As we move forward into this economic downturn and marketers struggle with their budgets, branding must remain a factor in advertising programs. However, traditional branding campaigns must adapt to new marketing initiatives as companies focus on lead generation and the need to track ROI. I once saw an ad that said, “Your brand is your lifeboat and you never abandon your lifeboat.” This was further collaborated by a blog post on Publicity Works I recently read discussing branding in a down economy. By proactively marketing and staying in front of your customers or potential customers, it sends a message that your organization is strong in this economy. While other marketers may go dark with advertising, organizations that continue their messaging have the ability to stand out and become market leaders.

While there is no doubt about the importance of branding, how can marketers track ROI when all advertising dollars are being closely monitored and sales departments fight for their need for lead generation programs? It is crucial for marketers to invest in programs that provide branding, lead generation and measure ROI.  

So what type of programs work to meet both marketing and sales objectives? Looking at some of the campaigns I’ve managed lately, I find that those that are focused on interactive marketing tools provide a number of benefits. For example, a client of mine created a microsite program, which unlike their corporate website provided a custom environment where marketing controlled the content. The purpose of this was to brand all their business units under one umbrella while of course generating leads, but how do you track ROI for branding?

For the microsite program, we teamed up with Dynamic Logic to show ROI, and the client saw 90% significance in aided-brand awareness, online ad awareness and messaging association. The significance is the index of all campaigns surveyed and how these programs weigh against the norm. A 90% significance means it outperformed the industry norm, which were great results for the client.

My educated guess says that branding and lead generation programs will continue to become entwined rather than stand alone initiatives. What are your thoughts? Please share any branding programs in which you were able to track ROI.

The mobile phone industry is growing and marketers are taking advantage of this growth with mobile adverting.

In a recent Juniper Research study, they found that 30% of mobile phone users would be interested in receiving coupons through their cell phones.  Trends predict that the market will see an increase in this demand for advertising, and spending will reach $11 billion by 2011. 

While only a few retailers can actually read coupons off a cell phone, kinks can be worked out where retailers manually enter in key codes to make this effective. As retailers try to catch up to technology - there is a great opportunity for growth in mobile marketing for consumer companies but what about B2B advertisers?

B2B advertising is very different from B2C.  This blog outlines the best practices for B2B mobile email marketing.

As marketing professional, what are your thoughts and have you had any experience with mobile marketing in either the consumer or B2B markets?  Please share your comments and opinions.