In addition to owning and running a marketing company for over twenty years, I teach marketing at the college level as a way of staying sharp academically.
Marketing is complex, and there are so many terms and concepts that it’s impossible to hold them all in your head at one time.
One thing that irks me is when people refer to their product as a brand before anyone knows about it. When this happens, one of two things are going on: either the person knows diddly about marketing and couldn’t find their ass with both hands or they are a bullshitter.
It’s like some skinny kid who lifts weights for the first time and brags he’s a weightlifter. People see him as a joke.
A product can rightfully be referred to as a brand when most of the people who make up your market can explain your product correctly. And anyone who has created a brand knows what a long and expensive trip that can be.
I use this simple stick drawing as a starting point for teaching people about a brand.
I point out that the market often has to hear your key messages many times before they sink in. If your product is in the introductory or growth stages of the product life cycle, you’ve got a lot of teaching ahead of you.
When you think about teaching people, look for wide promotional channels. By wide I mean channels that give you the time and space to fully explain your product. And don’t speak to a distracted audience. Make sure the audience is listening. The exception to this is a product that can be fully explained and understood in 30 seconds by someone who is only half listening. You can’t do that with many products but there are a few, like a wristwatch for instance.
The other thing to consider is cost. It’s expensive and time consuming to teach the masses about a product so you need to be aware of both.
So what are some wide, inexpensive promotional channels where people pay attention?
There are three good areas to consider and wouldn’t you know it, we sell them all: publicity, Internet and events. You may think I’m selling these products because I want you to buy them but you’d be wrong. We sell these products because we’ve learned that’s what customers want us to sell. And for good reason; they work.
Just think about where you spend your time learning about stuff. You use the media: TV, radio, magazines and newspapers. You spend a ton of time on the Internet, and you are a social creature so you like to go do stuff like attend seminars, and go to events and expos.
These are all fairly inexpensive promotional channels where you can reach people who are engaged in actively listening and learning.
I used to call these channels a branding shortcut. I don’t anymore because the truth is, it still takes a tremendous effort to reach the point where most people can repeat what you want them to repeat about your product.
Most of these channels take advance planning so you need to budget ahead. We are currently executing on last year’s plans and our clients are planning their 2012 spring and summer projects with us right now. The early birds get the worm … and lots of media coverage.
There’s still time for us to get started on your spring project. 952-697-5269.
