Brandformance and the evolution of marketing

The world of marketing and advertising is constantly evolving, and traditional strategies have changed forever. Nowadays, it seems increasingly unusual for a brand to focus solely on long-term goals such as brand building and generating positive associations. Instead, companies are obsessed with meeting monthly or quarterly sales targets at any cost.

The well-established brands we recognize today have been built over many years and, in some cases, have been passed down from generation to generation. However, the era when consumers compared two or three brands has come to an end.

Today, cross-border markets, imported products, private labels, and the rise of discounters have shown that quality can be offered at low prices. This has forced brands that previously invested large budgets in advertising to enter a price war, neglecting brand health in pursuit of monthly sales.

“Performance marketing is a lifeline for the modern digital advertising industry. The ability to measure and continuously optimize campaigns based on accurate data allows companies to quickly adapt to changing market conditions and maximize their results.” – Says Martin Sorrell, one of the most solid leaders in the advertising sector.

Therefore, to balance the commercial teams’ drive to meet targets with the need to maintain what gives value to companies, which is the brand, a bridge has been created between sales performance and brand building. This approach is known as Brandformance.

In this article, we will define the key concepts encompassed by Brandformance.

Branding or Brand Building

Branding focuses on creating a lasting and meaningful impression of the brand in consumers’ minds. This process goes beyond simply selling products or services; it involves developing an identity and narrative that emotionally resonates with the target audience.

In the digital age, brand building combines art and science, where creativity meets strategy to forge an authentic and trustworthy brand.

Key Components of Brand Building

To build a solid and recognizable brand, it is essential to understand and develop several key components that shape its identity and market perception. These elements not only define how the brand looks and feels but also establish the foundations of its communication and relationship with consumers, such as:

  • Brand Identity. Includes visual elements like the logo, colors, and typography, as well as the brand’s tone and voice. The identity must be consistent and reflect the fundamental values of the brand/product. 
  • Brand Story. Successful brands tell stories that connect emotionally with their audience. This narrative should be authentic, inspiring, and reflect the company’s mission and vision. 
  • Emotional Connections. Creating an emotional connection with consumers is crucial. This is achieved through positive experiences, constant communication, and delivering added value that goes beyond the offered product or service.

    See also PhyDigital: the new trend in online and offline digital marketing and discover our experiential work with leading global brands. 
  • Customer Experience. Every interaction with the brand should be positive and consistent, reinforcing the brand’s perception in the consumer’s mind.

Learn our tips on how to create brand methodologies and follow our YouTube channel to stay updated on new branding trends in digital marketing.

Performance Marketing

While brand building focuses on perception and recognition and requires sophisticated tools to measure its effectiveness, performance marketing is action-oriented and aimed at achieving specific objectives. This approach uses data-driven optimized campaigns that are easily attributable with tools like Google Analytics.

What is needed to achieve Performance Marketing?

To succeed in this approach, it is essential to have certain key elements that allow for the optimization and monitoring of every aspect of the campaigns, thus ensuring the achievement of the established performance goals.

  • Clear Objectives. Each performance campaign should have specific, measurable, and achievable goals. These objectives may include increasing sales, generating leads, or boosting web traffic.

    After defining the objectives, you need to determine how to implement the marketing tactics that help you achieve those goals in the strategy. 
  • Data Analysis. The use and analysis of data are fundamental to performance marketing. Campaigns must be constantly monitored and adjusted to optimize results. 
  • Optimization and Testing. A/B testing and the continuous improvement of the digital asset are essential for enhancing campaign performance. This includes testing different messages, creatives, and channels to identify what works best.

    With this, you can optimize the UX and SEO of your digital asset, achieving a series of continuous optimization loops, iterating your product or service to monetize and expand your business in the long term. 
  • Measurement and Reporting. The ability to measure and report campaign performance is crucial. This allows marketing or sales teams to identify areas for improvement and demonstrate return on investment (ROI) or return on advertising spend (ROAS).

From AsylumX, you can find that strategic partner for your business ideas in e-commerce. Learn about our performance marketing services and how we grow our clients’ sales performance.

How to integrate Brand Building and Performance in Digital Marketing?

Now more than ever, it is vital to integrate brand building and performance marketing campaigns. In a modern marketing environment, these two components should not be seen as isolated approaches but as complementary parts of a holistic strategy.

A strong brand can enhance the effectiveness of performance campaigns, and in turn, can strengthen brand perception. To achieve this synergy, here are four hacks to consider when integrating Brand Building and Performance Marketing:

  • Create Consistent Messages for Your Audience. Ensure that the brand’s identity and narrative are consistent across all performance campaigns. This reinforces brand perception while driving action.

    It is important that for each campaign, you can create expectation visuals to capture your audience’s attention. 
  • Use Your Brand Data to Inform Campaigns. Use insights and data obtained through brand building to optimize performance campaigns.

    Some platforms like Meta, Google, or TikTok, depending on the investment volumes, allow studies like Brand Lift and help understand how advertising impacts brand attributes.

    If you need to strengthen how to interpret and analyze data, you can rely on our masterclasses and also, partner with a strategic ally like Asylum, an expert in Business Intelligence that can provide insights and grow your business. 
  • Create Memorable Experiences. Design performance campaigns that not only drive action but also create positive and memorable experiences that reinforce the emotional connection with the brand.

    For DIOR, we created a brand experience where the physical and digital converge in a 360 strategy that allowed the brand to gain greater visibility and generate upsell sales both in physical stores and e-commerce channels. 
  • Get Feedback from Your Audiences for Continuous Improvement. Using feedback from performance campaigns allows you to adjust and improve brand building strategies, creating a continuous cycle of improvement and optimization.

    How can you achieve this? By integrating email marketing strategies and surveys or experience ratings with your product or service.

    Apply assertive agile methodologies to your process and scale your business through Growth Marketing practices to keep your stakeholders on trend.

In conclusion, brand building and performance marketing are two sides of the same coin. A truly effective marketing strategy recognizes the importance of both approaches and seeks to integrate them in a way that they complement and strengthen each other, creating a solid brand and achieving measurable results.

Alejandro Caicedo

Master's in Digital Transformation from ESDEN Business School and a Publicist from Universidad Autónoma de Occidente, with over 15 years of experience working in prominent media agencies (Wavemaker and Starcom) with regional brands such as Colgate Palmolive, Kellogg's, Samsung, Carrefour, Coca Cola, Colombina, among others.
He also played a role in the marketing teams of companies like Colombina S.A. as the Director of Digital Marketing, where he led the digital transformation of the company and its entry into eCommerce channels. He also had a stint at Fanalca S.A., where he was part of the advertising operation for the Honda brand in Colombia.
Currently, Alejandro leads the eCommerce and Media units at the regional agency Asylum Marketing, where he and his team help brands discover insights that spark great ideas, ensure these ideas reach millions of people, and assist businesses in uncovering the tremendous potential of online sales. Some of the brands they work with include Offcorss, Dior, Yupi, Rimax, Colombina, Visa, Absolut Vodka, among others.

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