...goes a long way, especially when I'm thinking about brands, brand management and the power of brands to build successful organizations and careers.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Stop advertising!?


Okay, I admit it. I got hooked by Mary Schmidt's latest post titled "Advertising does nothing for the brand". And while I'm not passionate about advertising, I will strongly defend advertising as brand building tool when used correctly. Fortunately for my blood pressure, Mary writes short and to the point, and the real gem was in her P.S., where she wrote:

"If you're a small company, you probably can't even afford effective advertising - so stop it. Spend the money on something that will get results, like better customer service, employee benefits or community support. "

I've been fortunate in some of my past jobs because I had generous budgets, and advertising was a key element of an integrated marketing campaign built on the brand. It was the linchpinpin in a system of events, event sponsorship, PR and other related brand building tools including face-to-face sales, promotion, facility tours, public affairs and customer support; but it wasn't the only thing we did.

If more organizations would take Mary's command to heart, I believe we'd have more successful brands and fewer commodities.

Better yet: Imagine the impact if just a few newspaper, magazine, radio and TV ad sales people would first ask about the client's other brand-building efforts before they started selling their own product....

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4 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mark, glad you have found Mary's blog. She is wise, biz savvy, very human and funny. Of course I am biased.

FYI, you misspelled Mary's name in your first paragraph. It is Mary Schmidt, www.maryschmidt.com

Another thing, I think one of your great strengths is on display in this posting. You defend advertising but not blindly - you always seem to take a truth and build on it!

10:32 PM

 
Blogger Mark True said...

Thanks, eagle eye. And thanks for the complement. That means a great deal coming from one who is so good at discovering truth.

10:43 PM

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mark,

Glad I didn't kill ya with that blood pressure problem!

You hit the key when you said, "integrated marketing" Unfortunately, way too many people who should know better don't get that part. Just throwing money at any one marketing tactic or program ain't gonna cut it.

P.S. And, while we're being spelling nudges - it's "compliment," not "complement." ;-) Aren't you glad you have people like Michael and me to help you with these world-shaking issues?

Happy Friday!

2:57 PM

 
Blogger Mark True said...

Okay, Mary. THAT one was a typo. I have about a half dozen words that I typically misspell and then those that I just don't catch. Glad you're looking out for me.

5:07 PM

 

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