This week, we sat down with James Hurman, brand strategist and co-founder of Tracksuit, to talk about “future demand.” He argues that marketers who chase only today's buyers eventually run out of people to convert and walks us through how to build demand for tomorrow, without losing focus on today's customers.
—Elena
84% of buyers choose a brand that was already on their radar.
Most buying decisions get made before anyone starts shopping. The window to earn someone's business often closes months, sometimes years, before they ever run a search.
Four questions on building demand that lasts.
What's the difference between current demand and future demand?
Current demand is the small group shopping right now. Future demand is everyone else, the people who aren't ready yet but will be eventually. James tests this at conferences. Almost no one raises a hand when he asks who plans to buy a smartphone this month, but nearly every hand goes up for "in the next two years."
How should marketers split their budget between brand and performance?
James points to years of data showing that companies splitting spend evenly between brand and performance see the best overall return, even though most budgets still lean toward performance since results are easier to track.
Why does emotional advertising outperform factual advertising with future customers?
Facts fade fast. Feelings last. James says our brains store facts in memory that decays quickly and store feelings in memory that barely decays at all. A commercial that makes someone feel something outlasts a list of features by months, sometimes years.
What did James mean by "familiarity infrastructure"?
It's his term for the nonstop presence brands like Coca-Cola build through logos and repetition, so people never really forget them. That familiarity gets banked long before anyone's ready to buy, and it pays off the moment they are.
“Rethinking Brand for the Rise of Digital Commerce”
This WARC report includes James's original essay on future demand, plus data on how brand and performance spending should really be split online. It's a useful reference the next time someone asks you to prove why brand-building still matters.
What people actually remember.
"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
— Maya Angelou
This newsletter comes from the hosts of The Marketing Architects, a research-first show answering your biggest marketing questions. Find us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.