An inquiry came to my marketing consulting business last month that still has me scratching my head how to help this prospective client.
The caller had been a subscriber to my blog and read a lot of my content over the years and was interested in understanding why he should spend so much money on marketing to build his brand. He was the CEO of a mid-sized company and a very smart man. His expertise wasn’t in marketing – but product development and sales. He told me that he needed some help unraveling the mysteries of marketing.
This business was a B2C company selling a food product in a very competitive category. (I can’t reveal details due to confidentiality, so forgive me for not being too specific).
His concern wasn’t that he shouldn’t build his brand, it was how much to spend doing it.
We met for coffee. I listened to him talk for a long time and pondered how to answer his question.
How Much Should I spend on Branding?
After about thirty minutes, I asked him to describe the last five big purchases he or his wife made for themselves. He paused and told me several stories.
One stood out that I’d like to share.
He and his wife had planned to go on vacation with another couple on a Viking River Tour. He had never taken such a tour but had learned about it from a close college friend who posted on Facebook that he had a great time on a recent trip. His interest in the tour was peaked as he saw numerous TV ads for Viking River Tours and he decided to jump onto their website to learn more about the experience. His wife wasn’t sure this was the trip for her and she got distracted by other stuff and they didn’t make a decision.
He remembered the name Viking River Tour from last year when he and his wife watch Downton Abbey and remembered they were sponsors.
For several weeks, his wife kept seeing reminders of the Viking River Tour as ads popped up in their Facebook feed and on pages online they searched. She also decided she would read some reviews of other customer’s experiences on Yelp and similar travel-specific sites to see what she could find out.
He decided to google river tours to see what the competition looked like. Viking River Tours popped up frequently in his search and seemed to be the dominant player in the category. He did read about some of the less expensive competitors but had difficulty getting some information from their website.
Finally, this couple decided to do a live chat online with a customer service person to get more insight about their questions and concerns. They liked being able to do a chat from the comfort of their laptop and the customer service person was extraordinarily helpful – and never pushed them to make a decision. The discussion just unfolded, and they both realized how well-trained the person on the other end of the laptop was as she answered question after question.
They eventually booked the tour (costing many thousands of dollars) and had a great experience. Upon returning, they posted pictures to a variety of social media sites to tell about their experience and to recommend it to their friends. Although they aren’t big on social media, they did want to provide friends with some specific details on one experience they had at a winery that was extremely special to them.
How Much Should I Spend on Branding?
We talked about all the marketing effort that went into his experience. The marketing team at Viking did the following things:
- Created brand standards
- Developed a message
- Built a website that was user-friendly and easy to navigate
- Use ad words so that you would find them through search
- Created TV and print and online ads to make their brand familiar and to attract interest from those who are thinking about cruises, tours, and vacations
- Used retargeting efforts so that their ad showed up in their Facebook feed
- Had interactive chatting capabilities on their website to provide direct answers at your convenience 24/7
- Developed social media communities so that happy customers could share personal stories of their experience
- Created video content that you could watch to learn more about what to expect
- Encouraged testimonials from customers on various travel rating sites
I told my new client, that I don’t know how much money you should spend on building your brand.
But I do know that you have to spend it in the right place, at the right time so that you can keep growing your brand and not make it a commodity.
I also advised him that every step he took on his journey with Viking was tested and measured as carefully as possible so that if leads weren’t being generated, they might try a new approach or switch platforms. The art of attribution is difficult – knowing if the business came from one tactic or the accumulation of several.
[Tweet “Marketing isn’t a “set it and forget it” activity. It is dynamic just like his business.”]
Lessons Learned
The lesson from this conversation is that asking how much should I spend on marketing is like asking how much should I spend on hiring people of integrity, investing in new technology to stay competitive or the value of training seminars to ensure a safe workspace? All businesses have financial limits and require you to careful monitor your investments. Marketing is no different. What you need is an experienced marketing professional at the helm to steer your course forward. If you can’t afford a full time VP of Marketing, hire a fractional or part-time service.
Marketing starts with clear goals and strategies and must be built on trust. Each business or brand needs a smart plan with milestones. The right marketing leader will be your guide to help take you on your journey.
Come aboard. Let’s take a journey together.
P.S.- I am now helping guide this new client’s ship (or river boat). We decided to start from scratch with marketing and to begin at the beginning. Identify a vision. Be clear on goals. Set reasonable milestones. Test everything. Learn. Fail. Improve. And repeat over and over again. I’ll let you know how things progress in a future post.
Looking to take a marketing journey? I know how to drive. Let’s talk. 919 720 0995 or email me. jeffslater@themarketingsage.com
Photo courtesy of Viking River Cruises
