Seven resolutions for marketers in 2007 - Part 2

APOLOGIES to our readers for the delay in publishing the second and last part of this series. Here it is! Thanks for your patience.

As a marketer, why not resolve to…

No. 5. Build your brand by putting more time and resources into Public Relations

Resolve to read "The Fall of Advertising and The Rise of PR" by Al Ries and Laura Ries, a controversial book that was -- or still is -- a wake-up call for an advertising industry obsessed with winning creative awards. PR practitioners, of course, love every page of this book.

Why put more money into PR? Ries and Ries build the case that PR builds brands because it is more credible than advertising. People tend to believe the stories they read or hear more than the advertising that “interrupts” their reading, viewing, or listening.

Here’s Al Ries’ advice:

“Over several decades, advertising has gotten more expensive at the same time as there has been a dramatic increase in the volume of advertising. These two factors make advertising less effective (too much volume) and less efficient (too expensive.)

Advertising agencies have responded to this problem by de-emphasizing selling and emphasizing the creativity of the advertising. As long as everyone was aware of a company’s advertising what difference did it make if nobody bought the client product, went the thinking. Selling is not our problem, said the advertising industry. Creating awareness by creative advertising is what we are all about.

Advertising has many advantages: You can reach exactly the right people at the right time with the right message as often as you want to reach them.

But advertising has one major problem. Advertising lacks credibility. People just do not believe what they read (or see or hear) in an advertisement. They recognize the fact that advertising is self-serving. What you say about yourself has little or no credibility. Contributing to the credibility problem, of course, is the volume of advertising. Consumers turn off most advertising because there is just too much of it. In many ways advertising is like spam on the Internet. It’s not believable because there is too much of it and the messages are self-serving.

Public relations or PR has many disadvantages. You can’t control the media, you can’t control the timing, and you can’t control the message. But it has one major advantage: PR has credibility. Consumers tend to believe what they read in the editorial pages of newspapers and magazines and what they hear on radio and television from independent people. It’s what we call “the third party effect.” What others say about you has credibility.

PR and advertising can work together. Use PR first to create credibility for the brand. Then use Advertising second to reaffirm and reinforce that credibility.

We recommend that companies launch new brands with PR only. Then when the brand has awareness and credibility in the mind, the company can switch to advertising to maintain the brand.”

No. 6. Stop being fooled into buying awards to build your brand

Winning awards for your company or brand can be very good PR for you. But it’s funny how thousands of companies, both large and small, can be duped into buying awards. In the past year or so, we’ve seen good reputable companies emblazon on their print ads and brochures the dubious logos of such awards that were practically sold to them.

Other “entrepreneurial” deviants, determined to make a quick buck, have joined the bandwagon of selling awards. In the past few months, we’ve been getting faxes and calls from these deviants congratulating us on our accomplishments. Now would we mind paying the “joining fee” to participate in the awards program? Ha, ha, ha.

Legit or just moneymaking?

Because of the current proliferation of these business and marketing awards, a good number of our marketing friends have asked: “Is this award legit?”

It pays to do a little checking into the award giving body, company, or so called “Institute” before joining. Many bodies do organize awards for both fund raising and recognition but are definitely legit. Take, for example, the Clio advertising awards in the US or the Araw Awards that accompany the Philippine Ad Congress. Every entry pays a fee that isn’t exactly cheap. But participating ad agencies don’t seem to be bothered and no adverse negatives are heard about the award’s required entry fee. Of course there are awards where the entries do not pay but are instead “paid” to those nominees who win as in the case of the most prestigious award in the world: the Nobel Prize (Winners get a $1M check). The Ramon Magsaysay Awards, known as the Nobel Prize of Asia, does the same thing but the check is in pesos—about P1M. These are the “Superbrands of Awards.” Their branding carries the name of their founder who is known and acknowledged for his or her life of excellence and professional and personal values.

Awards for sale

We’ve received some concerned calls from company heads and marketing professionals who have been receiving what look like generic form letters from awards program organizers. The letters inform them that based on "consumer surveys" their brands have been selected as a winner in a category. Some of these shoppers/brand/marketing award promotional campaigns then ask for a P15,000 to P50,000 award support fund/subsidy. The “leading” solicitor of such awards for sale has a team of account executives. They in turn “sell” thousands and thousands of awards on a local/regional and national level and asks awardees to shell out at least P15,000 for a plaque and the right to use the award logo on their marketing collaterals. Do the math—that’s a cool P15M for every thousand awards that you give!

According to one respected but skeptical marketing professor, the difference is that these awards programs inform you that you have won already and to participate in the awards program and to include your brand name in the subsequent advertising and promotions, all you need to do is return the contract that accompanies the congratulatory letter together with your "support fund" or "subsidy."

“What they are doing are selling awards to companies!” says the marketing professional who received several awards confirmation letters for his brand but refused to pay the award subsidy/fund that was asked of him.

No. 7. Keep on learning

We always end our MarketingRx New Year’s resolutions with this one and we see no reason to change or replace it. As a marketing executive, you must have a personal growth plan to be a better, more effective marketer. Keep on reading the best and latest books, journals, and articles on marketing. Go back to “school” by attending marketing seminars and conferences here and abroad. Marketing is one of the most challenging careers characterized by constant change. To rely on what you learned about two years or a year ago is business suicide. Keep on learning and you’ll have a really prosperous new year!