There’s no question that the availability of data has allowed marketing to fundamentally change its value proposition to the company—join me in raising your hand if you’re glad that people know that marketing does more than “advertising” and “website.”
Having said that, in the rush to trace the customer journey from inception to purchase, for many marketers, the idea of focusing on the brand has become synonymous with fluff—and not the hard data and metrics that the board is evaluating the team on.
I’d argue that it’s more than likely a both/and proposition for balancing the data and brand sides of the marketing mandate, but with a caveat that too often B2B marketers relegate brand work to a “nice to have” function when it’s actually more important than ever to pay attention to this.
After all, your prospective customer’s perceptions of your company is a reflection of your brand. How your website looks, feels, the tone it conveys—brand. How they feel when they call your SDR’s—brand. The collateral, the webinar they attend—all of this is wrapped up in the value of your brand. You may measure things like time on site and click throughs, but what they’re clicking through is wholly related to what they’re experiencing and seeing—your brand.
So don’t be too quick to sneer when someone calls themselves a “brand marketer.” They are an important hub on your team for ensuring that you’ve got a consistent, focused, tight message that is resonating throughout the sales process. It’s a unique discipline and fewer people practice it today due to the move to data and metrics—but I’d argue it’s more important than ever.