Advertising and Marketing
Campaigns without return!!
There is a debate among Marketing executives about sales campaigns and brand-building campaigns, where some prefer sales campaigns to increase the company’s income, and others only spend on awareness campaigns. Therefore, we decided to clarify the ideal ratio between sales campaigns and brand-building campaigns to achieve the highest benefit for companies, based on global studies, research, and practices.
What are sales campaigns?
Direct campaigns that talk about offers and discounts or new products available for sale, and their goal is usually selling. There is no emotion in their content, as it says, for example: “Buy our luxury perfumes with a 50% discount” or “Buy the phone with an easy installment service.” Their duration ranges between a week and three months, and they follow a short-term strategy to achieve immediate financial returns.
What are brand-building campaigns?
As the name suggests, their direct goal is not selling. Of course, they want to increase sales, but in an indirect way, and they focus on the emotional side of customers without mentioning purchasing. These campaigns use stories that focus on the customer, their needs, and desires, which makes recognizing the brand better, creates trust, and makes the purchasing process later easier. The duration of these campaigns is usually between 6 months and 2 years, as they target the long term.
What if you focus on sales campaigns!
Studies indicate that companies that focus their marketing campaigns on direct sales target only about 5% of customers، those who are ready to buy during the campaign period. These people purchase the product because they recognize their need for it or feel interested in it in a logical and direct way.
As for the 95% of the audience who see the advertisement, they are often not ready to buy at the current time, although they may be interested in the product in the future. And here lies the problem: when these people decide to buy later, they do not remember the advertising campaign because it did not leave a distinctive impression in their minds, as all the ads look similar and repeat the same message: “Buy now.”
The Role of Brand-Building Campaigns
Brand-building campaigns work on expanding the market through emotional influence and strengthening the connection with the brand, which makes people prefer the brand if they get the chance to purchase in the future. While sales campaigns focus on encouraging “buy now,” brand-building campaigns work on being the first choice in purchasing always.
Take the example of mobile phones: many people choose the same brand year after year, even though cheaper or higher-spec alternatives are available sometimes. The reason here is purely emotional، it is the feeling of belonging and identity that the brand builds. This emotional relationship is what makes the customer not think about buying from others.
The Ideal Balance
According to studies, it is always preferred that the percentage of spending from the marketing budget on brand-building campaigns be 60% to 70%, while sales campaigns take 30% to 40%. The ratios may differ depending on the company’s field and its age.
Conclusion:
Each type of campaign has its goals and benefits:
Sales campaigns: useful for efficiency and increasing short-term revenue.
Brand-building campaigns: important for growth and increasing long-term profitability, as they build customer loyalty and strengthen the emotional relationship with them.
In short, using both types in suitable proportions serves the company better than focusing on one of them only, and ensures sustainable growth and higher profitability.
