Short-term marketing results can provide a much-needed brand lift, but long-term results are ultimately responsible for driving a brand forward. Here’s a quick look at the difference between the two, as well as how to generate, measure and maintain long-term marketing lift.

How long-term marketing lift is different from short-term lift

Long-term lift equals a change in your baseline sales. Brand success is rooted in fundamental target insights including purchase behaviors, and it isn’t a quick fix.

If a long-term lift marketing plan isn’t rooted in insights or understanding of the target, the gains will be impossible to sustain, resulting in short-term lift.

On the other hand, short-term lift is promotionally driven and usually isn’t as effective as a brand building technique. Instead of achieving sustainable positive impact, you may find that your company sales exceed the previous years’, but only for a fixed number of weeks.

Consumers are conditioned to promotion, which is why this drop in volume usually follows short-term lift. A promotion can cause a consumer to move their planned purchases forward, meaning your company may not sell more in the long term.

Sometimes, there are tactical reasons for short-term lift. You may want to get rid of old inventory or boost your sales volume for the quarter.

While short-term lift has a time and a place, long-term lift is the more crucial success driver.

How to generate long-term marketing lift

Loyalty can directly affect the longevity of a brand and its success. It is the main catalyst for brand choice, which can fuel long-term lift. So, what are some steps to achieving long-term lift?

• Add new products to a line.
• Add new features and benefits your target market is interested in or that differentiate your products or brand from competitors.
• Implement a new messaging strategy to get your brand in front of its target audience in a meaningful way.

How to measure long-term lift

As with any marketing effort, it’s critical to measure results and analyze how you can better reach your audience.

Long-term lift is determined by purchase cycle and is usually measured over a 12-month period. But in special cases, you may want to measure it over a longer cycle.

First, examine your company’s entire product portfolio. To get true long-term lift, calculate the baseline sales without any promotions, and look at the net effect of new products. If a new product line was introduced to replace an older product line, keep that in mind for measurement.

Let’s say you’ve been selling 10 widgets per month. Then, you change your marketing mix, and sales increase to 15 widgets per month for 12 months. You motivated customers to purchase your product on a more consistent basis or acquired new customers, successfully achieving long-term lift.

If you sell products that don’t have a high purchase frequency, such as major home appliances, the best way to generate long-term lift is to get new users to buy your product, expand your market, find a new target or gain a greater share of your current target’s purchases. For example, brands like Moen continue to expand through products like U by Moen, a voice-activated showering system, and growing finish options.

How to maintain long-term lift

Maintaining long-term lift isn’t always easy. Awareness of changing marketing dynamics is one of the most important keys to maintaining momentum. New competitors are inevitable, and your target audience’s needs and wants are constantly evolving. Your product or service should anticipate those sentiments in order to deliver on them more effectively than your competitors.

The way brand marketers create awareness and drive brand preference is also changing. Now, it’s imperative to think of every brand-consumer interaction as a conversation. It isn’t a one-way street. In real life, you wouldn’t keep having conversations with someone you don’t find interesting or relevant.

To maintain and grow long-term lift, marketers must think about their target audience in the same way. What are your audience’s needs? Are you serving them relevant information? Are you engaging in beneficial conversations?

Don’t be the Blockbuster of your industry. Be the Netflix. Adapt to your audience and changing industry dynamics to build, grow and maintain long-term marketing lift.