Insights
21.01.2025

Is your marketing budget coming up short?

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It seems marketers are always under pressure to do more with less. And 2025 is shaping up to be more of the same. But how can you get even more out of your marketing budget when you already do so much? The key lies in finding the right balance between short-term campaigns and long-term brand building.

The power of long-term brand building

In their influential work "The Long and The Short of It," Les Binet and Peter Field demonstrate that the most effective marketing comes about when both short- and long-term communications are working in tandem. This has been shown to hold true for B2B as much as it does for B2C. However, the pressure to deliver results this quarter often leads to brand building initiatives being shelved in favour of short-term tactics.

Why B2B marketers get hooked on short-term wins

Several factors contribute to a focus on short-term:

  • The need for speed: Our culture prioritises rapid results and immediate ROI.
  • Budget cycles and incentives: Marketing plans and budgets typically operate on 12-month cycles, with individual incentives often tied to achieving goals within that time period.
  • The allure of instant data: The readily available data on activities like email campaigns and targeted ads reinforces the short-term thinking.
  • The dopamine effect: Seeing those upward spikes in performance metrics triggers a sense of reward, making it hard to resist doubling down on short-term tactics.

The shortcomings of purely short-term marketing

While short-term marketing delivers quick wins, it often misses the bigger picture. Professor John Dawes of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute emphasises that these tactics only influence a small fraction of your audience – those already in the market to buy. This means they do little to build long-term brand preference among future buyers. To achieve sustainable growth, marketers should aim to reach the entire market to give their brand a chance of coming to mind when potential customers are ready to make a purchase. Without priming future customers through long-term brand building, they will see their short-term efforts become less effective over time – a trend that has been identified through campaign effectiveness data.

Finding the balance: the 60/40 rule

Binet and Field's research, based on an analysis of 30 years of IPA Effectiveness Award submissions, reveals that the most successful campaigns integrate long-term brand building with short-term activations. The rule of thumb is to get to a 60/40 split in budget allocation, with 60% dedicated to brand building. They also show that the brand building efforts start to pay back between years two and three.

Looking to build your brand in 2025 and beyond?

Brand building starts with understanding your brand story and telling it in emotionally engaging ways. Those stories drive affinity, not just with existing and future clients but with your teams and future talent too. If you’re looking for a creative agency partner who understands the insurance world and all the pressures you face as a marketer, let’s talk.

Get in touch with the team and we’ll put together a plan.