Do brands still matter in times of economic recession, accountability and data-driven marketing?

"Of course they do. What a stupid question to ask," you might think. But the question is not as a stupid as it seems in this day and age (besides, we had a teacher who used to say questions are never stupid, only answers are, so there you go).

Why is the question relevant? Because we pity a bit the poor brand marketer but also because we have a message.

Imagine the brand marketer today. The marketing department he works in has to be accountable, in these times of economic recession his budgets are under pressure because everyone wants immediate results as proven in some recent posts we did, the mass media are under pressure, it must be a heck of a job.

Of course it is important to think result-driven, customer-centric and data-driven. But who ever said that the customer does not want brands?

Don’t forget the brand lover

People like to feel safe when they buy something. They like to know that what they buy will be of decent quality and/or come from a trustworthy supplier. And that’s exactly one of the areas brands come in.

But there are many more psychological reasons why many customers like strong brands. Think about the desire to be socially different (OK, you could call it the desire to show off) and many more reasons such as the simple desire to fit in with the rest of the bunch (“Hey mom, all kids in school have that cool whatever, why don’t I?”).

Brands and the bottom-line

So far for the customer. What about the profit of your company? Why invest in branding if you have so many great tools to shorten the buying cycle, increase the efficiency of your marketing and boost your sales in a very safe way?

Well, the answer is simple. If you focus too much on the here and now by using too much short-term promotions, price reductions, aggressive sales strategies and so on you risk forgetting two things: the long term but most of all the impact the strength of your brand(s) on the bottom-line.

If you start playing it too direct and aggressive, under pressure of the economic climate or the holy marketing ROI for instance, you risk weakening the strength of your brand(s), thus losing revenues from loyal brand buyers who no longer perceive your brand as what it used to stand for. And don’t forget: the margins you get from these brand buyers are, well, not bad.

So beware and don’t forget your poor brand marketer and…your customer that loves your brand(s).

Jean-Paul De Clerck is a 360° interactive marketing consultant, founder of the Fusion Marketing Experience and owner of conversionation. You can connect with him via Twitter.