Brand building is really hard work. And it’s a dwindling art form. In recent times, there’s been an over-reliance on Performance Marketing. A great way to insert yourself in front of consumers in the short-term, but, it can have a negative impact on your brand in the long run. Although it plays its part in the formation of a strong brand, it’s vital that brands take the time, and budget, to build a well rounded strategy consisting of what we call the ‘Buzz’, ‘Rumble’ and ‘Roar.’ Or rather, Organic Reach, Performance Marketing, and Brand Activation.
Roars – Brand Activations:
The ‘Roars’ are the brand activations we excel in, and are the ways you can invite and inspire new customers into your brand’s sphere. ‘Buzz’ and ‘Rumble’ connote the complimentary brand building tactics which work harmoniously alongside them.
We feel brand activations, when executed well, are one of the single most effective tools at recruiting new fans for your brand AND building and rewarding loyalty with your brand. Research has shown that they consistently perform at increasing not only brand reach, but customer retention and ROI.
That’s because a brand activation’s purpose is to emotionally engage consumers. Activations are the golden egg of experiential marketing, and can take form as immersive experiences, interactive displays and live events – high-impact marketing campaigns designed to directly interact with potential customers. Brands should use activations to actively engage their target audience and push for a powerful emotional connection to form between audience and brand. Winning over customer loyalty is by no means easy, but by giving them something memorable to hold onto, you’re more likely to make them want to come back and interact with your brand time and time again.
To create and deliver bold and impactful activations, many brands rely on brand activation agencies. The best brand activation agencies prioritise the consumer’s wants, dreams and needs just as much as they do the communication of your brand’s message and values.
Buzz- Organic Reach and Social Sharing:
If your activation is successful in generating the ‘Roar’, then the ‘Buzz’ is the word-of-mouth, on the ground marketing that keeps your brand hot on the lips of your consumers, well after your activation is over. The goal of brand building is to engineer an emotional consumer perception of your brand. If you keep them talking positively about your brand, incite social media sharing and even virality, it’s infectious, and over time transforms into customer loyalty and generates genuine trust in your brand. The buzz won’t just appear overnight, it requires considerable thought and time on your brand’s part to ensure that your consumer forms genuine emotional ties of their own accord. It’s a stamp of successful brand building, and it’s integral for your brand’s long-term strategic gain. You’ve got to build that buzz and push for a sense of sociality, if your customers are organically willing to share their positive associations of your brand with their peers, it’ll amplify the reach of your ‘Roars’ and assure the long-term success of your brand, as well as its longevity.
Rumble: Performance Marketing, done right:
As much as we gave Performance Marketing a hard time, it certainly has its place when approached in the right way. This strategy is executed via a combination of traditional above the line advertising efforts and digital marketing strategies. The ‘Rumble’ is the way that brands embed their ethos into their consumer’s periphery. Your branding acting like the background music, or the soundtrack to your consumer’s lives. Performance marketing is an extension of the ‘Buzz’ and the ‘Roar’ discussed above. It gives you the ability to remind your consumer’s of the way your activation made them feel, whilst nudging them ever closer to that all important purchase.
This format of brand building interweaves between your ‘louder’ brand activations and keeps your audience engaged over an extended period of time, essentially allowing you to keep your brand in the forefront of your consumers’ minds. There’s an art to this blended approach which when executed effectively, works by proactively encouraging your consumer along the journey of the sale.
It may sound obvious, but sometimes you’ve got to keep things simple. And we hope our guide above will shed light on how you can build a strong brand through brand activation, staying on the tips of your consumer’s tongues and keep them humming along to your brand’s tune all the while.
We Are Collider x
