NEW YORK, NY – May 6, 2019 – Launching today, a research study authored by leading provider of customer insights technology, FocusVision and strategic marketing firm, InnerView Group, highlights the high cost to businesses when there is inconsistency between marketing messaging and its front-line employees. In 2018, companies were on pace to devote $207 billion to marketing and advertising in the U.S., an increase of 5.2% over 2017 (MANGA, 2018). But when the brand story is not consistent from marketing to customer-facing employees, the cost could be upwards of $10MM annually according to almost a third (28%) of marketers surveyed. A further 24% expect the penalty to be between $6-$10MM in lost revenue.
Crafting the Brand Story: Not all Companies Fully Leverage their Customer Insight – Customer research is widely used in organizations (95%), but many companies do not fully leverage it to properly craft and execute their brand message.
The Brand Story is Getting Diluted Internally – Marketers lack confidence that their story can be told consistently when it leaves their office.
The Cost of Dilution is Huge – Nearly two-thirds of respondents estimate the value of a consistent message at $10MM or more annually.
Speed is a Complicating Factor – The rate of introduction of new products, services, promotions, and campaigns makes alignment even harder with more than half of companies launching new products, services, promotions on a quarterly basis.
Marketers Need a New Way – The way marketers are mobilizing their teams are outdated, just as their external marketing team has gotten more dynamic, their internal mechanisms need to catch up.
“Our study confirms that businesses with a consistent brand story are seeing tangible revenue growth, which is outpacing the perceived ‘cost’ of those lacking consistency. It also validated that regular customer research was a discriminating factor between the companies reporting brand consistency and those that do not,” said Zoe Dowling. Ph.D., SVP Research, FocusVision. “With 62% of respondents estimating the value of a consistent brand message to be more than $10 million annually, this is something marketers can’t afford to ignore.”
Christopher Wallace, President at InnerView Group, noted how brands can make the brand dilution improvements: “In today’s Experience Economy, brands are evolving quickly, and so is their messaging. So, it’s essential that all groups across an organization can represent the brand and its story in the same manner to ensure that all customer touchpoints live up to the overall brand promise. It’s the front-line experience – that live interaction with a company – that is shaping how consumers view a brand more than ever.” He added, “But the ‘old way’ of equipping teams is no longer sufficient to achieve success. The training of the past does not enable people to tell a new story. The solution is not more training or better training. The opportunity is to look for something different than training altogether.”
The 10-minute study surveyed 250 senior professionals from mid and large-sized CPG companies (revenue $250M+) in marketing, customer experience or product development to understand their attitudes and company tactics on three topics: customer research, brand story/messaging and new go-to-market initiatives.
Download the full report here.
