• About Us
  • Advertise with Us
  • Contact Us
  • Offers
  • Events
  • Newsletter
  • Podcasts
  • Digital Magazine
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Self Development
  • Growth
  • Finance
  • Marketing
  • Technology
  • Sustainability
  • About Us
  • Advertise with Us
  • Contact Us
  • Offers
  • Events
  • Newsletter
  • Podcasts
  • Digital Magazine
NZBusiness Magazine

Type and hit Enter to search

Linkedin Facebook Instagram Youtube
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Self Development
  • Growth
  • Finance
  • Marketing
  • Technology
  • Sustainability
NZBusiness Magazine
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Self Development
  • Growth
  • Finance
  • Marketing
  • Technology
  • Sustainability
Marketing

The power of the brand in a digital world

With more advertising spend allocated to digital channels due to cost efficiencies and data-led targeting, how does the power of the brand fit into this new world advertising?

Glenn Baker
Glenn Baker
November 15, 2019 3 Mins Read
812

In a time where companies are moving more of their advertising spend to digital channels due to the cost efficiencies and data led targeting, marketing managers and CEOs are often left wondering how the power of the brand fits into this new world advertising, writes Alex Jordan.

Everyone acknowledges that this is a complicated and tricky question for marketers and business owners alike, as the way customers consume content and information is vastly different than it used to be. 



In digital there are two ways you can acquire a customer or sale


To understand the power of the brand in digital there is a fundamental element of acquisition you need to understand. There are two distinct ways you can acquire a customer, sale, or lead in digital.

1. Through someone who knows and has affinity with the brand so goes directly to your website or in-store and does not look elsewhere. They want a certain product, and they want it from you.



2. Someone who either doesn’t know your brand or is uncertain about who they want to    pick for a product, so looks around and makes what is known as a “non-brand search”.

Both of these options have the ability to convert a customer online, however option two has a far higher cost of acquisition.

Why? Because you are competing both indirectly and directly with other companies, all with the same data-led targeting, trying to acquire the same customer you are. Most digital channels work like an auction, so if you have eight companies all vying for the same customer, the cost to get their eyeballs on your product becomes increasingly higher.

The customer is the supply, and the eight people bidding for their eyeballs become the demand, therefore skyrocketing the acquisition cost to get that customer. 



 

So what does brand have anything to do with this? 



Spending time and resources creating and developing a strategic brand that resonates with not only a user’s head, but also their heart, lets you start to play in option one.

Think sneakers; if you need new shoes, are you Googling and looking around for sneakers?

I would assume you go straight to Nike or Adidas’s website because you have emotions that connect you with that brand. Those brands are already subconsciously in the consideration cycle of the customer before they go online to begin their search.

And the cost to acquire that customer? Zero.

You don’t have competitors if a customer searches or looks directly for you, therefore making the pitch for brand increasingly popular.

 

Brand vs acquisition

So, should you focus your efforts on creating and activating a brand? Or acquiring every customer you can to keep cashflow humming in the short term?

The answer is actually both. This is where digital and brand agencies intersect. Pushing out paid and organic content that aligns with brand guidelines lets you play in both spaces, almost like the middle section of a venn diagram.

Brand and digital agencies should work closely together to strategically mould a strategy that, in turn, creates long-term success for the client.

Otherwise, it is a race to the bottom in a competitive market. 



 

Alex Jordan is a digital and data specialist. Email jordanoptimisation.co.nz

Share Article

Glenn Baker
Follow Me Written By

Glenn Baker

Glenn is a professional writer/editor with 50-plus years’ experience across radio, television and magazine publishing.

Other Articles

StuartNash, Napier setting,head and shoulders, dark suit
Previous

Streamlined business invoicing a step closer

Paintvine
Next

NZ’s Paintvine launches in the UK

Next
Paintvine
November 15, 2019

NZ’s Paintvine launches in the UK

Previous
November 15, 2019

Streamlined business invoicing a step closer

StuartNash, Napier setting,head and shoulders, dark suit

Subscribe to our newsletter

NZBusiness Digital Issue – September 2025

READ MORE

The Latest

AI comes to the back office as NetSuite Next brings enterprise intelligence within reach

October 8, 2025

Construction sector leads sustainability charge despite industry pressures

October 8, 2025

Tune into the brand: How Radio BurgerFuel amplifies a strong identity

October 1, 2025

Smart interest-free business lending

October 1, 2025

Turning data into answers for every business

October 1, 2025

The funding source that flies under the radar

September 25, 2025

Most Popular

Understanding AI
Economy, AI, and exports dominate 2025 business outlook
Cecilia Robinson’s mission to revolutionise healthcare
Confessions of a serial investor
NZBusiness Digital Issue – June 2025

Related Posts

Into the Brand: How Radio BurgerFuel Amplifies a Strong Identity

Tune into the brand: How Radio BurgerFuel amplifies a strong identity

October 1, 2025

Why you need to lock in on your marketing for Christmas now

September 11, 2025

Loyalty beyond points

August 27, 2025

How to grow your brand online (without doing the most)

August 7, 2025
NZBusiness Magazine

New Zealand’s leading source for business news, training guides and opinion from small businesses to multi-national corporations.

© Pure 360 Limited.
All Rights Reserved.

Quick Links

  • Advertise with us
  • Magazine issues
  • About us
  • Contact us
  • Privacy policy
  • Sitemap

Categories

  • News
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Growth
  • Finance
  • Education & Development
  • Marketing
  • Technology
  • Sustainability

Follow Us

LinkedIn
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Self Development
  • Growth
  • Finance
  • Marketing
  • Technology
  • Sustainability