You could almost say there are two camps in the advertising world: brand builders and performance marketers.

The latter are all about instant gratification and feedback. That makes sense, since performance marketing is structured around digital results. Lots of people like this because it gives data that you can easily put into a graph or chart and hand off to an executive. With brand building, though, you need to be a little more patient. There’s no immediate effect you can attribute to a specific cause. (We guess that’s why it’s referred to as brand “building.”) But that doesn’t mean brand building is obsolete. Quite the opposite—it may be more important than ever right now. That’s because customers are increasingly concerned about a brand’s purpose, vision and social conscience. And surveys show people are more willing to buy from and stick to a company they’re emotionally attached to, rather than one they just stumble across from a Google search or Instagram ad.

The two approaches may seem to be at odds—but they don’t have to be. In fact, they shouldn’t be. In this era, it’s crucial to integrate both these sides of marketing into your advertising strategy. And really, one isn’t more important than another. So how do you marry the two? Full-funnel marketing.

This method targets customers at all stages of their journey using a variety of tactics. But it’s not about increasing the ad spend—it’s about increasing the return by understanding how each part of the process affects the other. Here are some full-funnel ideas to put in place:

• Adopt performance strategies that are tied into brand building strategies and give them a unified set of key performance indicators. That will help you put your dollars in the areas that are gaining the most traction.
• If you have separate teams for brand and performance, have them work together with brainstorming and problem solving. If you’re in the office, even getting them physically close will make a difference.
• Incorporate newer techniques and technologies that will help you assess your brand awareness campaigns—such as digital brand lift surveys and streaming TV and audio ads, where you can zero in on certain demographics and more easily gain insight into how they were affected.

Remember, too, it’s not about doing ONE thing. It’s about doing the right things at the right time. That’s what’s going to change people’s perception of your brand and drive results. Hear what our Strategy Director, Ben, has to say about what he calls the “silver bullet.” (Spoiler alert: it doesn’t exist.)

Material adapted from https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/why-every-business-needs-a-full-funnel-marketing-strategy