Don’t get me wrong. Loyalty and brand experiences will never stop being important. Brand building will always be essential. But more and more marketers are rightly shifting budgets away from activities that are strictly branding spends to more integrated and revenue driven programs.

 

Beware, we’re not calling for low-budget, cut-rate branding exercises. Sure, the CEO’s nephew can create a logo and a web site for your, but where’s that get you?

 

Unless you’re a start-up or taking the business in a new direction, you probably don’t need a dedicated branding budget right now. A recent MarketingSherpa survey finds, unsurprisingly, that branding budgets are being cut. (Something about the state of the economy and a looming recession.)

 

What’s really telling is that branding budgets are being cut at a higher rate than many other initiatives. The huge movement away from print, TV and radio spending is a significant contributor to this.

 

We all need to generate leads. Now. Right now. Sales cycles are getting long and longer. Tie your branding dollars into other programs. Branding should be a part of your direct marketing objectives, public relations and other programs.

 

Read more about where the marketing dollars are going.