Today’s marketing is becoming more and more sales focused. Gone are days when advertising above the line is simply messaging with call to action to ‘look out for us in a store near you’ or ‘call our number to learn more’ and below-the-line activities have gone beyond event sponsorships and brand gifting as rewards for loyalty. Now there is a QR code included where a quick scan takes customers to a website to order a product sample, book a service or get a percentage off. Today’s marketers are asking, what’s the ROAS on awareness channels and since awareness tactics are more qualitative than quantitative and business leaders being number-focused, more marketing resources are deployed towards consideration and conversion in varying degrees. Vanity metrics of likes, shares, comments and organic conversations are no longer enough in priming new audiences, if these metrics are not driving further consideration or immediate action. Welcome to the Age of Marketing Performance and Data.

According to this 2018 article, one of the strongest drivers of purchase is the ability to recall a product and ‘brand recall is improved by a consistent and ubiquitous logo and tagline, by celebrity endorsements and traditional mass marketing’. Yet, how does a business measure behavior based on associated memory?

Digital and its connected marketing platforms have their positives – depending on the layers and choice of tactics – it can be deployed full funnel. However, it’s becoming a sell-sell medium with brands and businesses minimizing awareness spending and increasing consideration resources, targeting customers based on online choices and search – thanks to third-party data. In this way, marketers lose sight of other customer connection points on digital. That blend of targeted messaging to customer groups through a 1:1 lens, with capacity for informative data mining.

People buy what they like from people or businesses that they like. Or from people or businesses that connect or resonate with them. Or whatever is within easy reach. How does a store front measure likes? Data is great however output is dictated by input and the feed is even more important than the results. While there is little measurable data that can be associated with traditional mass awareness channels, POS surveys or customer research (if businesses ask the right questions) could reveal so much insight into behavior that could inform great business decisions. Not everything should be measured in numbers.

Consumers from 5 years ago have very likely changed or at best, evolved. And we do know that sometimes the consumer is not the buyer. If all of your business data is pointing towards the buyer, you could be missing out on a whole lot of information – who’s using your product? Customer strategies are successful when businesses and marketers frequently update customer information and preferences at every interaction, and effectively manage these data for current and future marketing opportunities. This also helps with understanding your different customer segments and businesses can make more informed decisions, using all of the data across all of their customer touch points irrespective of campaign funnel.

Keeping customers is an art. It’s psychology. What do customers want? In what moments do they think about your business? Do they think about you? Do they see you? When do they see you? How do they connect with you? Where do they see you? This is why I believe that there will always be a case for deploying marketing awareness campaigns. Not everything needs to be measured. Return on Awareness (I should trademark this) is future earning – it’s reach and backing for salesmen or that lone shop in a faraway locality with far reaching, long term results. It’s the nostalgia and memories it evokes in customers years after the fact to get them to ‘buy again’. It’s top of mind recall at points of payment, service and need moments.

In reality, awareness can be measured by benchmarking across a historical timeline. It can also be measured through brand mentions, share of voice, social listening, and mind share at critical purchase points. While customer research can be costly, time consuming and tasking, it brings customers and the brand into one space – testing sentiments and a chance to get answers to the Whys. 

Purchase data is great, however supporting customer research with this data empowers marketers with preference learnings. While this data rarely provides marketers with real insight into the purchase behavior, preference learning shines light towards the why. Or possible whys. As recent experience has taught me, personalization strategies are only great when the data is clean.

Marketing is never one size fits all, however it does take knowing the all in deciding what sizes to take to market and not everything requires quantitative measures.