Brand or Demand

How should I spend my communications budget in the current economic climate? Do I continue to invest in brand building activities or slash the lot and spend every dollar I have on demand generating activities driving enquiries and sales?

I’m paraphrasing of course but this is a question we have been asked to consider on a number of occasions in the last couple of months.

We’ve decided to conduct research to gather different evidence and opinions on the subject for the clients concerned, all of whom happen to be B2B brands. For them the question is actually simpler. They want to know whether they can justify advertising or if they would be better shifting budget into direct and digital channels.

Already I have heard from several commentators arguing that brand building in B2B markets is an ineffective use of budget. I guess those SAP, Accenture and Oracle ads I saw as I came through Heathrow a few weeks ago are all a waste of time and money then?

The same commentators see the B2B purchaser as a purely rational animal, buying and making recommendations to peers based on price, product and service features. I expect us to also challenge that. Isn’t there also a role for more emotionally led communications in B2B marketing?

Some areas we are exploring in the research include:

• Understanding decision making networks and how to deliver an optimum mix of brand and selling messages
• If appealing on an emotional level to the target whilst giving them the rational arguments they need to appeal to their peers / boss is a valid approach
• Understanding the different stages of the buying process and when to deliver emotional vs. rational selling messages
• Understanding the role of different channels and how to use them to deliver emotional vs. rational selling messages
• Understanding the difference between reputation, relationship and brand

Any ideas / comments welcome. I suspect the answer to the original question will of course always come back to the individual client objectives. I am sure we will find historical case studies that support putting $$s into advertising in a recession and equally case studies that can be found to support a shift into direct channels.