In the Scott Vaughn episode of the Martech podcast, they mention two metaphors describing the interplay between brand and demand in a marketing strategy.:
- Demand is like eating sugar while brand is like eating your vegetables.
- Demand gen is like taking painkillers, while brand is like taking your vitamins
This isn’t a knock against the discussion, which I enjoyed, but I’m not sure either metaphor really works. A better one might be:
“Demand is your daily diet, while brand is your long term exercise habits.”
The effort and results of demand, like diet are much more visible every day. They’re also much more measurable. You can see exactly what you put in your body every day. And you can make the choice to put junk in for a short term boost, or quality food that builds long term health.
Brand is like your long term workout routine. You don’t necessarily see the change immediately, but it compounds over time. It’s harder to quantify the benefit of a two mile run in the same way as that pack of potato chips you just ate. Similarly, the stakes of failure in brand have more immediate long term consequences. Twisting your ankle at the gym is going to take a lot longer to recover from than cheating that one day on your low carb diet.
This metaphor also speaks better to the synergy between demand and brand. The two support each other for the health of the business, just like exercise and a balanced diet are both needed for a healthy lifestyle.