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Branding URGENT - Need Help Fast!

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Setting Brand Targets And Marketing Mix Benchmarks
Posted By: jsmbrand on 6/22/2006 12:40 PM (CST)	1000 Points
I have two questions for the community. The first is regarding setting brand targets. I have been responsible for setting global marketing/brand objectives for the past couple of years for a global financial services company that is both B2C and B2B (not retail banking though). We have determined that our most important need is to build awareness as we are nowhere near the category leaders. Therefore, I have used a competitive comparison model to zero in on a long-term (4 years) stretch goal to achieve a comparative top 3 level of awareness in each of our regions. While it has worked to date, it feels pretty squishy. Our executive board has asked for a review of our marketing spend next month and I can imagine them asking, "How much awareness does a financial services brand like ours need to be successful?" Any thoughts on the best approach for setting brand targets? Any thoughts or benchmarks on required levels of awareness for services companies? The second question is more about marketing mix. At a global level we typically use TV, print, outdoor, sponsorship and events/conferences. Are there any general rules or benchmarks for the mix share of these kinds of vehicles? For instance, Sponsorship shouldn’t typically be more than 25% of your total comms or online shouldn’t represent more than 15%-20%…. Do you know of any basic rules of thumb or benchmarks for this? Thank you in advance for your reply. Any thoughts or direction to additional reading materials are much appreciated.

Posted by: rbauman*	Accepted Answer
6/22/2006 3:28 PM (CST)
Related issues are how you measure brand awareness and what does your company (and its board) consider successful. One way of approaching your first question is to research your competitors' brand awareness and revenues. If there is a correlation between these factors it may make a case for increasing brand awareness. As far as your second question, I don't have any rules of thumb and suspect the norms vary from industry to industry. Agencies that specialize in financial services firms will probably have data to address this question.

Posted by: ShannonD*	Accepted Answer
6/22/2006 3:57 PM (CST)
I agree with rbauman on the first question with brand awarness. You need to research what you competitors do and see what works for them at the level you want to achieve. You don't need to reinvent the wheel or being a corporate level with brand awareness with a finacial group. Compare what your customer needs are vs what you have to offer. Then see where your company is showing a strong brand label in those area's. Your rule of thumb should come from what works better for your company. The balance will be found in your target media's most responsive campaigns. Your ROI will be based from those numbers. You already know what works best for you so you should build your marketing mix on your most responsive methods. If that involveds more billboards that newspaper ads, or if its more TV vs Radio. Your mix also depends on which end of your target spectrum you get more ROI from as well. I would also address your mix as two different departments in your situation. You should have a specific corporate mix, then a specific public consumer mix. If sponsorship is a primary vehicle for your company, then you should focus a consistent mix of sponser ship and consider a seasonal or quarterly change up in your other mix. It is possible to have a quarterly set up that changes per month if you have week draws from those target seasons. What research have you done to verify your mix. Have you built any test groups for response to your efforts. Do you do any follow-up to your campaigns? I would sugguest that you build your tatics around what works. To enter a field of this magnitude you may want to consider more guerilla warfare than direct marketing in tatics. All depends on what you have in your arsenal that is more effective in your approach to your audience. I also sugguest a book called "Marketing as Strategy" by Nirmalya Kumar from the Harvard Business School Press. Good luck Shannon D

Posted by: jsmbrand	Author Response
6/23/2006 1:43 AM (CST)
Thank you for your replies so far. While we have all kinds of competitive awareness data, I think we have 5+ years of tracking data, what we don't know is, how do we know our awareness targets are right, regardless of competitive activity? Some competitors have been in business for 150 years, we aren't going to achieve their awareness for some time. Is there a bottom up business method for determining awareness goals? Especially when confronted with the challenge of brand advertising not typically being response oriented. rbauman asked "what does your company (and its board) consider successful." That's what I hope to be able to define for them. Simply saying we are at 45% awareness in Tunisia and our competition is at 79%, doesn't really help define success for them. As far as our mix research, we have done quite a bit around all of our standard platforms (advertising and sponsorship). We have pre and post test data, concept test data, we have conducted heavy up market tests, etc... The reason I ask the benchmark question is because I fear we are out of proportion. Our sponsorship spend is almost 45% of our total marketing spend. It is difficult to actually build brand in the financial services arena through sponsorships, there is such ubiquity already.

Posted by: PAW*	Accepted Answer
6/23/2006 9:22 AM (CST)
I am not a numbers guy, mainly because in all the research one conducts you can taylor the results to match what you want to achieve, so in essence, I am anti-research. And as rbauman put it, your agency will or should have them. My suggestion is to set a goal for recognition. You cited 45% vs. 79%. Why not average it out by the total number of years each entity has been in that market and then you will have more of an apples to apples comparison. Have you tried activating your sponsorship? Most companies think it is great to sponsor - throw their logo on a t-shirt and be the "official financial services provider of xyz event." Activate it. Staff the event, not with the higher ups, but with those that can reach out to the attendees and prospect customers. Coupon the event. Make sure the event is pushing your company in all pre, during, and post event materials. Tie the event back to your employees/co-workers. It is hard to suggest more without knowing what you sponsor. This is the greatest fault that companies have in sponsorship. Try it and you'll see the results. Hope some of this helps. Andy

