There continues to be a lot of controversy and interest around the merits of branding online. To Melissa’s point in her last entry, a lot of marketers question their ability to prove out that branding investments pay-off. They are unsure as how to set up measurements and metrics around a branding ROI exercise.

I’d like to share a couple of methodologies we have used. One methodology is to set-up a pre and post email survey of your audience prior to running any branding-focused sponsorship. A prerequisite for this working is that the audience you email is in fact pretty much the same audience that will be exposed to your sponsorship. It’s essential to ask them questions about their unaided or aided awareness of your brand prior to exposing them to your messaging or creative content and then to ask them after a considerable duration of time (I’d say minimally 6-8 weeks) has passed.

Another methodology we’ve tried has been in conjunction with Dynamic Logic, where they tag and survey viewers of banner ads and compare results from a controlled group (those that haven’t seen the ads), to those of an exposed group, (those that have seen the ads). When we have done this we have been amazed to see that an advertiser’s brand ranking amongst competitors can actually go up a couple of points in a two to three months timeframe. This not only proves out the worthiness of the branding sponsorship, it showcases how any branding exercise in general is accelerated on the internet.

Again, if the client’s messaging stands out it’s quite remarkable how much higher awareness levels are when our audiences have seen a client’s ad campaign more than once.

I’d be curious as to what you have used to test branding effectiveness online or welcome comments on the two methodologies I just described.

Melissa recently wrote on the importance of brand in busy markets such as the security market, but the lack of commitment to spending against it. Investing in branding always seems to be the source of much controversy, but one thing that I feel is less debatable is the positive impact that a strong brand can have in elevating all efforts. Budget is not always allocated for straight branding efforts, but time spent developing your brand and incorporating it consistently into all your efforts is always time well spent.

I recently came across a piece in AdWeek which details the results of a recent survey conducted by the American Association of Advertisers. The survey found that while many marketers are developing integrated marketing programs across brands, only 33% are happy with the efforts. According to respondents, the largest obstacle to the success of these programs is the “siloed corporate environment” - i.e. being able to unite multiple brands under one consistent umbrella.

In my opinion, these results provide a great case study on the impact that brand identity and brand platform have in determining marketing success and ROI. This impact is especially important when it comes to marketing to an IT audience. As I have outlined in a previous blog entry, IT purchasing is typically a group decision-making process. Establishing strong brand identity and a consistent brand platform can be a key unifying factor in moving a group of decision-makers towards a purchase - the ultimate return on investment.

However, avoid the mistake that many marketers make - consistency does not mean “the same.” Depending on their level, the individuals that comprise this process gravitate towards different message benefits and consume different media, so it is imperative to keep the central theme of your marketing platform top of mind while maintaining relevancy with each different segment. This central theme must not just be present in outbound efforts, but must also be fully integrated with all internal sales materials/follow-up efforts. This is no easy task, but will go a long way towards increasing your return on your IT marketing investment.

Recently, I presented best practices for integrated marketing at a dinner with several colleagues.  In attendance were marketing professionals from small to large IT companies.   We highlighted the importance of integration and specifically highlighted the importance of having a “sticky brand” when generating leads and demand.

We have research that showcases high awareness equates to a greater purchase intention.  But brand awareness is of utmost importance in busy markets, like IT security, where there are several vendors and many products.  However, when we discussed branding with these marketing pros, the overall opinion was that while it is necessary, marketers have a hard time getting their execs to fully embrace it because the marketers are not sure of how to prove ROI on it.  Consequently, it’s a small piece of the marketing budget.

Is this your experience as well?