Decisions, Decisions.
Brand Choice in an Age of Information Overload
How many decisions do we make in a day? Zillions.
What we choose to do, say, eat, and wear are just the beginning.
Scrolling and streaming alone present thousands of communication options – which should we stop and commit to?
And every day, we make buying decisions that range from inconsequential to monumental.
How can we possibly deal with all that?
We were struck, in a good way, by two recent articles in seemingly unrelated journals that may be helpful for marketers trying to manage, and even harness, this complexity.
First, there’s a great primer in Psychology Today for a new book entitled Unconscious Branding (Van Praet). The central idea is based on new studies in Predictive Processing that are “…revolutionizing how we perceive reality and… how we view brands.”
The key takeaway makes sense: Our brains begin every decision with very strong predispositions. To save time and mental energy we engage in cognitive shortcuts that “enable us to more efficiently make sense of a cluttered dynamic consumer landscape.” We filter a mountain of stimuli with a bias – in a split second, we decide: is this relevant, interesting, consistent with my values? Then we reject or accept it.
Maybe more now than ever, the strength of a brand is essential in the purchase dynamic. The very definition of a brand is that of a built-in bias… for quality, values, and personality.
In SMA’s view, branding is being neglected, and often abandoned, by many B2B marketers.
The drive to measure marketing performance and prove ROI has, in many cases, crowded out investments in top-of-the funnel benefits that have been more difficult to measure. This has created a downward spiral that limits – and actually shrinks – selling results.
A recent article from MarTech.org, a content site dedicated to marketing and technology, is compelling not only for its opinion – but also that they were the ones espousing it. The commentary centered on this point: a rise in awareness and brand building makes all other B2B marketing stuff work better. YES, OF COURSE!
For years, marketing technology has been obsessed with the bottom of the funnel, measuring and driving purchase intent with things like SEM, marketing automation, CRM, lead nurture, and remarketing.
But bottom-of-the funnel initiatives cannot gain the kind of traction we’d like without positive predisposition that comes from familiarity and trust in their fundamental brand.
The MarTech.org piece is focused on the potential of CTV for B2B marketers: precision in targeting and creative storytelling, and its ability to produce measurable (and testable) enhancements to business through brand building.
We couldn’t agree more.
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