Posted by: gopinath.mr*	Accepted Answer
6/24/2006 1:31 AM (CST)
Hi Guys.., well JSM has pretty good challenging task in hand..., thats gr8 well I have one question, Have your identified( defined) your Target Customers of your servie? ie the target audience for all your communication. I mean which segment of the total spectrum of financial services customers you are targeting. You said its B2B & B2C, but what type of B2b Customers, to bemore specific whats your target customer's turn over, no. employees etc.. I feel if you are able to understand these details of your target customers anywhere.., you can strategis eyour branding & communciation in that line which will be more efficient & productive. and easily measurable which would other wise not possible Please revert with your opnions Regards Gops

Posted by: darcy.moen	Accepted Answer
6/25/2006 1:03 AM (CST)
I'm kind of a radical in this forum at times. As such, I'm going to fly right off and ask a question that I'd like you to think long and hard about. How many customers are moved to do business with you because you have XX points of market awareness? Can you prove to me that awareness translates into sales? Or is it simply a way for a business to measure its popularity. I have a local ad agency as a client, and I always feel a shudder go through the room after the ad boys come trotting out with their 'awareness numbers'. The looks of disgust on their faces when I say 'So!?' amuse me because the awareness numbers really are simply 'bragging rights' and a means of allowing competing companies to measure how many people recognize their logo. When it comes right down to it, it simply means....this is how many people know our logo. Whup-de-doo! What I'd be more interested in is, which sales methods are bringing in customers. What sales pitch is closing business with our customers. What procedures are working to satisfy our customers and drawing in their friends and families. Its not a logo or awareness that brings in a customer....its fulfilling the needs of the customer that does!!! I'd be worried about the board asking the question: "How much awareness does a financial services brand like ours need to be successful?" too because the only correct answer is: "I don't know and I don't care because this business is all about being the one firm with the most satisfied and loyal customers, and this is what we are doing to find, capture and keep them.......". As for marketing mix, once again, who cares! If it 90 percent in persona presentation sales calls, 2 percent direct mail, 4 percent television and 4 percent radio....you'd better know which sales process and message is closing the customer! Find out what is working right and effectively within the business, and measure that. The rest is simply accounting to keep tabs on expenses and to keep the ad agency honest. Darcy Moen Customer Loyalty Network

Posted by: sriedel	Accepted Answer
6/25/2006 9:47 PM (CST)
Hi Jeff, Thank you for the questions and I would like to add a few more thoughts, if I may. A brand awareness of 40% in a market would be a dominant player where a leader in the market could be classified as low as 15%. Your financial institution’s ability to capture a large percentage of the market will largely depend on gaining a high-awareness level and meeting customer demands which will then convert that brand awareness to sales. Brand awareness, as you well know, is where it all starts in the buying cycle; it does the initial work to get your customer in to your business. If in your type of business, a customer only shop at 1 or 2 places, before they purchase, high brand awareness is even more imperative. In the USA, customers today do not have time to shop around and many times will buy at the first business, if it meets their needs. In a research study, by the American Research Group, http://americasresearchgroup.com/the_battle_for_shopper_share.html , the number one reason customers stated they did not shop at a business was they did not know it existed. Although you certainly know your customer’s buying trends the best, it appears your financial institution only has momentum to gain by standing out in the customer’s mind and increasing your brand awareness. In regards to your second question, as the other board members stated, if your current marketing mix is working, please don’t change it because of averages. Best of best practices are not for everyone and are certainly not an one size fits all directive. Nevertheless, in the USA, the trend is moving to integrated, trackable marketing and media efforts. “Although traditional marketing channels -- TV, radio and print -- continue to command the largest share of budgets, the largest spending change among respondents is occurring in trackable media categories. Today more than half of respondents' budgets go to trackable media, including channels like direct mail, email, telemarketing and search (55 percent), and 79 percent of respondents report that they are decreasing mass marketing budgets in favor of more targeted efforts”. reprinted from http://www.epsilon.com/who-pr_b2bresearch.shtml No matter you choice of marketing mix, it is important to integrate your messages. Hope this helped! Best, Sandy Riedel

Posted by: sowmya	Accepted Answer
6/27/2006 2:21 AM (CST)
The previous 2 posts make a lot of sense... My 2 cents: I believe brand targets are tied in to business targets, and stable growth is based on WoM/ referrals. While high awareness is crucial esp in your industry, it must be built based out of knowledge of your TG & your differentiation. A blanket campaign might make little or no impact, but a campaign that 'talks' to your TG will be more effective. Comparison after all has to be like for like ...if your competitors are into retail banking but you are not, the measures for success(eg. measuring awareness) are bound to be different. I really think the first step would be for your company to define success This might be a shot in the dark given that I have little info, but I hope this helps...as will this article Managing Brands for Profit http://allaboutbranding.com/index.lasso?article=149 Good luck- Sowmya

