Marketing Publicity: The New Age, The New Edge
We, as consumers, have been hit way too often and hard with advertising.
The whole concept of advertising doesn't work any more by itself because advertising is really just self-promotion.
Where does consumer trust enter in when all they see is self-promoting companies competing for their attention?
And how do we create this trust with potential consumers without first overwhelming them with "It's all about me" campaigns?
The answer is called marketing publicity. Just what is marketing publicity? How does it differ from advertising? Marketing Publicity is the ability to get favorable news articles and feature stories published. It is one of the most effective types of marketing because it uses objective third party endorsement.
Third party endorsements are believed because the third party has nothing to gain. They are either an expert on the topic and have investigated it or they own your product and are benefiting from it and most importantly, they are excited about the benefits they are getting. In the last six years, every successful, high profile, astounding promotional campaign I have studied was driven by publicity. 57 million "Harry Potter" books were sold in more than 200 countries in less than three years, driven by publicity. In less than two years, "Hotmail" signed up 12 million subscribers because of publicity. Microsoft did almost no advertising. The movie "The Blair Witch Project" was seen by 50 million people because of publicity. Following in the same categories as well are the book "A Series of Unfortunate Events," "My Space" on the internet front and the movie "Napoleon Dynamite," with similar results. Publicity done in volume, as in magazine articles, is particularly valuable when the client's market is large and the client's product is not well known. It will drive sales and brand your product while generating new leads and new clients. Articles create trust and credibility, as well as deliver your message in volume. When you use the objective third party material generated to strengthen the advertising you are doing, you will gain a huge competitive advantage. Include an article with your direct mail piece, display your articles at your trade show booth, mention your article in your telemarketing campaigns, and display them on your web site. Then you are using an objective third party in all your other marketing avenues, which will increase believability in you, your product, your service and your company. Happy selling!
The Slogan Formula: How to Create a Unique Selling Proposition
A USP or Unique Selling Proposition, is vital to anyone who is in the business of selling a product or service. It is that unique "thing" about your product or service which makes you different from all the competition. It is something that makes you stand out from the rest. That's what we learned from Rosser Reeves, former marketing guru of the 60's, when he wrote his famous book, "Reality in Advertising."
Reeves believed that a campaign should last the life of the product; that advertisers shouldn't change the campaign just to make the advertising different. Don't change your advertising to appear different than your competitors. It's your product that should be different, more unique, than your competitors.
Advertising people believe that it's the advertising that's different that sells the product when, in truth, it's the uniqueness that sets that product apart. The Unique Selling Proposition must be one that the competition does not, or cannot, offer. An example is a patented item. Another is a "special sauce," or remember "the un-cola." The proposition must be so strong that it can move millions into having to have your product so they too can experience the uniqueness of your product or service. I have asked many companies, industrial and commercial alike, what it was that made them special and that set them apart from their competition. A lot of them answered, "Well, we have the best customer service." I discovered a lot of people had "the best" customer service. It's not really something that can set you apart. Customer service is a button, but it's not what we're looking for here. We are looking for something different in your actual product or service that the competition cannot claim to have. I am sure that if you sat down and really looked at what you had to offer, you could find something unique.
One thing I did when I did marketing for a company was to call all the competition and ask them what they had to offer me as a consumer and had them mail information to me. That way I knew what I was up against and could plainly see what we offered that was different. It was an incredible study and quite an eye-opener. Try this and see what you come up with. If you end up needing any help with this, or have questions, get free advice from John Elliott at johne@powerpr.com.
The Power of PR
This recession could be the best thing that ever happened to your company. Think about it. The only thing you have to fear from a recession is lack of sales. When your sales are going up, up, up every month, every other aspect of a recession works for you, not against you. We have a program that gets news articles and feature stories published about your products. The articles generate many new leads. With many new qualified leads, you will make more sales. On client received 454 new inquiries from an article in a single day. We placed 45 articles for another client in a single month. Another client received more than 1,000 inquiries from a single article. Yet another client made a $12,000,000 sale from a single inquiry. Our program is guaranteed. Our contracts are month- to-month. Call us to find out more about our program: (310) 787-1940
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Tips of the Trade: What's in a Brand?
