Brand-er or Direct-er?

Your marketing DNA will determine your success

Are you a brand-first driven company (a “brander”) or a direct response marketer (“directer”)? Many organizations want to believe they can be both, especially branders who believe that thanks to social media, they can also be successful direct marketers.

Sadly (and often expensively), they discover this kind of thinking is a mistake, largely because they’re trying to change their organization’s marketing DNA — and to some extent, what has already made them successful.

Being a brander or a directer is not inherently better one way or the other. But knowing where you stand on the above spectrum may decide your future marketing success.

Our experience is that the cultures, decision-making and spending habits of these two types of companies are often radically different. It’s hard to be both at the same time.

What are the differences between branders and directors?

“Directers” approach marketing quantitatively; they are continuously testing all aspects of their spend (creative, media channels, packaging, upsells, distribution models, etc.) to determine what works best today. What they lack in intuition they make up for in numbers. Directers truly believe companies are built entirely on sales. In fact, they tend to avoid the word brand, which connotes product qualities that are not a direct reflection of a marketing action.

In most director companies, sales and marketing are indistinguishable. Significant attention is given to the product or service (rather than the “brand essence”) and direct to buyer channels are emphasized, to bring the customer as close to the company as possible. One example is the infamous Snuggie, an As Seen on TV product that was first sold directly to consumers on television and later via retail. The management approach is almost always bottom up, with data driving every decision.

In contrast, “branders” are traditionally top down thinkers, who often work with third party distributors; typically the numbers side of their marketing comes at the end of their question set. Branders usually place heavy emphasis on building consumer preference through marketing creative, perhaps because they are relying heavily on third parties for product distribution. They also rely on advertising agencies steeped in brand building, rather than lead generation. Certain industries, such as automotive, are a natural match for this approach, although they are starting to be tested: Tesla is shunning the dealer model and selling directly to customers, an approach that has resulted in lawsuits from threatened dealers. It remains to be seen whether the courts or the consumer will decide the outcome.

7 Signs Your Company is not a Directer

1- Senior leadership has more relationships with buyers and third party distributors. It’s unlikely they’ve built Internet or other direct to consumer companies and the organization is more retail-oriented than consumer-oriented.

2- Management falsely believes some basic experience with social media qualifies the company as having direct marketing capabilities.

3- Acquisitions are made to quickly “bolt-on” direct to consumer know-how.

4- Resources are often redirected frantically and belatedly in an attempt to “get closer to the consumer.”

5- The sales and marketing organizations are separate and built to serve third parties versus consumers directly.

6- Distribution and sales metrics and analysis are not primarily built around consumers and audiences but third parties and channels.

7- Management experience is not “born in direct” but acquired or gathered later through management positions without prior, hands-on consumer marketing.

As you can see from the above, being a successful direct marketing company requires a certain DNA. It is extremely difficult to remake a brander heritage into a newly focused directer. And trying to do both has been disastrous for many companies and marketers trying to please multiple masters before they can get to the end customer.

Choosing one path, usually the one your company started on long ago, is the best way forward. Being a truly great brander or directer comes after deciding what path(s) not to pursue. Make sure you choose wisely!

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