Month: October 2010

Value based marketing?

As I think about most infomercials in general, I wonder how the marketing team must approach these products that are to be sold not in stores but by calling in and ordering. First, usually there is an issue with the actual product. It just simply isn’t as amazing as they can make it look on television, so they try to entice people to buy the product through extravagant demonstrations. When people buy these products, they are usually disappointed by their inability to replicate the convenience and performance that they saw on the advertisement. So I wonder how these products fit into today’s value-added marketing system. It seems many of these companies have no desire to produce a good that is actually useful, they just want to make it look like it’s useful so that they can sell as many as possible. So is it the job of all marketers to add value, or are some just trying to give the illusion of added value to increase sales? Isn’t that their job? It seems there is a dark underbelly to the marketing world, where taking advantage and misleading innocent people is commonplace.

-Brent

Marketing is part art form and part science. Even the best, most thorough research cannot completely guarantee results. Dealing with constantly changing attitudes and trends means that timing is of the upmost importance. The best campaign in the world may not be successful if it is launched at the wrong time. For example, an ad launched selling baby chimp dolls- one week after a lady was attacked and mauled by Travis the chimp in a highly publicised event. Often, it’s impossible to stop the promotion before it’s too late. Marketers should always try to consider the worst case scenario and have a contingency plan or means of pulling an ad campaign as quickly as possible. At least that’s what I think!

I know from personal experience that one of the oldest types of advertising is still one of the most effective. I am talking, of course, about word of mouth advertising. For years I worked for a construction company that relied solely on word of mouth advertising to sustain demand for their services. The power of this type of advertisement cannot be underestimated as I have seen first hand how it helped transform this organization from a small family run business into a multi-million dollar enterprise. By providing excellent service or products you are leaving a lasting impression and creating advocates for your product that will become ritual purchasers. More importantly, they will likely recommend your company to others in the industry and eventually the word will spread like wildfire. People are more inclined to respond to this type of advertising because they are more likely to believe someone who isn’t trying to sell them something directly. Also, it is free.  Of course, it is impossible to get word of mouth advertising without having initial clients must be acquired through other types of advertising! Another good blog you should check out is Amanda Woo’s (link to the right)

Ensuring that your advertisements are seen by as many people as possible is an essential aspect of marketing. For example, ads on facebook are viewed by millions of people everyday. Even if only 1% of people that see these ads actually click on them, the number of people being exposed to the product is immense. This will increase the number of sales and amount of revenue generated. It illustrates the fact that no aspect of the marketing mix can be ignored or the campaign will fail. More people using your product increases the chances that other uses will be found for the product. An interesting blog about products that find a market for uses that they were not intended for is linked here: http://www.joshwhitford.com/ The author discusses possibilities for the company going forward as their product begins to be used for alternate purposes. Is the marketing team solely responsible for failing to see all of the possible applications of their product or should the development team also shoulder some of the blame?