New research has found that Australian marketers are not prioritising brand building in their marketing strategy.
The whitepaper, conducted by Deloitte on behalf of Facebook, found that just 17 per cent of Aussie marketers see brand building as their most important objective.
Increasing sales revenue (23 per cent), building customer engagement (18 per cent) and increasing market share (17 per cent) were all considered to be equally or more important that brand building.
Perhaps as a result of this lack of focus, 22 per cent of marketers think their brand has stagnated or declined over the last 12 months, according to the report.
The whitepaper was launched today at the Facebook’s ‘Brands with a Pulse’ event in Sydney and Melbourne.
Kareene Koh, partner at, Deloitte Digital, said failing to recognise the importance of brand comes at a cost to business.
“Our survey found that businesses whose brands stagnated over the past year also saw their revenues fall by 13 per cent on average over this period,” she said.
“For a business with annual revenue of $1 billion, this represents a potential fall of $130 million in revenue.”
“To build and maintain a strong brand, it is important for businesses to understand the basic principles of advertising, particularly in an evolving marketing landscape whereby new technologies are allowing new ways to reach customers.”
Also commenting on the report at the event was Tourism Australia CMO Lisa Ronson, who argued that marketers and businesses can’t have a robust sales outcome without a strong brand.
“I’ve worked in many industries over the years, and if you stop investing in brand to get a very short-term outcome, you might not see the results in three months or six months, but after a while you will see your brands start to decline,” she said.
“On average, you will have to spend twice as much to get that brand value back to restore your sales outcome.
“Consumers need to make an emotional connection when they’re paying for things. As much as we want to overlook that, it’s just not the case.”
The report also found that four in five marketing professionals believe new technologies will drive change in their marketing strategy in the next five years, while two in three marketing managers believe that digital and social media are the best channels for brand building.
Digital marketing and social media marketing are the only two mediums that marketers expect to spend a higher proportion of their budget on over the next two years.
Additionally, almost two in five marketing managers think that social media is the most effective medium for building customer engagement.
Naomi Shepherd, group industry director at Facebook in Australia and New Zealand, said the findings of this report underpin the message that the social media giant wants to share with businesses.
“Brands with a Pulse is talking to businesses more broadly about how to grow, sustain and thrive in a rapidly changing environment,” she said.
“Consumer behaviour is being driven by technology. One of the biggest behaviour changes of recent times is our love affair with mobile. If brand activity doesn’t keep up with these changing behaviours, it risks losing it vitality.
“It’s about capturing the attention of consumers where they are engaged most, when they are engaged most, and in ways they find the most engaging.”
