This podcast addresses two major marketing strategies: Brand Marketing and Lead Generation. This fiery debate discloses what drives sales faster and what is more beneficial for your small to medium-sized business.

Want to get more business but don’t know the best way to do so? As a digital marketing company, we come across this question almost every day. Businesses get stuck in the loop of wanting brand awareness but needing the leads and audience to progress. Let us help you make the best decision for your business, stay tuned.

Throughout this debate, we uncover:

Do you think of Apple the Brand or Apple the Fruit ?

Brand Marketing 

Brand marketing promotes your products or services while highlighting the essence of your business. The goal is to show your business’s identity, values, and personality to your audience. Essentially, your brand is the bridge between your product and your customer.

Build Brand Awareness

Small businesses must build brand awareness and attract customers before lead generation can be successful. Customers won’t give out their details if they don’t know who you are. Along with brand awareness comes brand reputation. The more people know and talk about your brand, the more likely others will do the same, creating the Butterfly effect. Boosting your brand’s reputation will create opportunities to infiltrate large markets. 

Brand marketing allows small businesses to compete with big brands to level the playing field. 

The Brand becomes the Product

What do you think your customers associate your brand with? Having your brand come to mind when customers think of a product or service is the goal. Reputable brands market their name until their name becomes the service. 

For example, when people ask for Panadol they’re asking for paracetamol. Or if someone mentions they want to buy an Apple, do you think of the fruit or the brand? Sometimes you may even struggle to think of the actual product before these brand names. 

What do these brands have in common? Trust. Reputable and trustworthy brands foster brand loyalty, which helps to skyrocket sales. 

Brand marketing = Brand loyalty 

Digital marketing allows small businesses to keep their customers longer. Brand marketing ensures customer not only remember, but love your brand. Rather than finding you online, the customer associates with your brand, making it easier to sell. This process comes naturally, showing how brand awareness and digital marketing lay the groundwork for lead generation. Having a strong brand means you don’t need to chase leads – they chase you. 

Do you have enough visibility for lead generation to be as valuable as possible? 

Lead Generation Email Inbox
Generate leads by piquing their interest and offering value.

Lead Generation Marketing

Lead Generation is the process of capturing prospects and turning them into leads by piquing their interest. It allows you to nurture them until they’re ready to take action and buy your product or service. 

All about Conversion

Leads turn into Customers, which then produce sales. The most beneficial aspect of lead generation is increasing your sales. 

Lead Generation is perfect if your business offers value to the customer. Most people are wary of entering their details and try to avoid inundating spam emails. This caution disappears once guaranteed beneficial information and resources unique to your brand. A compelling call to action is imperative to generating leads.

Identifies prospects & Targets customers

Lead Generation allows you to target and understand customers. This broad understanding of their needs and preferences will help to target them more effectively. Your strong brand marketing efforts will help to tailor the value of your product or service to their needs. Cue, lead nurturing and building relationships.

Provides Measurable Results 

Lead generation marketing is the key to staying current in the competitive market. It is the cheapest direct marketing method that will translate to a better ROI. 

Marketing strategies are not transferable, especially for different-sized businesses. Larger businesses with a stabilised ROI use brand marketing. But, small businesses need to grow. Generating leads will increase sales, cash, and survivability, establishing an area for growth. 

Your Overall Marketing Strategy

Here at Web3, we are more lead generation orientated and work closely with some fantastic brand marketers. 

Most successful companies invest in both brand and lead generation marketing. They work simultaneously, helping your overall marketing strategy. However, what works for your one business might not be the answer to yours. 

Listen In

Podcast: Ep 07 – Brand Marketing Vs Lead Gen Marketing

Do not miss the hot and fiery debate between Joseph and James. We unpack the details of Brand Marketing and Lead Generation and what is better for your business.  We’d love to hear your thoughts, so let us know who persuaded you in the comments below.

Transcript

James Banks:
Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Web3 Marketing Debate Show. I’m your host, James Banks.

Joseph Chesterton:
And, I’m your host Joseph Chesterton.

James Banks:
And, today we’ll be debating a red, hot, fiery topic:  brand marketing vs. lead generation marketing. I’ll be taking the lead generation side of the debate.

Joseph Chesterton:
And I’ll be on the brand marketing side.

James Banks:
All right, well without further ado, let’s start the debate. Why is brand marketing better than lead generation marketing for small to medium businesses?

Joseph Chesterton:
Before we get into the debate, I think it’s probably a good idea to explain what brand marketing and lead generation marketing is. They’re quite specific forms of marketing. 

Brand marketing promotes your products, or services in a way that highlights your brand. The goal of brand marketing is to link your identity, values and personality with communications to your audience.  Your brand is the bridge between your product and your customer. 

Lead generation marketing is the process of stimulating and capturing interest in a product or service. Then developing a sales pipeline, which allows companies to nurture them until they’re ready to buy.

So, without further ado, why brand marketing is better than lead generation marketing? Because it’s longer-lasting. 