 Why is branding so important? The branded product represents greater perceived value. An example of the value of a brand was when Pillsbury sold its name and the "Doughboy" image for $9 billion a little more than a year ago. Somewhere in Middle America there is a no name company selling flour and other bakery items to us under the name Pillsbury. And brands don't only apply to consumer items. The principles of branding apply everywhere products of any kind are marketed. To the average company, the most valuable benefit of branding is the ability to get larger profit margins from the product when you sell it.
Book of the Month: The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding
By Bestselling Authors, Al & Laura Ries
"Branding. Dubbed by many the 'marketing buzzword' of the late nineties, everyone knows that building your product or service into a bona fide brand is the only way to cut through the clutter in today's insanely crowded marketplace." This hard-hitting book gives you 22 branding laws that, quite frankly, should be committed to memory by your advertising department. In fact, I wouldn't recommend starting a marketing campaign without them. It's an easy-to-read, "can't put it down" book that provides you with what you need to dominate your category in your field. "Al Ries's laws of marketing turned my software company into a worldwide brand and the dominant player in a whole new software category. Anyone looking to market their company successfully has to read 'The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding.'" - Patrick M. Sullivan, CEO SalesLogix "This book is like a synthesizer. Using an impressive list of the world's best-known brands, it fine tunes the art of branding to its optimum levels, enabling you to make the right marketing decisions with utmost confidence." - Scott Kay, CEO, Scott Kay Inc. Al Ries is one of the world's best-known marketing strategists. He and his partner (& daughter), Laura Ries, have a marketing strategy firm called Ries & Ries, can be visited on the Web at www.ries.com.
Q & A
Question: How do I hire someone to market our highly technical product?
Answer:
One of the main reasons companies avoid outsourcing to marketing and PR firms is that they feel their product or service is too technical for them to understand. Hiring a PR or marketing staff with the ability to handle extremely technical products is critical in the industrial sector. Look for a PR or marketing firm that speaks your language. Your newly hired representative shouldn't respond with a blank stare when you mention variable frequency drives, PLCs, actuators or SCADA systems. They should already be familiar with organizations and standards such as OSHA, EPA, AWWA and ISO 9001; concepts such as lean manufacturing, the supply chain and just-in-time manufacturing; or sales channels such as dealers, distributors and manufacturers reps. There will be some form of learning curve. However, if you are dealing with a firm that doesn't understand some of the most basic terminology or market issues, then the learning curve is much steeper.
Quotes of the Month
The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself. Peter F. Drucker
If you're trying to persuade people to do something, or buy something, it seems to me you should use their language, the language in which they think. David Ogilvy
The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency. Bill Gates
Whenever an individual or a business decides that success has been attained, progress stops. Thomas J. Watson Jr
I don't dream at night, I dream all day; I dream for a living. Steven Spielberg
Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but rather the moments that take your breath away. Unknown
Honesty is the single most important factor having a direct bearing on the final success of an individual, corporation, or product. Ed McMahon
Marketing is not an event, but a process . . . It has a beginning, a middle, but never an end, for it is a process. You improve it, perfect it, change it, even pause it. But you never stop it completely. Jay Conrad Levinson
Clearly no group can as an entity create ideas. Only individuals can do this. A group of individuals may, however, stimulate one another in the creation of ideas. Estill I. Green
Never underestimate the power of even the smallest marketing promotion. As long as it's smart and on target, the smallest marketing promotion can make a huge impact. April Guy
Your brand's power lies in dominance. It is better to have 50% of one market, instead of 10% of five markets. Al Ries
Publicity is a great purifier because it sets in action the forces of public opinion, and in this country public opinion controls the courses of the nation. Charles Evans Hughes
It is not about control, and I don't think it is about size. The measure of a powerful person is that their circle of influence is greater than their circle of control. A.G. Lafley, CEO Procter & Gamble.
Business has only two basic functions - marketing and innovation. Peter Drucker
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