Marketing is a science, but myths still distract
At a point in time when many of us are surprised, to say the least, that large numbers in developed nations are vocally shunning science, it’s ironic that so much of the marketing industry does the same. Age-old myths often still dominate - probably because, on the surface, they can feel intuitive.
But marketing science is very real, and the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute is the global authority, having dug below the surface for decades to provide evidence for how brands really grow and what unfounded ideas we can dismiss.
Last year we became just the second agency in Australia to sponsor the Institute, and in doing so, gained access to knowledge for all our clients that global behemoths like McDonalds, Nestlé, Kelloggs and Coca-Cola also use to protect and grow their brands.
Evidence-based strategy and branding provides confidence in outcomes
Many of our clients have not been perennial spenders in marketing - either new businesses, or more established brands that have hit a growth plateau. We understand that early investments in more significant marketing campaigns naturally brings questions of effectiveness.
We measure our work on the metrics that matter, whether that’s a website that converts more customers, a brand that is truly memorable or marketing that gains attention, and action, from more people. This is not a claim unique to Juicebox, but we’re able to support our recommendations with empirical evidence, demonstrating both how and why they will drive meaningful results that instils confidence from our clients.
Setting your marketing direction: What you don’t do is as important as what you do do
A lot of what we have learned from the Institute’s findings is to understand and recognise unsustainable strategies and misleading metrics. It allows our clients to focus only on what impacts long term objectives, without getting distracted.
Focusing on a niche audience feels like a way to avoid direct competition with the biggest competitors, but you likely share more customers with (and win more customers from) them than any other brand.
Targeting just the heaviest category buyers feels like a smart efficiency, yet many of tomorrow’s heavy buyers are light buyers today.
Discounts can boost volume, but does the lower profitability actually cost you more, and do those new buyers come back?
We get our clients across the fundamentals of how markets work, common marketing tactic effectiveness, how customers behave, and what delivers meaningful impact - those leading indicators that can be directly manipulated vs lagging indicators that tend to be a reflection of success elsewhere.
Customers don’t build brand memories how we like to think they do
Once you accept that customers have no obligation to, and little interest in, consciously absorbing marketing, and learn how brand memories are created, it creates enormous efficiencies in how you design communications.
We liken it to swimming downstream - delivering marketing that works with your audience’s frankly limited capacity to take things on board. The Institute gives clear guidance on how to build brand logos, other brand assets and advertising to optimise recognition, recall and distinctiveness. In turn, attention to your brand increases - it simply becomes more noticeable through familiarity.
It’s easy to think that creativity is obsolete, but it remains just as important as it always has been. The central advice is akin to an architect understanding load-bearing factors, or solar passive principles to build an effective structure, but their unique design around those fundamentals is still required to deliver an impactful home.
The creative device in marketing is imperative to gaining attention and delivering a positive interaction. It’s just that without applying underlying essentials, it might get misattributed to a competitor, or the link back to any brand lost entirely.
Set your budget to work in the most effective way possible
At Juicebox, we can help you implement global best practice. Creating brands and marketing assets that maximise recognition and campaigns that build the mental availability required to ensure your brand is recalled when it matters most.
Once on site, you must be easy to buy - with a functionally frictionless digital experience punctuated with memorable brand moments.
Interested in finding out how to efficiently and effectively grow your brand? Get in touch with us today.
