Short-terming vs. big vision.

Short-terming.

Companies that regularly redirect marketing spend at hitting quarterly sales numbers rather than brand-building, are storing up problems for the future.

Certainly, this type of marketing will usually give a very measurable ROI – so if nothing else, companies know where they stand cost-wise.

But there’s no long-term effectiveness in short-term sales focus, meaning this type of activity needs repeating over and over and over, every time the sales graph begins to dip.

Compared to long-term brand building, it’s a very poor value proposition all round.

Big vision.

When companies develop powerful brands and invest vision and creativity into a long-term ‘build’ they win recognition and trust. Their marketing drives consideration as well as conversion.

Those brands are no longer dependent on short-term sales-focused campaigning to drive up the quarterly numbers. Because there’s longevity in carefully planned brand building, the cost of marketing falls overall.

Over time then, the cost to companies that focus their marketing purely on driving sales is higher, because they have to repeat marketing campaigns each time they need better numbers. This makes the product more expensive, or the company less profitable as a result.

Careful brand building makes companies more competitive financially because they need to market less frequently. It offers simple routes into future product diversification and can attract investment thanks to the stored equity in respected brands.