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We cannot escape advertising messages! Getting your message to the right audience and communicating the positive benefits of your product or service is still an essential marketing job. The number of competing messages reaching your target audience grows each day, so you have to continually hone your message and evaluate the most effective method for presenting your story. Here is a different view of 'advertising' with which you may, or may not agree. In any event, it helps to take a broad rather than narrow view of advertising in today's bustling environment.
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A different view of 'advertising'
A different view of 'advertising'
Smiles
make the day! Sign in a florist's window: "Smoking, or forgetting your wife's
birthday, can be hazardous to your health!" Sign in an antique shop: "Our prices are firm. The owner is not
emotionally equipped to haggle." Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in
the dark. You know what you're doing, but she doesn't! Advertising transforms a yawn into a
yearn. $ Million Marketing
TipsThink about advertising in its larger context. There
are many forms of paid advertising. Today, the most familiar form to most of us
is TV commercials. Other forms include newspaper and magazine display ads,
classified ads, TV infomercials, Internet pop-up and banner ads, direct mailers
and coupons, point-of purchase ads, e-mail spam, radio commercials, bumper
stickers, trade show exhibits, and outdoor advertising on billboards, buses,
taxis, commercial vehicles, bus stops, etc. You even see paid ads on the walls
of public restrooms! We cannot escape advertising messages!
We saw incredibly expensive ads during the Super
Bowl. In fact, many people, who do not enjoy football, watched the
big game just to see the highly-touted commercials. The pre-game hype and
trailers of upcoming commercials was another form of advertising. The pre-game
hype helped to increase the overall size of the TV audience. Many people
question the value of such lavish productions. I am one of those, I
suppose. I hate bad ads!
Many of the expensive ads provided a modicum of entertainment, but failed
to inform about the actual benefits of the product being touted. In fact,
it was difficult for me to recall the sponsor or the product being promoted
minutes after a commercial aired. Truck and car ads all seemed to run together.
Was it a Ford or Toyota that whizzed around those impossible curves? Did the
Dodge truck tow the greatest payload, or was it the GMC truck with the big
transmission? Which truck climbed the biggest rocks on its way up the steepest
mountain? Who drove that shiny new SUV through a muddy creek? Who cares?
Advertising has a vital role in public communication,
but so much of the investment in advertising is wasted in our
over-communicated society. I fault art directors, copywriters, and graphic
designers for creating ads that fail to achieve the primary objective of
advertising, to clearly communicate. I blame company marketers for
accepting advertising that puts form ahead of content, art and
image in place of the intended message. "Image ads"...humbug!
Do you recall seeing TV ads for a new drug called something like Zxyron DL
featuring happy, smiling people enjoying life? After the commercial is over, you
realize that the ad failed to tell you what sort of ailment Zxyron DL was
supposed to alleviate? There was all the required disclaimer stuff telling you
that you should not take Zxyron DL if you are pregnant, etc. but after all that,
you still did not know what the new wonder drug cures! What a waste of your
time and the company's money!
Outdoor advertising is a fast-growing segment. A
billboard showing the exit for a restaurant or other retailer along the
highway may be the one best way to attract customers. A billboard's short
message demands careful design and execution. Billboard readership is higher
than you might think. Attractive signage at the place of business is also a very
effective marketing investment for stores.
Then there is unpaid advertising. News releases and
magazine articles written by company experts are considered part of "public
relations," but they are also forms of 'advertising' in its larger context. Most
marketers agree that well-orchestrated public relations efforts are more
effective than advertising for many types of products and services. News of new
products and published articles are more widely read and remembered while
full-page ads may go unnoticed by most readers.
PR efforts, such as sports sponsorships, crazy contests, special events,
and celebrity appearances often out-produce traditional paid advertising for
local firms with small marketing budgets.
