Branding vs Performance Marketing: Which Drives Better ROI?

Learn more about performance advertising vs brand advertising, from their unique traits to key differences and symbiosis. Discover how they can, both individually and collectively, spearhead success in the higher education marketing arena to ensure ad budgets are utilized to their full potential.

Understanding Branding and Performance Marketing

Branding vs performance marketing is an important topic for marketers across all industries to consider, and the environment of higher education is no different. Before comparing the potential Return On Investment (ROI) of each, marketing teams in the edusphere must first look at their definitions.

• Branding, or brand marketing, is a strategy focused on building brand awareness and trust to make a product or institution stand out as the premier choice in its field. For higher education institutions, this means gaining exposure to prospective students and growing a solid reputation.
• Performance marketing is a form of advertising that is focused on more specific short-term goals. In the higher education landscape, the objectives are likely to be enrolment based (applications, open house registrations, etc.) while other relevant outcomes might include requesting a prospectus or exploring additional program information.

Both branding and performance advertising for higher education institutions are designed to attract prospective students, which is why most marketing strategies will include both. Still, with the industry set to hit $370,409 million by 2030, the need to distribute budgets effectively is a priority for all marketers in the sector.

Key Differences Between Branding and Performance Marketing

When considering performance advertising vs brand advertising, the obvious difference is that the latter focuses on driving brand visibility and awareness whilst the former is geared toward specific short-term outcomes. The contrasts don’t end with the core functions, though. Their Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and performance measurements offer polarity too:

Target Audiences

Brand advertising is geared toward gaining visibility and building a reputation, which is why it does not worry too much about audience demographics. If you look to other industries, companies like Apple or McDonald’s want as many people as possible to know about them to underline their size and trustworthiness. A similar mindset is needed in the higher ed sector as branding works to boost public awareness of the educational institution and showcase its offerings.

Conversely, the performance advertising aspects of higher ed marketing are aimed at a target audience, which is typically students in the consideration stage of selecting the next step on their educational journeys.

Timelines

Another key feature to consider when analyzing branding vs performance marketing relates to the timelines. Performance advertising relies on campaigns, which often have a short-term objective in mind. In the higher education sector, an example of performance marketing would be a strategy to encourage applications for enrolment ahead of a looming deadline for the next academic year. As such, the content will typically have a clear Call To Action (CTA).

Branding typically does not have a strong set of CTAs as it does not aim to promote a specific product (course) or service. It hones in on growing the brand’s presence for sustained success, which is why it takes a long-term approach.

Messaging

Efficient brand advertising is driven by clear and consistent messaging that highlights the unique features, core values, and personality of a brand. For higher education institutions, branding efforts should primarily focus on the learning and campus culture, the outcomes of their studies, and the opportunities that students can unlock for a better future. 

Students have over 4,000 options available when looking at higher education institutions. Each school or university must look to build a clear brand persona that identifies their unique strengths and approach to higher ed – whether that be a polished and professional image or one that champions the idea of being edgy and creative.

Performance marketing is built on the idea of using direct and data-driven messaging that is targeted to a specific audience, which could be students looking to build a career in a certain field or from a distinct demographic.

Key Performance Indicators

The end goal of any marketing tactic is ultimately to boost profitability (or in our case enrollment) but the direct objectives of branding advertising vs performance advertising are different, which also impacts the KPIs used to measure the success of each. Performance marketing focuses on tangible and measurable KPIs related to the responses a user takes after seeing an ad. Branding KPIs are a harder to measure. While brand equity can be tracked through awareness lift studies, Net Promoter Scores, and longitudinal yield analysis—few institutions budget for this.

Branding aims to create an improved brand image, reputation, and overall presence whereas performance marketing looks directly at conversion rates, cost per acquisition (CPAs), and other quantitative metrics.

How Branding Influences Long-term ROI

Steve Jobs famously said “Your brand is the single most important investment you can make in your business”, yet many businesses struggle to understand how it impacts their bottom line. In reality, though, effective branding is what builds a platform for all marketing campaigns to thrive. While this rings true in all industries, it carries significant impacts for businesses in the higher education industry.

Before even considering specific courses, prospective students need to know that they have selected a strong fit to continue their education. From a marketer’s perspective, you must put yourself in the student’s shoes and ask the questions that matter to them. They include;

• What scholarships are available for incoming freshmen?
• Does a qualification from this institution carry gravitas?
• Is there a positive learning environment?
• What is student life like away from lectures?
• Does it have a strong track record of high pass rates?
• What are the admission requirements?
• Does the school represent good value for money?
• What extracurriculars are available?

Research from Harvard Business Review shows that businesses can see a 10-20% increase in revenue as a result of effective branding. A defined brand advertising strategy builds visibility while simultaneously showcasing brand positioning, value, and story. If this creates consistent and positive messaging, people will hold a far higher opinion of your institution.

While it can seem hard to quantify the influence it has, branding marketing encourages students to think about you when the time comes for them to continue their education. Likewise, family members may suggest your institution to their friends and family. Crucially, a positive brand image ensures that prospects and key influencers show higher engagement levels when interacting with subsequent performance marketing content.

Moreover, the benefits of a strong branding campaign last a lifetime. In other words: a strong brand is the rising tide that lifts all boats. If your higher ed institution wants to ride the wave of success, successful branding is essential.

Measuring ROI in Performance Marketing

The simplest way to measure the success of any marketing campaign, including performance advertising efforts, is to track the ROI. The simple formula is as follows:

ROI = (Revenue – Cost) / Cost x 100

For example, if a campaign generates $100,000 and cost $20,000 to run, the calculation is; 

$100,000 – $20,000 / $20,000 x 100

$80,000 / $20,000 x 100

4 x 100 

ROI = 400%

It is possible to hit a negative ROI if the costs outweigh the revenue generated. A positive ROI shows that the campaign is working, at least to some degree, although you may still have room for improvement.

