Historically, brand awareness and lead generation tactics have been treated as separate, distinct initiatives. Brand awareness campaigns take a “shotgun” approach with tactics like radio, TV, digital display, or billboard with the goal of increasing awareness and recognition in the marketplace. Lead generation campaigns involve tactics like branded paid search or prospecting outreach, using a targeted, direct response approach with the goal of driving conversions. 

With today’s available technologies, you no longer have to – nor should you – choose between disparate strategies. Instead, create a holistic, integrated plan where brand awareness and lead generation work together to drive results. 

Here are 5 keys to ensure your campaigns bridge the gap: 

• Take the guesswork out of audience targeting with the right technology.

Don’t just purchase a list based on a handful of targeting filters. Leverage a robust database of opted-in users with advanced audience profiles, including business and personal devices and usage. This allows you to get in front of your target audiences across devices, browsers, and apps. Some also offer reverse-data targeting, allowing you to remarket to website users across devices.

• Be where your audience is.

While cross-device targeting is key, it’s only part of the equation. One of the main benefits of a fully integrated campaign is leveraging multiple channels to get in front of your audience. If your audience is in five places you could reach, why only choose two? Consider including several tactics, such as email, display, social, non-skippable audio streaming, non-skippable video streaming, geo-farming around select physical addresses, and remarketing to those who’ve visited your website. This is not a linear model where your audience completes one step before proceeding to the next; it’s a “hub and spokes” approach with your audience at the center – hitting each person via the channels and devices each individual uses.

• Serve impressions at a high frequency.

Part of what makes a campaign like this so effective is high frequency: multiple touchpoints across multiple channels within a short time period. Especially in today’s overstimulated society, it takes several interactions with a brand for someone to recognize, recall, and – ultimately – act. The higher the better, but shoot for a minimum frequency of 15:1 impressions per person in a 30-day period.

• Choose your words – and your images – wisely.

This applies to many facets of life, but especially marketing. You have a unique opportunity to get in front of a highly targeted audience, so keep in mind where they are in the journey with your company. If your brand has little awareness in the market, start with messaging that introduces your company. If you have decent awareness or have been running campaigns for a few months, shift to a lead generation message, driving someone to a landing page where they can download gated content to convert.

• Prune, test, and track to generate more leads.

Marketing is not “set it and forget it.” Ensure that campaigns are pruned regularly to focus impressions around the strongest engagement – both in terms of the people who are interacting most and the channels through which each individual is interacting most.

Constantly A/B test – subject lines, copy, imagery/video, calls-to-action, button colors, etc. Choose one variable at a time, and when there’s a clear winner, try to beat it with another variation.

Track using the right metrics. If your campaign is just starting out with a new audience, track interactions with click-through and view-through rates. If you’re targeting a warm audience, focus on conversion and response metrics.