The daily news might also be part of the greater
advertising world. I often cynically think of the daily news on TV, radio
and in newspapers as the 'daily bad news.' Our communication sources focus
on local, regional, national, and global bad news. They have found that murder,
rape, smash and grab ATM theft, natural disasters, political mud-slinging,
celebrity misdeeds, global conflict, and genocide grab the
general public's attention and gain audience. Businesses attempt to
advertise positive features and benefits. Much of today's media coverage
seems to 'advertise' or communicate grief and misfortune as its primary product.
Seldom do you see or hear more than one side of a story. Partial information or
slanted misinformation is par for the course. It is strange that such a gloomy
format continues in the face of shrinking newspaper subscriptions and
falling ratings for the major TV networks.
Should you avoid advertising? Absolutely
not! Getting your message to the right audience and communicating the
positive benefits of your product or service is still an essential marketing
job. The number of competing messages reaching your target audience grows each
day, so you have to continually hone your message and evaluate the most
effective methods for presenting your story. Much depends on knowing your
audience and when and where your message must appear to effectively communicate
with that particular audience. In general, you should pursue several
communication methods simultaneously for greatest effect. Direct mail, combined
with e-mail newsletters and an ad in your industry association directory would
be one example of simultaneous marketing communication on a limited
budget.
For me and my clients (mainly business-to-business commercial products and
services) paid advertising plays a smaller role. 'Advertising' in the form of
public relations, published articles, speaking, direct marketing, networking,
alliances, and word-of-mouth referrals are most effective.
Successful marketing communication
demands that you know your business, know your client, understand your
client's business, and know your competition. Prospects cannot buy if they do
not know you exist, or if they fail to understand how your product or service
can help them meet their personal wants and needs. There are innumerable ways to
'advertise' how you help clients achieve their goals. Consider all the ways you
might positively 'advertise' your wares, then set your goals and choose the ones
that make the best use of your resources. If your first plan fails to achieve
your goals, do not give up. Review your options again and change your
approach.
Advertising
In good times businessmen want to advertise;
in bad times they have to.
The man who stops advertising to
save money is like the guy who stops the clock to save time!
A bachelor
placed a classified ad for a wife: "Bachelor with waterbed seeks a nice,
hard-working girl with short toenails."
Advertising helps raise the
standard of living by raising the standard of longing.
TIP: Marketing planning is like
horseshoes and hand grenades; when you get closer to the objective than the
other person...you score!
Amazing Facts!
Marketing Facets - The Market-focused Guide to Company Analysis
Marketing Facets is a practical resource for those involved in determining the current health of a company and gauging its future prospects. I designed my 103-page guidebook to be a supplement to other evaluation procedures and information normally gathered during a thorough due diligence or business valuation process. The workbook takes a holistic approach, assembling facts and management assumptions in key areas to help the analyst form and support conclusions.
Marketing Facets is a valuable resource to private investment fund managers, individual investors, venture capital specialists, investment banks, and valuation specialists. Marketing Facets can also serve as a guide for C-level executives who wish to perform their own company analysis as part of normal business planning, or in advance of efforts to refinance, acquire or divest.
Marketing Facets is available in electronic form via the Internet, on CD/ROM, or in print with a ring binder.P.S.
Ninety-five percent of our engagements originate as a referral from helpful people like you! If you know someone who:I would appreciate the opportunity to discuss the situation with you.
Our ideal client
is a business owner or CEO between 30 and 60+ years old. Usually with a financial, engineering, or production background. Who is often impatient, and interested in improving company performance. Comes alive when you ask, "How's business?" He, or she, is practical but also enjoys the finer things in life. So, you may see my ideal client driving a Lexus or SUV to Neiman Marcus...and to Sam's Club. Who do you know that fits this description?A client speaks: "You have been of significant help in two of my businesses in the past and I will continue to call on you in the future." Joel Williams III, Investor
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© 2007 Morgan Marketing Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. Other distribution permitted with proper attribution.
Richard P. Morgan CMC
Morgan Marketing Solutions,
Inc.
Two Galleria Tower, Suite 10008
13455 Noel Road, Dallas, TX
75240-6620
Telephone 972.931.7993 fax 972.931.0542
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Author, Marketing Facets
- The Market-focused Guide to Company Analysis