A quick one from me before I dash off to meet my Strategy Execution groupmates.
I had just one class yesterday, Market Driving Strategies, and the topic was on online advertising. As some of my main blog readers will know, I am no big fan of advertising when PR can do a more convincing, long-term job. 2 other classmates who had advertising backgrounds were speaking the most in class, and I didn’t feel like interjecting in something I didn’t believe strongly in. However after some time another classmate MG looked at me across the aisle and said, Go for it!
At one point, the question was what could a smaller online advertising company do when it lacked the clout of a big player. I said that smaller companies could partner with online publishers and give them a commission for referrals, which is exactly what I’m getting for my own blogs.
I was thinking about this topic again this morning. Pardon me if my imagery isn’t appropriate, but I think that if using big blitz advertising is like having a Caesarian (in the sense that everything is timed and executed as a concerted effort, and you have to pay extra for these services), and hiring a traditional PR firm is like getting induced (less interventionist but the baby still needs help in coming out), then I’m all for natural birth (no extra help required)!
Of course, your brand has to be a good enough ‘baby’ for that to happen. However, for most brands a lot of effort is required, for new launches and sustaining existing products or services. But I believe that getting mentioned and linked on the Wall Street Journal (which happened to our High Tech Club speaker Paddy Tan’s company) is much more powerful than buying a load of online ad placements or paying a bomb for a television spot. Of course there are exceptions, but if you also look at return on investment, PR or Word of Mouth gives you much better bang for the buck.
Also, I believe marketing is much more than taking the end product as a given, and promoting it. As we learnt in the core Marketing class and beyond, it’s also about playing a role in improving the product/service. Which is not what many marketing departments may get to do, from what I’ve seen. We need to break down the hierarchies and get more cross-pollination going. That may require structural and cultural changes.
After class we had a group Markstrat meeting. I’m pleased to report that we finally kicked ass at MarkStrat and that has lifted our mood. We had other teams laughing at us for weeks and calling our bluff, and we finally beat many of them! Mwahahahar.
Off to meet my Strategy Execution groupmates!
Comments