What's the Role of Advertising?

by Steve Fodor

I was participating in a discussion group on one of the social networks recently. The discussion was on B2B print advertising and a lot of good comments and points of view were shared. One participant’s question, though, kind of stuck out to me.

This participant was lamenting over the fact of how he never sees any good examples of print advertising in trade journals. He followed his comment with this question: “Is the purpose of a good ad to drive sales or increase brand awareness?”

Now, the reason I say this kind of “stuck with me” is because I would respond to that question with this question: Aren’t sales pretty much dependent on brand awareness? If your brand awareness is low or nothing, how can you expect to drive sales? Or, more specifically, how can you expect to drive sales that deliver a higher margin if your brand has no perceived value other than price, especially in B2B marketing where the purchase decisions are not simple “impulse” buys? And I would say this applies to any medium, not just print advertising.

What’s the role of advertising? I don’t even like that question. I’d rather ask, what’s the role of marketing? Because if you’re only looking at your marketing situation in terms of a medium, or a tactic, I’d suggest that you may not have a grasp on your brand’s position in the marketplace. How is your brand perceived? What is your brand’s awareness? What is your brand awareness and understanding relative to your competition? How does your target audience gather information to make decisions? What information sources do they trust? What branded content solutions can you develop to fulfill the unmet information needs of your target audience?

So, is the purpose of a good ad to drive sales or increase brand awareness? Yes to both. And I would also suggest that you better go back and do some homework on your marketing situation and your brand’s marketing and message strategy. Advertising alone is not a marketing strategy. It’s only a medium to deliver a message.

Flickr Photo Credit:Beverly & Pack

Don't Shoot the Messenger.

by Steve Fodor.

I’ve been participating in a lot of discussions lately on social media and its benefits to the marketing mix. I’ve seen and heard points of view ranging from “it’s a panacea to our marketing issues” to “it has no applications and it’s stupid” and just about everything else in between.

What also has intrigued me is how many people are saying that “traditional advertising simply does not work.” I’m not so sure about that.

Traditional advertising is just another tool in the marketing mix. Just like social media, direct mail, e-mail, outdoor, radio – whatever – it’s not necessarily the medium’s fault if you did not see positive results from your marketing effort. I would contend that it’s your message. Media in any form is simply the messenger that delivers your brand’s proposition to the intended target audience, regardless of their age, position or social class. How you craft that message within the medium will determine your success or failure.

I watched some of the Super Bowl last weekend. And like many of my colleagues in the communications business, I was rather disappointed with the quality of the advertising messages I saw. There were many that seemed trite, tried too hard to be funny and were just plain dumb. I see a lot more advertising messages in consumer and trade publications that try to “pound” a long list benefits into the reader's head without having any real or unique point of view.

Great advertising should make your audience feel about your brand the way you feel about your best friends in life. Advertising should connect with commonalities and shared interests. It should present useful information. It should talk “with” instead of “to” people. It should respect people’s intelligence. It shouldn’t be boastful or condescending. And, if done effectively, advertising should let the reader or viewer reach a positive conclusion about your brand without having to pound benefits alone into their heads.

If you’ve tried advertising before with disappointing results, I’d suggest that you may not have an advertising problem. Rather, I would suggest that you may have a brand problem.

Flickr Photo Credit: Sir Mildred Pierce

What's It Worth to You?

by Brad Smith

I recently had an experience I’d like to share. I got a call from the guy who mans the trade show booth for a small division of one of our clients. He wanted to get some new graphics done for his display. After I showed him that what he had in mind was way too much information for a small display, and how to simplify the messages and content, he said:

“Looks great. Get me a price we can live with and we’ll go from there.”

Wait a minute. Let’s put things in perspective here.

What’s the value of making a good first impression?

What’s the value of communicating a professional image?

What’s the value of standing out in a sea of small trade show booths?

What’s the value of having a potential customer stop at your booth, versus walking on by?

What’s the value of making a sale? And the future value of repeat business?

What’s the value of the lost sale? How do you put a value on business you don’t get?

What’s the value of the booth visual, versus the cost to the company to rent the space, send a person to the show, pay him, feed him and put him in a hotel for three days?

I’ll bet you’re thinking this client thought the price was too high. His boss, twice removed from the process but still the one making the ultimate buying decision, said “Sounds really out of sight for such a small project.”

Small?

Only in that it’s probably the smallest expense of attending this particular show.

Small? So’s the Nike swoosh.

Flickr Photo Credit: johnhallassoc

What Clients Expect From Their Agency

by Steve Fodor.

Another insightful article in BtoB magazine has captured my interest. In a special report, BtoB offers a list of the top attributes clients look for when selecting an agency partner. Here they are, with my own additional considerations for anyone looking for the right agency.

Ability to be flexible and work with tighter budgets.
Everybody needs to do more with less. But ask the agency to explain their process for quickly and efficiently developing customer insights. If the agency can’t give you an answer, or gives you an answer that requires a Ph.D. to understand, they may not be a good fit for you.

Understanding of the client’s core business needs.
I think it’s more critical to ask, “How would the agency go about understanding a client’s core business needs.” Solving business needs requires collaboration between agency and client.

Industry and B-to-B experience.
It may be more revealing to ask an agency, “Do you consider yourselves B-to-B specialists, B-to-C, retail, or a combination? Often, B-to-B clients, especially if their budgets are not “huge,” are treated like “unwanted stepchildren” by the agency. Find out what the agency does best and is passionate about.

Creativity in developing integrated marketing campaigns.
Can’t add anything to that. Creative thinking is what agencies are about.

Social media skills.
I’d ask the agency, “How would you develop a social media strategy that’s effective for our customers and our particular segment?”

