Posts Tagged ‘Brand’

Advertising forms an integral part of the communication process. The strongest campaigns are made up of a series of integrated themes and messages, developed with a strategic direction in mind. As well as and in alignment with marketing, public relations and various other communication techniques used to create awareness for brands and services, advertising can be used as an extremely effective communication medium.

For a business that has something to sell or deliver, advertising performs many functions and the effects on a business from this can be considerable. Some of the advantages of advertising include:

Creation of brand awareness – People who have seen advertising for a certain product or service are more likely to remember this when they come to make a purchasing decision.

Boosting sales – Ads run in the right publications and areas increase awareness and will lead to increased sales.

Speeding up the buying cycle – People are more likely to be receptive to advertised products and services increasing the probability that they will take notice of other information from that company.

Enhances prestige – Businesses that advertise are more likely to be seen as credible.

When done badly however, advertising can create confusion and even hostile feelings towards brands and services. The following are some advertising don’ts to look out for.

Making the branding and product shot too small – This will create confusion about what the product/ service is and who the company providing it is. The aim of advertising is to make this information easily available and clear to those viewing the ad.

Including too much information – Too much information will cause people to dismiss the ad. Often there is limited time to get the advertising message across; therefore this message needs to be succinct and straightforward.

Being too clever – Being too clever in advertising may also cause the ad to be dismissed by the audience. People tend to not spend too long on something they can’t understand. Remember to keep the message clear.

Weak imagery and boring creative – We have all heard about cut through. As there are so many adverts around everybody every day, your advertising message needs to break through the clutter. To do this you will need effective imagery, catchy, easy to remember messages and interesting creative.

Bad Placement – If your advertisement is not in the correct place to reach your target market, it is not going to have any impact. This also applies to the ad’s timing and the length of time it is available for the target market – if it is lost in the clutter it will not be effective.

Advertising is an extremely effective communication medium, although when executed badly it can form negative results in the minds of consumers. When advertising has been developed with strategic direction in mind and is used in line with other communication processes, the benefits on businesses and brands can be far reaching.

Marketing IP is the first building block of Competitive Advantage and Business Success.

Most of us in business see the brand only via its physical or visual manifestation (VM) as in name, logo and tag line.

However the power of the brand is more than the VM, just as the role of Intellectual Property (IP) is more than just trademarks and patents.

Although IP and Brand issues are usually thought of as completely different– we should think of them as similar. Both are often design or graphic related, both have significant existing and emerging governance
issues, they are both part of risk management, but the problem lies in the Marketing function not contributing to a company’s strategic risk assessment and governance program.

In Marketing terms IP is much more than just graphics, and business success is only achieved through successful marketing (the full 4 P’s) – yet as a discipline, Marketing is often discounted in its importance or needs when compared to legals and finance i.e. when it comes to the “serious” management disciplines and governance.

We have all heard of the premise in business – that 8/10 companies fail within the first two years. We are also consistently reminded that it is the private sector, especially small business, that is the cornerstone of employment, growth and innovation in the economy. Surely then, any element that is crucial to this economic success has to be given more than a cursory glance.

Each business must strive for a break or position in the market that will deliver them revenue and profit. Aiming for that little point of difference, each will endeavour to design and create unique offerings, ways of working, delivery methods, better or new products, streamline processes, look to technology, geography, distribution, language and culture – anything that can provide an edge.

This drive for any “uniqueness”, and its subsequent application by the company into the marketplace provides revenue opportunities that otherwise would not exist. In Marketing, it is the two (2) elements of: 1. The actual process of finding and developing “uniqueness”, combined with 2. The resulting unique elements themselves, which form the basis of potentially all the USP’s and Competitive Advantages (CA) of the business.

This new “advantage” or CA is what delivers each company more money, or at the very least allows them to stay in business. It is also this same revenue generating “uniqueness or CA”, which by its very nature is a company’s IP, the same IP that we patent or trademark in order to protect and control its use (or non use).