The Epic Importance of Visibility in Marketing:

Abstract:

This article seeks to replicate some of the most important findings from journals and other academic entries which encompass real market data, and survey studies confirming my thesis. In specific, I take a contemporary approach in achieving that end, and in finding - that maximum visibility in marketing yields the best result(s), regardless of whether looking at experience, or unexperienced customers and consumers. Results confirm the original studies’ findings that brand awareness is a dominant factor in buying decisions and the ultimate bottom line of the companies in question. Furthermore, buyers are far more likely to favour the brand with high awareness. They also sample fewer brands and make their (buying) decisions quicker despite otherwise material differences in product or service. Furthermore, consumers utilizing the awareness choice heuristic show an unwillingness to move away from this - in the form of low energy for the cause of making more informed decisions.

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In this article, I will be taking you through the best way to market: That is, with maximum visibility. By combining real market data (based on market effects), and survey data (based on consumer insights), we’ll be able to arrive at that conclusion by the end of this article. In my ventures, we are solving for just that, as research outcomes confirm our hypothesis. If you can’t see something; or further if it isn’t visible, then there is nothing to look at, and a consequent lack of conceptualization. That is where we find ourselves, when a) we don’t utilize enough of the relevant marketing channels available to us, or b) when we happen not to be visible enough through the channels that we do use. On the other hand, using these resources statistically results in higher cash flows.

Let’s look through the marketer's lens for a second. What’s at the very root of, visibility? The answer becomes obvious. It’s imagery! Without imagery, whether created by auditory OR visual stimulation, brands tend to lack the typical recall a customer uses to associate them, and during their consideration of the brand amongst its competition in assessing a potential buying decision. In other words, brands which achieve higher levels of awareness, are much more likely to be in the buyer's ‘consideration set’. As such, it can confidently be said that brand awareness increases the statistical success of a business (Hoyer & Brown, 1990; MacDonald & Sharp, 2000).

Furthermore, brand equity is another important part of adding value in the world of marketing and visibility of the same. Brand equity is the coincident value a brand adds to the product or service it represents. When looking at whether customers will make the delicate trek through your sales cycle/funnel, ultimately landing in the sweet spot right before a purchase, what makes them continue on for the full length of that cycle? It’s Brand equity! For example, when we look at an ad which has the appeal of a dazzling and glitzy, well polished piece of visual real estate, and it's coupled with the positive emotions associated with those words, we walk away with a sense that the product at hand is of a higher value and quality than all others in that market, which don’t present. This is evident and inherent. This positive “equity” transforms a once average brand-in your mind, into one you can now see yourself using! This shift in strategy typically will then equate to more dollars on your bottom line. David Aaker famously defined Brand equity as “a set of assets and liabilities linked to a brand, its name and symbol, that add to or subtract from the value provided by a product or service to a firm and/or that firm’s customers” (Aaker, 1991). Think about this for a moment; essentially, if I institute a well polished, well lit, supremely placed ad, as described above, this not only effectuates positive value for my brand, but also belittles other competitors in the same space, who aren’t as visible and therefore non inducive of awareness.

Consumer-centric brand equity elaborates largely on the idea that the sheer strength of a brand lies in the minds of its buyers and its ambassadors. Moreover, if a brand lacks visibility and the coincident equity of the same, they monetarily suffer. This is explained by examining the differential effects taken on by those brands who market well, and alternatively, those who don’t. Basic tenets of positive brand equity state that consumers must hold positive, and strong ideas of the brand in mind. Although some intellectuals claim that Marketing philosophers such as David Aaker, and Kevin Lane Keller have never operationalized these theories, they remain firmly based in reality, with no difference between the conceptualization and operation of the topic. In other words, their theses are based on empirical evidence rather than pure logical theory. This grants them legitimacy.

If you still aren’t convinced, consider this: Studies show, widely that when a consumer is presented with repeated stimuli - in this case advertising and marketing material, the nature of their interaction becomes one of a decreased perception of risk associated with the scheduled brand, and a diffusively organic mental picture, in that it is undistinguished from natural phenomena.

In conclusion, branding is all about visibility, and awareness. Through using high frequency methods and high level imagery, brand can act as a subsequence to the natural methods of selection that affect us all in buying behaviour. Those of which being buying decision analysis and its associated influence in all spheres. Visibility will stand to continue winning top prize for best top line strategic marketing framework.

Cheers,

John.

References:

Wayne D. Hoyer, Steven P. Brown, (1990). Effects of Brand Awareness on Choice for a Common, Repeat-Purchase Product. MacDonald & Sharp.

David Aaker, (1991). Managing Brand Equity.

Daniel E. Berlyne, (1970). Novelty, Complexity and Hedonic Value, Perception And Psychophysics

Rong Huang, Emine Sarig?llü, (January 2012). How Brand Awareness Relates to Market Outcome, Brand Equity and the Marketing Mix. Journal of Business Research: ResearchGate.