Advertising Primer 4: Branding vs. Promoting
All advertising can be broken into two major categories: Brand Image Advertising, and Promotional Advertising. While many ads often present a mix of these two approaches, understanding the differences is crucial to creating effective ads.
Brand image advertising seeks to increase brand equity. The goal is not to create immediate sales, but to establish your product or service as the preferred offering in your product category. It's all about standing out from the competition in the minds of your buyers.
Preferred brands enjoy more brand loyalty and higher prices. And brand image advertising makes it easier to sell your product because buyers actually seek out your brand, instead of the other way around.
So what's the drawback to brand image advertising? Time and money. Building brand recall and preference doesn't happen overnight. Usually, brand image campaigns are measured in years. For this reason, this form of advertising is most often employed by larger companies with deeper pockets and a longer view of marketing.
What makes for effective brand image advertising? For starters, you must understand and define your own identity before you can push that identity to your target market. If you don't have a clear understanding of what defines your brand, your audience won't either. Don't try to sell 10 different features of your product. Find one or two benefits and drive them home in every ad.
Good brand image advertisements are professionally produced. It may work fine to use clip art and 10 different fonts in a "Big Sale" coupon, but that won't cut it for creating a memorable brand. Make sure your creative work is clean and appealing.
Finally, make sure your brand image ads are truly focused on your brand, and not on some cute or clever concept. When an advertisement captures people's attention, but nobody can remember the actual brand being advertised, this is called borrowed interest. I'm amazed at how many ads fall into this category. Sometimes it's okay to see an ad and wonder, "what in the world is this crazy commercial advertising?" But most of the time it just means nobody will remember what you're selling, and that means your advertising investment is a waste. Make sure your brand is truly front-and-center.
This type of advertising is all about short-term sales. Promotional ads come in the form of free coupons, sales, big headlines, and long lists of features. These types of ads get feet in the door. A properly-executed promotional ad campaign can result in an immediate boost to the bottom-line as customers react and respond.
The drawback to promotional advertising? Too much can actually dilute your brand equity. If you push sale prices for an extended period of time, consumers will come to view your brand as the "cheap" brand. And if you stop offering discounts, they will simply move on to your competitor's brands. You haven't told them why you're better, just that you are cheaper.
But what if you aren't promoting low prices? The same result can happen when you merely promote features vs. core benefits: all your competitors have to do is list the same features (and maybe a couple extra ones), and your buyers will go elsewhere.
Still, promotional ads can be effective in the short term and with the correct execution. Be sure to emphasize new or free products, unconditional guarantees, or other incentives that compel the audience to respond. Make sure you explain the features and benefits of your product or service. Don't be afraid to be informational and direct. Include testimonials or awards to show potential customers your product is a good value.
Finally, make sure you have a clear call to action—urging the customer to buy now and explaining why they can't wait (the offer expires soon, they will save more if they buy now, etc.). And don't forget to prominently include multiple forms of contact. If you are advertising a retail establishment, make sure you list directions or a map to your location.
One piece of advice regarding promotional discounts: In our experience, consumers don't get thrilled about percentage-off promotions unless the percentages are big. People just don't get excited by sales of 5% or 10%. Discounts of 40 or 50% off are another matter—be prepared to handle the deluge of business.
On the other hand, dollars-off sales can get more results, even if they don't equate to a large percentage discount. For example, if a 5% discount on a $1,000 product amounts to a $50 discount, advertise the $50 discount rather than the percentage. People tend to give the dollar sign more attention than the percentage sign. It's easy to visualize the value of fifty dollars, but not so much the value of five percent.
I believe it was Jay Conrad Levinson who said in his Guerilla Marketing series that you should never offer a discount unless that discount will be nearly impossible for your audience to resist. What's the point of a "minor" discount? It won't move skeptical buyers. The only business you'll see is from people who already prefer your brand. They might appreciate the small discount, but they would've bought your product anyway. If you can't come up with a discount that hurts a little bit, don't do a discount at all. What's the point?
And speaking of pain, consider offering a loss leader. These are items discounted so steeply, you may actually lose money on their sale. But because the discounts are so attractive, you will almost certainly attract other sales. At the very least you will introduce your product line to new customers—customers who will hopefully return after the sale has ended.
Still can't swallow slashing profits or losing money on a steep discount? Think of the lost revenue as a part of the cost of advertising. The bottom line is to make more sales and attract new customers, even at a short-term cost.
As mentioned in the previous primer article, products or services with high brand equity are considered specialty products. Products with low brand equity are called commodities. As mentioned, one aspect of promotional advertising ("Sale! Sale! Sale!) is that too much can actually drive down brand equity. This can quickly turn specialty products into commodities.
Most products and services will benefit from a mix of promotional and brand image advertising. However, most companies—especially small and medium size companies—do far more promotional advertising than brand image advertising. Many never do any brand image advertising whatsoever, and their brands are left susceptible to aggressive attacks from competing brands. Because they build little long-term equity for their brands, these companies must constantly work hard to gain—and keep—their customers.
Want to make sure your organization gets the most short-term and long term value for it's advertising dollars? Then make sure you have a proper mix of brand image and promotional advertising.
Some content for this series was derived from course notes from Introduction to Advertising, UC Berkeley Extension.
