As advertising/digital marketing pros, when does the ROI-driven need for clicks get in the way of the overarching goal of building a brand? Not that the two are necessarily mutually exclusive. But this question is driving me bananas. I find that the more obsessive we get over click data and design best practices that will, supposedly, generate more clicks, the further and further we get from the emotional and compelling job of brand building. Which is about a heckuva lot more than driving people to a website. Unless, maybe, your site is all about ecommerce. But even then. Brand still matters.
It’s ironic to me that the professional marketing species that insists (rightly, I believe) that every interaction that your company or product has with a consumer is an opportunity to build a relationship, is the same species that looks at banners as only a means to an end — a canvas that should be left as blank as possible, and engineered only to create a click-thru. Where’s the relationship-building in that? Where’s the “Hey, I’m Brand X. Nice to meet you?” No. It’s about an ever present logo, a direct call-to-action, and as little in between as possible, lest we do anything to distract the user from clicking. As if clicking would be a foregone conclusion if not for the annoying creative part.
No offense, data. But you’re becoming the stiff suit in an otherwise thought-provoking, brand-building world.
