What is Brand Deprivation?

Brand Deprivation is a testing method in marketing where the goal is to understand the impact of spend on brand keywords.

Essentially, the tactic involves turning brand keyword campaigns on and off to see whether they're enhancing the visitors and sales, or if the traffic is naturally directed to the intended page regardless.

The history of Brand Deprivation is closely tied to the rise of digital marketing and search engine optimization (SEO). As marketers began optimizing their online presence, they faced a crucial question: How valuable is investing in brand keyword campaigns and their ability to drive traffic? Brand Deprivation evolved as an analytical tool to try and answer this question. When aiming for 'Traffic', this tactic is beneficial as it helps to identify redundant spends or ineffective areas in your brand keyword campaigns, allowing for more focused marketing effort.

Examples of Brand Deprivation

1. A fashion e-commerce store: Turns off brand keyword campaigns for a period to analyze if shoppers still land on their webpage through organic search or not. This tests the store’s brand recognition amongst online buyers.

2. A Tech Company: Pauses their brand keyword campaigns to understand if the technical jargon related to their product is organically driving search traffic to their blogs or site.

3. A Restaurant Chain: Temporarily stops brand-specific promotions on food delivery apps to see if existing customers are searching for them organically.

4. A Popular Streaming Platform: Discontinues certain brand keyword campaigns to observe whether trending shows or default search algorithms bring audiences naturally to their platform.

5. A Digital News Publication: Cycles on and off its brand keyword campaigns to measure if the virality of certain news items or organic search methods bring in more readers.

Marketing Tactics Similar to Brand Deprivation

1. A/B Testing: This is a method of comparative study where two versions of a webpage, an ad, or other digital content are presented to different audiences to determine which performs better.

2. Keyword Research: Essential for SEO, this process involves figuring out popular words and phrases people enter into search engines related to your business.

3. SERP Analysis: This involves scrutinizing the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) for a certain keyword to understand what content is ranking and why.

4. Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO): A strategy that involves understanding and improving your website's conversion rate (the percentage of visitors who complete a desired action).

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