Brand wins in the end
Most marketers chase quick wins. But the real ROI comes from brand power. Here’s why your next “performance” boost might actually start with your brand.
There are two sides to the spectrum in marketing: performance marketing and brand marketing.
Performance marketing is impatient. It wants ROI now. If a campaign doesn’t bring results immediately, it’s seen as a failure (or lesson). Tweak the targeting. Change the creative. Adjust the budget.
Brand marketing plays a different game. It’s patient. Brand marketers believe if you invest in reputation, trust and story – the payoff will come back over time.
So which one to focus on?
Here’s the funny thing: brand marketing makes performance marketing easier.
I’ve run ad campaigns for brand new companies. Getting results felt harder than running a marathon for the first time. Clicks were expensive, conversion rates were low and ROAS was poor. Nobody knew the brand! Why would they trust it?
It sometimes gets so bad, to the point I question my expertise as a marketer (ever get that?)
But when I applied the same playbook for a well-known brand? Everything is different. Higher CTRs, cheaper clicks and better ROAS. Sales come in easier. Not because the ads were better, but because the brand had done the heavy lifting.
The Daily CMO brand is able to drive leads below RM5 per lead. I bet we can drive the cost even lower with a stronger brand.
You can’t separate brand and performance marketing. You can only decide how much time and money to allocate to each side.
Here’s where it gets interesting
I’m hosting an SEO workshop with SEO marketer and founder of Answer Socrates this Wednesday.
While setting up, I realized this: Even SEO is no longer a ranking game. It’s a brand game.
Back then SEO marketers cared only about one thing: ranking #1 on Google. Being first meant you become legit immediately. Users trust you if Google puts you at the top.
But SEO has changed.
People today rely on AI Overviews and Generative Answers. Well how does AI Overviews work? They pull from multiple sources – Reddit, forums, news, social media, mentions and more. And feature brands that are constantly cited and discussed.
To win in SEO, win in branding.