Marketing Starts At the Top of the Funnel - Pulling at the Heartstrings

Early in my career, I was enamored by the power of lower-funnel-centric performance marketing. I started my career doing SEO and Paid Search along with other forms of Digital Marketing. I loved the idea that what I did drove an immediate conversion.

As time has gone on, I've learned new tactics and my marketing playbook has gotten much deeper. I still have that love for performance marketing, but I also see that in many instances, you need a brand-to-demand approach to make that performance marketing work. If you are a market creator, how will you drive demand if no one knows your product even exists? Even if you're in an established market, not everyone is ready to buy right then and there.

You should be investing in your brand no matter the size of your company, maybe it's only 10% of your marketing budget, perhaps more. You never know when a competitor will enter the market and whatever brand perceptions you had go out the door because you've only been focusing on in-market customers. They gain the attention of the customers at the top of the funnel and the in-market customers follow suit because their brand platform resonates better with them than your 'Buy Now' message.

The common misconception is that just because it's brand marketing there's no way to measure the outcome. There are dozens of ways to measure brand marketing and that needs to be part of your long-term measurement strategy.

Marketers over the last year have been strained into focusing more on demand-centric marketing and sacrificing their brand platform as a result. That's fine, but as the market continues to fluctuate, don't be surprised when the companies with the most succinct message elevate themselves above the rest.

Please look at the lovely AI-generated images for an explanation.

This is just another post by me, #keepingitreal .