Re: PR is better for branding than advertising?

From: Douglas Wilson <d.wilson_at_paradise.net.nz>
Date: Mon 29 Apr 2002 16:24:59 -0600

Frankly, this is a silly argument. Both PR and advertising
can make a contribution to branding. The relative depth of
each activity's contribution will vary from case to case.

But it does raise an important issue: how do you decide what
weight you are going to give to the many different activities
open to you as a marketer, particularly as you approach a new
project, a new year, a new planning period.

If you think of your brand as being the sum of the effect on
your customers and potential customers of everything you do,
then I'd suggest that in your planning you need to consider
all those activities that might have an impact on your
branding.

So as well as considering advertising and PR, you need to
consider your promotions, pricing, packaging, after sales
service, CRM, product design/development, premises or web
site, corporate identity and anything else that is significant
in its impact on your customers and potential customers. Make
up a list that reflects your situation and your market. Then,
rank the list in order of importance to your current business
and the likelihood that that activity will be important to you
in the coming period.=20

I use a proprietory approach to this with my clients:
http://www.benlandwilson.com/marketing_wheel.htm . It's an
amazingly useful ROI tool that clients love. But you can get
good results using the approach I've described above. It will
get you away from stupid arguments like "what's best PR or
advertising?" and get you focussed on the right mix of activity
for your situation.

Douglas Wilson
Author of "A Practical Manual for Web Marketing"
http://www.benlandwilson.com/ebooks.htm
Benland/Wilson & Associates - make web marketing work for you
web: http://www.benlandwilson.com
email: info_at_benlandwilson.com




Received on Mon Apr 29 2002 - 17:24:59 CDT