Nothing triggers branding behavior like an offer

By Ron Jacobs

We are in one of the most transformational times for marketing and communications. For newspapers and trade publications, it is truly the Chaos Scenario (so named by media observer and author Bob Garfield). Other areas of communications are undergoing similar, if not as drastic, changes.

Many traditions are illusions from an earlier and simpler time. For example, singles are out. A single USP (Universal Selling Proposition), a single target market, and a single media channel are no longer relevant in a time of multichannel marketing communications. What's in? A focus on the customer experience, where messaging and segments are treated differently based on demographics, psychographics, geographics, synchrographics, transactions, etc. It is not a time hold on to traditional beliefs about brand values, pricing and discounts…beliefs that often fall short of today's more complex marketing realities, anyway.

Consumers take countless non-linear journeys on their way to making purchase decisions. Often they bypass advertising altogether. Many discover brands through direct and digital means. Marketers need to create new listening platforms to learn what markets want, what prospects find interesting, and find out which consumer problems are worth solving. Marketers need to learn how prospects and customers consume information.

Direct marketing has always been about generating response. Response is behavior, behavior that direct marketers encourage through the use of offers and calls to actions. Not generating enough response? Tough economic times call for better offers. Offers, when paired with the right customer segments, the right channels and the right timing are the best triggers for generating results.

The Basic Elements

The offer is one of the basic tools of direct marketing. The offer is the promise of a transaction, what someone will receive. But offers aren't just discounts or enticements to get a prospect or customer to respond.

The elements of the offer include the product, service or brand; the price; the payment terms; the guarantee; and incentives.

Products, services and brands are part of the offer. They work together along with the price and incentives. A good incentive can be just the nudge a prospect needs to respond. Discounts don't hurt the brand. A free offer may be the very reason someone tries a new brand. It's hard to imagine how Denny's "Free Tuesday" offer hurt their brand. This offer filled their restaurants with prospects and returning customers alike on an otherwise off day.

On their own, offers don't always provide enough motivation. GM has offered employee pricing, special incentives and 0% financing. For the last year, GM has sold fewer cars most months than the month before. GM hasn't been able to create demand with advertising and cool creative. A damaged brand may not be helped by incentives, but there is no evidence that testing incentives hurt the GM brand.

 "Real" Brand Marketing

Brand marketers have always considered their chosen field a higher calling. It was a way to explain how products, services or entities could be turned into much-favored "intangibles" based upon a collection of experiences and associations connected with the brand. As perceptions, brands could be sold for their perceived value to consumers.

Some argued that discounting and price wars could harm brands. There's no proof of that.

In today's world, advertising's goal is to change customer behavior, not to create interest or awareness . Even before the current economic decline, more and more marketers were asking for communications to create actions that would convert into tangible results like leads, sales and traffic.

A few months ago, Daniel Morel, CEO of Wunderman, and John Gerzema, chief insights officer at Young & Rubicam Group, published an article with the findings from a 10-year study of brand and financial data, the Brand Asset Valuator (BAV). This study showed that 85% of brands were stagnant or had declined in brand differentiation. Among the top 100 most valuable brands, 45% were declining in consumer perceptions.

Morel and Gerzema concluded that in today's marketplace, direct response is not an element at the bottom of a purchase funnel. Brand and response are "now intertwined."

In the same vein is branding consultant Jonathan Salem Baskin's book, "Branding Only Works on Cattle." He reinforces the idea branding has always been about changing consumers' and decision makers' behavior. And when the tools and techniques used for branding don't change behavior and can't be measured, they fail. Even brand marketers now admit direct response is a powerful type of communication for improving the brand experience.

 So, where do we take this conversation next? Brand, direct and digital marketers all need to cast away ideas developed in the 1960's. Brand marketers need to worry more about changing consumer behaviors than changing consumer perceptions. Incentives won't always trigger changes in behavior. But a strong call to action and a discount surely won't hurt a 21st-century brand. As in any good direct marketing endeavor, it's certainly worth a test.

Ron Jacobs (ronjacobs@jacobsclevenger.com) is president of Jacobs & Clevenger, Chicago.

Next Page: Don't Discount, Do Add Fresh Ideas and Creativity