MARKETING COMMUNICATION DIGEST

Here is the concluding part of the article "Is PR preferable to Advertising when launching a product?" 4. Product Modification Feedback is an important element in a PR launch. By launching the PR program ahead of the actual product introduction, there is enough time to modify the product or its price before it goes on sale. Supermarkets and other distribution outlets like to participate in the brand-building process. They will often make many good suggestions you can use to modify the product, the packaging, the pricing and even the PR. Advertising is different . Once a big-bang advertising programme is launched, a company is committed. There is little feedback and no time to change the product or service before it's introduced to consumers. 5.  Message Modification Feedback from a PR programme also allows a company to modify the brand's message for greater consumer appeal. The media looks at your PR messages from the consumer's point of vi...

Six steps for launching­ a brand via PR In the past, almost every new brand was launched with a big advertising campaign. In today's media environment, that's not a very good idea. Advertising is expensive and not very credible, especially when used on behalf of a new brand. That's why many of the most successful new brands were launched with PR; brands like Google , Facebook , Snapchat,   Twitter and of course, Mirinda (of the three orange men fame) here in Nigeria . Launching a new brand with PR, however, raises a number of questions. If no advertising is involved, what changes, if any, need to be made in the overall launch? If no advertising agency is involved, who does the positioning strategy? To stimulate your thinking about these and other questions, here is an outline of six steps a PR launch might take: 1     1.  The Leak A PR program usually starts with a leak to key reporters and editors. Internet sites are often favourite targe...

The last thing you want is for your business to be known as a “Jack of all trades” because you always get stuck with the “Master of none” part. We see this in the sustainability world a lot, in good and bad times — communication with everything thrown in:  “this product is organic and made with renewable energy and we give to the Nature Conservancy and treat our employees great so you’ll be healthy, save money, enjoy your job and save the world!” Phew! What a mouthful, and earful! Yes, even the targeted messages of our digital communication become overwhelming and unwanted very quickly, leaving audiences turned off. Well, let’s take a step back for a second and look at the target of our communications.  They’re people!  Not colour-laden pie charts or graphs that look like EKG readouts. People! With emotions that are many times impossible to track. Even with all the analytics and targeting possibilities digital media affords us toda...

With a necessity to work with a wide variety of personalities and individuals with various job titles, it’s become important for agencies to whittle down not only how they can foster great relationships with their clients, but how clients can help improve it as well. When you’ve had great clients, some of whom have even become your close friends, here is a very concise list to help them get prepared to work with agencies like yours: 1. Be prepared to work So, you’ve hired an agency – and it wasn’t easy at all. Investing in an agency is a huge leap of faith that takes a lot of work. So much so, that sometimes once you’ve made the commitment, there’s a huge collective sigh of relief from you and your team. Sorry to burst your bubble, but the work is only getting started. If you want to succeed (and help them to help you), be prepared to invest your time. You are experts in your field and industry, and we are experts in marketing. We need to know everything we can about yo...