Brand Image Advertising
Brand image advertising seeks to increase brand equity. The goal is not to create immediate sales, but to establish your product or service as the preferred offering in your product category. It's all about standing out from the competition in the minds of your buyers.
Preferred brands enjoy more brand loyalty and higher prices. And brand image advertising makes it easier to sell your product because buyers actually seek out your brand, instead of the other way around.
So what's the drawback to brand image advertising? Time and money. Building brand recall and preference doesn't happen overnight. Usually, brand image campaigns are measured in years. For this reason, this form of advertising is most often employed by larger companies with deeper pockets and a longer view of marketing.
What makes for effective brand image advertising? For starters, you must understand and define your own identity before you can push that identity to your target market. If you don't have a clear understanding of what defines your brand, your audience won't either. Don't try to sell 10 different features of your product. Find one or two benefits and drive them home in every ad.
Good brand image advertisements are professionally produced. It may work fine to use clip art and 10 different fonts in a "Big Sale" coupon, but that won't cut it for creating a memorable brand. Make sure your creative work is clean and appealing.
Finally, make sure your brand image ads are truly focused on your brand, and not on some cute or clever concept. When an advertisement captures people's attention, but nobody can remember the actual brand being advertised, this is called borrowed interest. I'm amazed at how many ads fall into this category. Sometimes it's okay to see an ad and wonder, "what in the world is this crazy commercial advertising?" But most of the time it just means nobody will remember what you're selling, and that means your advertising investment is a waste. Make sure your brand is truly front-and-center.
Promotional Advertising
This type of advertising is all about short-term sales. Promotional ads come in the form of free coupons, sales, big headlines, and long lists of features. These types of ads get feet in the door. A properly-executed promotional ad campaign can result in an immediate boost to the bottom-line as customers react and respond.
The drawback to promotional advertising? Too much can actually dilute your brand equity. If you push sale prices for an extended period of time, consumers will come to view your brand as the "cheap" brand. And if you stop offering discounts, they will simply move on to your competitor's brands. You haven't told them why you're better, just that you are cheaper.
But what if you aren't promoting low prices? The same result can happen when you merely promote features vs. core benefits: all your competitors have to do is list the same features (and maybe a couple extra ones), and your buyers will go elsewhere.
Still, promotional ads can be effective in the short term and with the correct execution. Be sure to emphasize new or free products, unconditional guarantees, or other incentives that compel the audience to respond. Make sure you explain the features and benefits of your product or service. Don't be afraid to be informational and direct. Include testimonials or awards to show potential customers your product is a good value.
Finally, make sure you have a clear call to action—urging the customer to buy now and explaining why they can't wait (the offer expires soon, they will save more if they buy now, etc.). And don't forget to prominently include multiple forms of contact. If you are advertising a retail establishment, make sure you list directions or a map to your location.
One piece of advice regarding promotional discounts: In our experience, consumers don't get thrilled about percentage-off promotions unless the percentages are big. People just don't get excited by sales of 5% or 10%. Discounts of 40 or 50% off are another matter—be prepared to handle the deluge of business.
On the other hand, dollars-off sales can get more results, even if they don't equate to a large percentage discount. For example, if a 5% discount on a $1,000 product amounts to a $50 discount, advertise the $50 discount rather than the percentage. People tend to give the dollar sign more attention than the percentage sign. It's easy to visualize the value of fifty dollars, but not so much the value of five percent.
Loss Leaders: Don't Offer Dinky Discounts
I believe it was Jay Conrad Levinson who said in his Guerilla Marketing series that you should never offer a discount unless that discount will be nearly impossible for your audience to resist. What's the point of a "minor" discount? It won't move skeptical buyers. The only business you'll see is from people who already prefer your brand. They might appreciate the small discount, but they would've bought your product anyway. If you can't come up with a discount that hurts a little bit, don't do a discount at all. What's the point?
And speaking of pain, consider offering a loss leader. These are items discounted so steeply, you may actually lose money on their sale. But because the discounts are so attractive, you will almost certainly attract other sales. At the very least you will introduce your product line to new customers—customers who will hopefully return after the sale has ended.
Still can't swallow slashing profits or losing money on a steep discount? Think of the lost revenue as a part of the cost of advertising. The bottom line is to make more sales and attract new customers, even at a short-term cost.
Promote For Sales Today, Brand For The Future
As mentioned in the previous primer article, products or services with high brand equity are considered specialty products. Products with low brand equity are called commodities. As mentioned, one aspect of promotional advertising ("Sale! Sale! Sale!) is that too much can actually drive down brand equity. This can quickly turn specialty products into commodities.
Most products and services will benefit from a mix of promotional and brand image advertising. However, most companies—especially small and medium size companies—do far more promotional advertising than brand image advertising. Many never do any brand image advertising whatsoever, and their brands are left susceptible to aggressive attacks from competing brands. Because they build little long-term equity for their brands, these companies must constantly work hard to gain—and keep—their customers.
Want to make sure your organization gets the most short-term and long term value for it's advertising dollars? Then make sure you have a proper mix of brand image and promotional advertising.
Some content for this series was derived from course notes from Introduction to Advertising, UC Berkeley Extension.
posted by David Board at
1:57 AM
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