By: Dr. David Bridwell, People Scientist and Jake McKenzie, Chief Executive Officer
Recent research reveals that the percentage of non-marketers who believe brand strength is very important to key financial priorities, such as future cash flow and increased profitability, is alarmingly low. Why is that?
Part of the reason has to do with education and the other part has to do with how we track ROI. What we know about marketing is that, although you’re able to get short-term results, most of the return occurs over a much longer period of time, through things like branding, brand building, creating affinity and awareness.
These benefits of marketing can be difficult to communicate throughout the organization, but we have some tips that can help you get the message across:
- Take advantage of research. There are some very robust studies out there that illustrate the importance of marketing and building brands for organizations. In particular, we recommend the series of books that Binet & Field have published on this topic, including The Long and the Short of it, Effectiveness in Context, Marketing in the Era of Accountability, and Marketing Effectiveness in the Digital Era.
- Marketing gets retailers to stock your product. We often focus on the consumer face of marketing and the end user, but there are many upstream benefits to marketing as well, including getting retailers to stock your product.
- Marketing gets interest from distributors (they want to supply your product). Distributors will take notice of your marketing efforts and recognize that you’re a reputable organization that will get the word out about your product.
- Better terms of finance. Building a strong brand can give you more bargaining power over the terms of your business related financial opportunities. Clearly, this is the sort of language that your finance team wants to hear.
- Better deals on real estate. Having a strong brand can give you greater leverage in many financial settings, including real estate opportunities for your organization. Don’t forget about this often overlooked upstream benefit of having a strong brand.
Overall, it’s important for marketers to hone in on using the right marketing language when speaking with the decision makers throughout the organization. These folks care about different things so they need a different message. It’s a classic marketing problem involving understanding your target audience and what will resonate with them.
At Intermark Group, we’re happy to discuss how we can help you overcome these challenges to build strong brands. Feel free to give us a call at 833-578-1314 or email us at [email protected] to discuss how we can help with your marketing challenges.
