Awareness or Acquisition – Which Campaign is Best for You?

November 27, 2020 Stan

As consumers of products and services, we get inundated with all kinds of marketing emails. Some may seem irrelevant, while others are just what interest us. Behind every great marketing campaign is a purpose that is structurally aligned to the company’s goal. A great marketing campaign is also well thought out and will coordinate back to your sales funnel. Emails we receive in our inbox should have a specific intent and should meet us where we are in the customer journey.

To better understand the types of emails we often receive, let’s review the basic foundation and purpose of two types of campaigns. Marketers create and deploy all sorts of campaigns such as nurtures, reengagements, product launches, demo ads, and the list goes on. The core drive of these marketing campaigns is to generate demand and turn those prospects into customers. Therefore, most of these types of campaigns, if not all, can be classified into two types of campaigns: Brand Awareness and Acquisition. Let’s talk more about each one so you can learn the impact they can have on your business.

Brand Awareness

Brand awareness is a top of funnel campaign that is primarily focused on an increase in awareness and engagement of your company and brand. During this stage, the goal is not to sell the prospects anything, but rather satisfying their needs and wants and giving them the information they desire at that particular time. In addition to providing them relevant content, building a deep and meaningful relationship with them during this phase is critical. If you invest in the relationship now, when it comes time for your leads to take action and make a purchase, the likelihood that they will think of you will be greater. Fundamentally, these campaigns are intended to bring anonymous visitors to your website with the goal to convert them into a lead, likely through a form fill. The most common way to do this is by publishing content. They say content is king and that stands to be true for these campaigns. Content can be deployed via multiple channels to reach a wide pool of prospects. Some of these channels include blogs, whitepapers, social media, online ads and SEO marketing.

Again, the goal of brand awareness campaigns is to grab the attention of your target audience and convey to them that your product and/or services can provide value. You want your audience to think of you first when they are in need of your product/service. As a result of driving brand awareness and generating leads, you will likely start to see an increase in website traffic and social media growth. This is a great start in getting leads to push down your sales cycle.

Acquisition

Next, let’s talk about acquisition campaigns. Contrary to the brand awareness campaigns that don’t have much direct revenue tied to it, acquisition-based campaigns are all about the dollar signs. These campaigns are bottom of funnel campaigns that are designed to convert a lead into a customer by closing on a deal or opportunity. They are designed to move the needle to have an impact on sales. Some examples of call to actions in these campaigns are keyword phrases such as “buy now”, “sign up now”, and “click to order”. To ensure you get the most out of these campaigns, make sure you are only deploying this campaign to leads that are already established and know your product/service well. The goal for this type of campaign is to increase sales. This can be anything from new subscribers, new sign ups, and of course, increased revenue.

When designing your campaign, it is important to have it align with your goals. For example, if your goal is to get a 25% increase in paid subscriptions, then the campaign should include multiple channels and easy access for your leads to conveniently find the “sign up now” button. Your brand awareness campaign should have educated your prospects, and now, it all comes down to performance of your acquisition campaign and whether your leads take action by completing a transaction.

I hope you now have a better idea about how these two types of campaigns work and how they complement each other. When done correctly, the brand awareness and acquisition campaigns seamlessly move your contacts through the customer journey. Now that you are more aware of these campaigns and the sales funnel, you can start to build actionable and measurable goals around the deployment of these campaigns. Take a moment to think about the areas of your business that need improvement. Whether it’s lacking leads or needing to convert the leads you already have, there is a strategy for you. As always, we’re here for you if you need any help! Reach out.

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