Posted by: kevin.horne	Accepted Answer
6/27/2006 10:19 AM (CST)
Jeff: You've asked two basic questions that i want to comment on directly without a lot of sidebar comments. Branding targets: I'd recommend three things. (1) Make sure your brand tracking (or company who is doing it for you) gives you more data than just "awareness." There are many gradations you can home in on to give you a better indication where the challenges and opportunities lie. (2) Track your "share of voice" in each and all media. It's OK to know that competitor A has better awareness than you, but if they are spending 10 times as much on media then you can understand it a bit more. Share of voice plus share of market together can help guide your budgeting decisions. (3) Don't be afraid to try an ROI analysis on brand communications efforts. It won't pay out in less than two years typically (unlike direct marketing) but at least your management will see that there is some method to the madness. I have examples I can share. Media mix: While it is true you should "spend whatever works for you" it is always good to see what the other thousands of companies are doing. AdAge just published a media trend study of the top 100 advertisers that shows what each company spends by medium. It can only estimate direct marketing spend, but I find it is a great place to start. In any event, when dealing with management, always think of modeling, benchmarking, and case studies.

Posted by: jsmbrand	Author Response
6/28/2006 7:07 AM (CST)
Wow, these have been helpful. Thank you for your thorough answers. What they have done, they have clarified for me what I think is my real underlying issue. I guess where my challenge regarding setting targets and marketing mix comes in is in the difference between global/HQ marketing and BU marketing. Currently HQ has a global budget for "branding" and BU's have separate budgets "services" marketing. We ask the BU's to provide us with their priority markets, we take this and crunch all kinds of numbers related to competitors and share data and come back with a goal for awareness (at least so far). We then go about a bottom up and top down budgeting process to determine the right approach/mix to achieving our set objectives. Where I think we are broken is that we don't have a direct correlation with the BU's business objectives. We think about filling the top of the funnel, but we don't know really what the businesses need out of the bottom. We currently measure the whole marketing funnel from a customer standpoint, but we don't measure the tangible business impact (leads, calls, sales...). So, I guess where I would like the discussion to head is, what objectives should HQ own and what objectives should the BU's own. Once this is determined, I think a mix discussion could be much easier. My assumption is that HQ should own the top of the funnel (awareness and familiarity) and the BU's should own the conversion of the funnel from consideration onward. Does anyone have any examples or suggestions regarding this split of objectives? Any process ideas on how to engage the BU's in a dialog at this level? Thanks again for all of your help to date.

Posted by: sriedel	Member Response
6/28/2006 10:41 PM (CST)
Hi Jeff, You are absolutely right; corporate should be responsible for brand awareness and your business units should be responsible for sales. This division of accountability is common. You shouldn’t have much of a problem getting the buy-in from the business units. On a side note, you might find the latest marketing article in the magazine, Directors & Boards, 3/22/2006 interesting, Boards must measure marketing effectiveness… by Gail McGovern. At their website, http://www.directorsandboards.com/ you can purchase a reprint, if you like. In short, it talks about marketing lacking the discipline (as compared to the finance department), in being accountable for the numbers. Jeff, we were glad to help you get ready for your important meeting. Best, Sandy Riedel

Posted by: shariful	Accepted Answer
7/6/2006 5:25 AM (CST)
I would like to differ a little with the last part of the discussion. Whether HQ or BU objective should remain the same or they should focus on different elements. In my opinition both wants to pursue the common goal - Build a strong brand along with top line ( revenue ) and Bottom Line ( Profit) growth. Awareness talks about the first ladder of branding wich should go up by presence( refers to awarness) relevance performance advanteage bonding As you can see a high awareness has little impact, it is only the starting point, Actual purchase takes place after you have crossed step 2 of relevance where your target customer find your brand relevant in fulfilling his/her need. In any market presence remains high but number starts to drop as you go up, Bonding talks about your loyal customer, which should be your end destination. Recently there was one product which had the highest Top of mind awareness in our market ( 98%) but the actual conversion was very low. The company was initially ecstatic but soon it was clear that the high awarness is not resulting to sales, bonding is miles away. That takes us back to basics of branding, where we need to first determine why would your target group will choose your service over competition. Thereby creatign your positioning and ensuring that your brand essence is communicated through all the touch points consistently, My view would be Determine what is your Brand vision first, which should answer how you want your brand to be perceived in the market in 3-5 years, which should guide you in activating your campaign/communication this year. Once you have clear definition of your target customer, it should also reveal how to reach them most effectively. If it means sponsorship than use sponsorship. If you want to create a brand that stands out in the market you need to do things differently that what the rest of the market do. I am sure by studying your target group you will find their choices, media behavior hobbies, have changed over the years which the rest of the market hasnt captured yet. You can design your marketing activities to resonate with their changing needs and at the same time build your brand identity. Instead of looking for any benchmark create your own Starbucks was build with very little advertiesment and traditional marketing spend Body Shop and Google are two more examples Hope it helps Sharif Brandzeal

Posted by: carrie77	Moderator Response
7/12/2006 6:23 AM (CST)
Hello Everyone, I am closing this question since it's more than 2 weeks old. We do this to reward the contributions of participants in a timely manner + to give increased visibility to the newer questions. Thanks for participating! Carrie (Production Editor)

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