When you have a brand, customers will remember and love your business and your products over having to find you online. When customers know you and associate with your brand, it’s far easier to sell products. 

You don’t have to push the snowball up the hill, it’s already halfway up the hill.

The flow-on effect is that it impacts your entire business. You can then focus on other areas of the business, not having to invest in ongoing advertising as much. Whereas, with lead generation marketing, it’s a constant battle. You have to keep pushing uphill, trying to nurture the leads to try and make a sale.

With brand marketing, the flow-on effect is that you can charge more. Aside from that, it’s just more exciting. When you have a brand that everyone loves, it’s exciting. People don’t like being sold to when they already love it and have will willingly buy your product. It’s better for your business. 

Whereas with lead generation, I’m sure you can try and defend to that, but-

James Banks:
I’d argue that it’s even more exciting Joseph. Because we actually have real KPIs to get excited about, no I’m kidding. 

But, tell me, what’s the lifeblood of all small to medium businesses? What is it, Joseph?

Joseph Chesterton:
What? Making money?

James Banks:
Cash, exactly. Cash is the lifeblood, you run out of cash, you’re out of time, you’re out of business. 

What is there to generate cash? Well, you need customers, business development, sales and ultimately, leads. Without leads or customers (putting aside direct sales or online e-commerce businesses), you don’t have a business.

Because small to medium businesses need practicality, they need to be able to ensure that there’s a tangible, or at least some form of intangible (whether it’s intangible or not) return of their marketing and advertising and business development spend. 

Are they working towards actually growing to the business? Are they generating leads, which then generates sales, cash and survivability for the business for it to grow?

Whereas, brand based marketing is often reserved for larger businesses. These have a form of stabilised cash flow and are willing to invest and build the brand. 

So, what comes first is the chicken and the egg? Or, is it one or the other? It all comes down to what the best long term strategy is. 

Why is brand marketing the better long term strategy than lead generation marketing Joseph?

Joseph Chesterton:
Yeah, I think it’s pretty clear here that I’ve got the easy corner of this ring.

James Banks:
I set you up for that one.

Joseph Chesterton:
Because, when you do brand marketing, it resonates with your customers, and is easier to sell to. 

Panadol, Sharpie, Chapstick and PowerPoint are all brands. They aren’t actually the product, but people associate those products with the brand name. 

When searching for, let’s say, paracetamol, do you say: “Oh, I need to get a paracetamol” or, “I need to go get a Panadol”? 

It’s so much easier when you own your brand and people associate with the brand and marketing is done right. It’s just so much easier for the business.

Or, let’s say, I’m going to go and get an apple. Would you, somewhere in your brain think, is that an Apple computer or the fruit, apple? With such a strong brand, such as Apple, it’s a no-brainer that they have a better long term strategy. 

They don’t need to be chasing leads and things, the leads chase you essentially.

James Banks:
Well, it comes down to what produces the best result.  It goes back to my previous point about intangible vs. tangible KPIs or points of measurement. And how you measure the success of any campaign, whether it be brand marketing or lead generation marketing. 

The thing is that we are not in either role or company. Yes, we do a fair bit and we are more orientated towards the lead generation marketing side of things. But we work very closely with some fantastic brand marketers. We’ve seen this across hundreds of clients and hundreds of accounts over many, many years now. 

Ultimately, the most successful companies are the ones that invest in both brand and lead generation marking.

They don’t see it as heaven and hell, it’s two things that work in simultaneous conjunction with each other. You could have a great sales pipeline, but if you are a nobody, you’re a no brand. It’s very difficult to build a long term successful company.

On the alternative side of things, if you’re only doing brand based activity, and not converting it into sales and cash, then you don’t have a business.  

It’s all sizzle and no steak. 

The ultimate position to be in is being able to invest and grow both sides of your business. Evaluate your marketing and advertising campaigns under both umbrellas; brand and lead generation marketing. Is there anything else you wanted to add to that Joseph?

Joseph Chesterton:
I would say that when you are first starting out, yes, you do need to be doing both. But, there would probably be a strong emphasis on lead generation marketing. 

But, when you do focus on the long term, your brand is crucial. It’s something that is hard to create when you’re starting out and takes more time than lead generation marketing.

James Banks:
Brand drives value, and value is the ultimate north star of a business. You’re creating a business that is of value. Brand is what drives the value, along with many other pieces. But the public-facing thing that everyone can touch, see, feel and be on the tip of everyone’s tongue, is ultimately brand. 

You can’t get a well-known brand without leads, sales or customers, they work together.

Anyway, I think we have covered this topic enough. So with that said, that’s a wrap on the brand versus lead generation marketing debate. We hope you enjoyed that episode. 

Tune in next time for another red, hot debate. 

We will talk to you all again real soon.

And that’s a wrap for this episode of the Marketing Debate show. If you liked it, please give us a positive rating on your preferred podcasting platform.

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And here’s the very next episode: Website Design Vs. Performance: What will increase traffic to your website?