustain outcomes across quarters or years. Don’t immediately go all-in on demand generation or only brand forever—balance, where needs and opportunities shift. Some examples:- Invest more in branding when introducing something new.
- Ramp up performance spending during busy sales cycles.
- Maintain parity for established products already on the market.
Governance Guardrails
You need seamless processes so branding and performance teams can focus on their expertise while collaborating behind the scenes. However, leadership must still guide the strategic guardrails so these siloed groups maximize outcomes. Some common high-level guardrails:- The brand owns trademark keywords; performance handles transactional search terms.
- Brand drives early awareness; further down the funnel, performance retargets.
- The brand builds affinity with broad match; performance converts exactly.
- Brand isolates sensitive perception terms; performance enables all results.
Measurement Harmonization
Unify data and reporting to connect the dots and track total performance across branding and response. Major steps:- Export all campaign analytics into one warehouse for flexible analysis. Break down those silos!
- Build custom attribution to credit influence across buyer journeys fully – not just last-click.
- Join CRM data downstream to match branding lift to long-term sales impact.
Optimized Ad Copy for Audience Stage
To pull everything together, creative and messaging have to sync across branding and response based on the person’s stage of the journey. Brand campaigns target early awareness by educating. Hook interest with key benefit headlines and visuals that make people curious. Keep it short and intriguing. Meanwhile, performance campaigns speak to informed considerers ready to buy. Focus on product details, credibility signals, and promotions in crisp calls to action. Add urgency. Brand copy asks:- Are you aware of how we can help you?
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