To gain a deeper understanding of campaign performance, it’s also worth measuring the following factors;

• Cost Per Acquisition – how much it costs to gain a new student, on average, from the campaign. To measure this, you must divide the total cost by the number of acquisitions. For example, if a campaign cost $10,000 but helped deliver 500 conversions, the CPA is $20.
• Return On Ad Spend – also known as ROAS, this describes the returns generated through enrollment versus each dollar spent on the campaign.
• Cost Per Millie – the CPM is a figure that relates to how much it costs to show 1,000 ad impressions. This is important for CTV ads, PPC ads, and other campaigns as it shows how much it costs to gain exposure.
• Click Through Rate – the CTR is calculated as a ratio and tracks how many people click the ad in relation to the impressions. If three in 10 ad impressions leads to a click, the CTR is 30%.

Measuring multiple metrics provides the clearest and deepest insights, thus allowing you to truly analyze the performance levels of any performance marketing campaign.

The Role of TV and Streaming in Modern Marketing Strategies

Businesses in the higher education arena are challenged with the task of proving themselves to be at the forefront of modern education, particularly as this is a requisite for helping students prepare for a career in the current landscape. Moreover, the declining number of traditional-age students (18-24 year olds) entering colleges and universities – the dreaded ‘enrollment cliff’ – and concerns about educational debt versus value present real challenges as institutions seek to secure new revenue.  Naturally, then, it is vital to embrace modern marketing strategies and the capabilities offered by advanced technology. 

TV has been a great outlet for branding and marketing for generations. However, the landscape has changed dramatically in recent years thanks to CTV, and streaming services. Turning up your marketing ROIs with performance CTV is an ideal solution, not least because it delivers the measurable results of performance marketing. This provides a significant advantage over traditional TV advertising, where advertisers had to rely on assumptions about viewership, with no reliable way to confirm whether their target audience was actually engaged.

While CTV is a fantastic marketing tool for companies across all sectors, it is even more relevant for educational institutions. After all, many prospective students fall into the Gen Z category. The versatile, engaging, targeted, and engaging properties of CTV ads are perfectly aligned with the viewing habits of this generation.

As people, particularly Gen Zers, increasingly live their lives in the digital space, it is imperative that you reach them in this environment. Aside from the direct awareness impact of the ads themselves, digital advertising encourages interested users to take action and learn more right away. A simple click could take them to video tours or other interactive content to provide the insights they require about the institution as well as the course in question. It is a far more engaging and memorable approach than traditional marketing and campus brochures.

Of course, CTV advertising should be supported by other performance marketing tactics for a more powerful impact. This includes social media posts, SEO, email campaigns, affiliate marketing, and radio campaigns. A multi-faceted strategy will capture the prospect’s attention, and the  CTV ad placements are one of the most effective sources to help boost conversions. 

Balancing Branding with Performance Marketing for Maximum Impact

By now, hopefully it is clear that both permanence marketing and brand advertising are needed to help your educational institution pack the most powerful punch. However, knowing when to use branding and performance advertising is essential. One of the biggest challenges relates to budget allocations and resource management. For optimized results, you must find a way to unlock the full potential of both features, individually and collectively. 

Firstly, it should be noted that both avenues may utilize some of the same channels. CTV and OTV ads, and social media channels like Instagram or TikTok are just some examples. Even when using the same channel, though, the intent of the content can be vastly different. 

Brand marketing can require a significant upfront budget in a bid to build exposure. Budgeting for performance marketing can be more flexible depending on the campaign goals. The cyclical nature of higher education means there will be spikes in interest at certain times of the year. These are the moments when you need to market courses more aggressively to see the maximum impact on admissions. Following the initial phase of building brand awareness, ongoing branding benefits from a more stable approach to resource allocation.

It is clear that branding and marketing should work together rather than against each other. As such, working internally to reframe the idea of ‘branding vs performance marketing’ to ‘branding and performance marketing’ can transform the future of your marketing strategy – not least when it comes to reporting to senior leadership.

Evaluating Your Marketing Strategy for Better ROI

Learning to embrace both branding based advertising and performance advertising will strengthen your position. However, the goal of every school, institution, or university in the edusphere is to optimize the ROIs of the overall marketing strategy. There is a ceiling on potential revenue, so marketing budgets must be sufficiently handled to deliver the best outcomes with minimal financial waste. To do this, ongoing analysis will be necessary. 

Branding efforts are an ongoing endeavor that should never be ticked off your checklist as complete. Meanwhile, performance marketing deserves even greater attention as you can easily track and measure success over time with data-driven analytics. Regularly measuring the effectiveness of your strategy using the aforementioned KPI metrics will help you; 

• Determine which performance marketing campaigns deliver the best results, both in conversions and CPAs.
• Identify any campaigns or channels that are underperforming and should have their budget allocation reduced.
• Recognize when a campaign’s performance starts to fade, which could indicate that it may be time to update your creative or try a new tactic.

Real-time data analytics enable higher education marketing teams to regularly review the situation. This can be further supported by ideas like A/B testing to tweak campaigns and optimize performance levels. 

Above all else, proactively evaluating your marketing strategy equips you with relevant insights and allows you to act with confidence, thus keeping you ahead of the curve campaigns that generate the most positive results.

Ultimately, branding and performance marketing should deliver positive outcomes on both their own and more importantly in partnership with each other. Get this right, and the returns from your CTV and other marketing strategies will see your institution become top of its class.