Access to global resources.
If you need to develop an integrated global or multi-national campaign, this is important.

Good cultural fit, not just with senior executives.
I interpret this to be about agency size, as well. You don’t want to feel like a “little fish in a big pond.”

Responsive and effective account management.
I’d rather ask to meet your key contact at the agency and interview them. What kind of business experience does he or she have?

Proven method for measuring ROI.
I’ve been asked this before and my response is typically, “What do you need to accomplish?” Have clear campaign needs and goals established before you talk to an agency.

Experience in providing thought-leadership content and events.
Again, I think it’s equally important to ask how an agency would go about developing thought-leadership content. Do they have a strategic process? Or are they going to regurgitate and re-purpose content?

Selecting an agency is a big decision with many qualitative factors. I hope this has helped define your criteria even more.

Flickr Photo Credit: boliston

Brand Experience Trumps Selling Efforts.

by Steve Fodor

Remember the famous McGraw Hill ad from about 30 years ago? The one with the grumpy, old man saying, “I don’t know you. I don’t know your company. I don’t know what you stand for. Now, what was it you wanted to sell me?”

I had an experience today that reminded me how true that ad's message is.

Without getting into naming names, I saw an ad for an online Internet marketing degree from a seemingly-reputable university. The ad intrigued me enough to request more information. I filled in the required fields on the request form. One of the fields was for my phone number, which should have made me suspicious. Almost instantly, a PDF was downloaded to my computer and I looked forward to reading more information on obtaining a certified degree in Internet marketing.

Now, what happened next is still hard for me to believe. And I’m not exaggerating. Within 15 seconds of filling out the request for more information, the phone rang. It was a representative from the university. She talked very fast. I laughed and said, “I haven’t even had a chance to look at the information.” Her reply was, “I’m here to give you more information.” I said, “I can’t talk now.” Her snapped reply was, “Well, I’m here to schedule a time with you.”

My whole brand experience here went from interest to inquiry to experience to brand rejection in less than 60 seconds!

Savvy marketers understand that brand experience is the product of integrated marketing efforts, starting with publicity to create interest and extending through personal selling efforts. All of a brand’s touch points with a customer.

I guess that grumpy, old man in the McGraw Hill ad is still right. Even though we have so many new tools to interact with customers today, you still have to earn a customer's trust before they’ll consider your brand’s proposition. Understanding the customer’s buying process and their information needs will always trump efforts to “just close the sale.” Yet, I’m frequently amazed at how many marketers don’t make the effort to understand what their customer’s information needs are or decision-making process is.

"We Don't Need to Hire a Marketing Firm."

by Steve Fodor

I had the opportunity to discuss a new Web site project with a client recently. During our conversation, I heard something that I hear quite often: “We tried to manage our site ourselves. We gave it to our IT person. But, building content for the site kind of lost focus over time.”

The truth is, you can manage your Web site and social media programs yourself without the help of a marketing firm. There’s no “secret magic” for creating a branded presence with today’s plethora of new media venues. In the end, though, media (meaning social media, Web sites, blogs, publicity and paid media) is just a collection of tools. It is up to people to make real impact with these tools. A carpenter may own a wonderful collection of tools and even know how to use them. But a skilled carpenter may not be the best resource for designing a building.

Creating a positive brand perception comes from generating valued content for your audience. If you’re not generating branded content that is of real value, your brand perception won’t be of much value either.

A marketing firm can (and should) add value to your branded content efforts by:

1. Developing a message strategy for your brand.

2. Interacting with and researching your audience and the media serving your audience to identify trending topics.

3. Creating and managing an editorial calendar.

4. Writing, posting and managing relevant, branded content.

5. Monitoring and responding to audience interaction with your branded content.

Most of all, credible marketing firms are expert communicators. They are staffed by people with journalistic and marketing backgrounds that know how to research and communicate relevant content that will serve as a catalyst for your brand. Credible marketing firms not only understand and own the right collection of tools. They have the people and the expertise to design and build brands with those tools.

It’s not enough to have “quantity” be your branded content strategy. There’s enough clutter out there. Quality and relevance of branded content wins over quantity. Ask yourself this question: If you don’t have the people on staff with the time, dedication and expertise to manage your branded content strategies, are you really conducting your marketing efforts with the utmost efficiency?

The More Things Change...

by Steve Fodor

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

I just read an article about branded content. How marketers communicate with customers, go to market and increase brand loyalty has changed dramatically in just the last year. In fact, 32% of marketing communications budgets were dedicated to branded content in 2009. That’s a heck of a lot of blogging, Facebook interaction, YouTube videos and other forms of branded content.

You could say branded content is the new face of public relations. The media dynamic has changed. You now can go straight to end users without the media controlling your message. That opens endless possibilities. But, it also sacrifices the implied endorsement from reputable editors and media.

So what’s the key to branded content as a marketing strategy? If I had the answer to that, I’d be out fishing now instead of working for a living. But one thing always stands out in everything I read about branded content: your content has to be valued information that customers desire and not just a sales pitch. In other words, you must become a valued information provider and not just a product purveyor to elevate your brand above commodity status. And the only way to do that is to employ good, old-fashioned research to determine what information your customers and prospects need. In marketing “buzzword-speak” that means determining latent needs (there…now I can justify spending money on marketing books prior to the Amazon Kindle).

Even though the media dynamic has literally been turned upside down in recent years, that’s why I say “the more things change, the more they stay the same.” If you don’t understand your customer and if you can’t differentiate your brand beyond product features and price, you’re always going to be a commodity. Branded content has now become the most visible “face” of your brand. Think about that. And think about who is handling the face of your brand. Do they really understand how to generate valued content?