There are a few principles to consider when finding the right comms strategy for your brand, and I know you’ve all been there:
Your CEO says: „I want a campaign that delivers growth!“
Your brand team answers: „We know our target audience and we need to develop a campaign that targets them accurately. Let’s be as edgy as possible!“ And they are right, as Adam Morgan said about the cost of being dull: “Dull is expensive commercially, because you have to put so much more effort and money to land the dull message than an interesting one.” See also Tom Fishburne on „Breaking through the clutter“: https://lnkd.in/dY-Eg8Rq
The media team, on the other hand, says: „Yeah, but that’s too narrow! We need to prioritise overall net reach, and stay on air as long as possible.“ And they are also right, because to grow a brand´s mental availability, enough people (and especially light buyers, because that´s where your growth comes from) need to be exposed to and experience your brand in a way that can bake it into their consciousness.
Daniel Murray supports this: „Most of your audience is not ready to buy. The goal of marketing is, that when they are ready to buy, your brand is top of mind.“
And your clever CMO knows what to do with this potential area of conflict, bringing both approaches together and says: „Design for the attitude, but deliver to the collective.“
And he is right, as you need to deliver on both dimensions:
👩🎤To give your brand the best chance of increasing mental availability and attracting more customers, by all means design communications with specific “attitudinal”, “brand” or “creative” audiences in mind.
🙋♀️ But always aim to reach as many category buyers as your resources allow throughout the calendar year to scale those associations as broad as is possible or affordable. Increasing your net reach is what you should be aiming for in order to deliver growth.
It sounds simple, but we all know how hard it is. So if you need help achieving growth through your communication, you know where to find me – just reach out.
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👩🎤Design for the attitude, but deliver to the collective 🙋♀️
