An Insiders Article Marketing
Posted on July 31, 2010
The following article has been written to provide answers to several of the most frequently asked questions that firms new to advertising raise as they formulate a marketing plan.
As FMCG PR consulting agency to some of the world’s best known organisations we are generally asked – how much will we have to pay? Regrettfully there is no easy answer to that as the 2 main goals are usually to raise awareness of the brand and to grow profits. As there is usually no finite end to these objectives and often a challenge in measuring them – especially for small-medium size businesses – there’s subsequently no totally exact figure for a public relations budget.
Another question asked of us is: as a marketing agency: what do you think is the best value tactic for our advertising spend? For businesses on a tight budget, it is of upmost importance to get the basics right. Often the 1st port of call is a strong Search Engine Optimisation strategy. Regretfully many web site creators think almost exclusively in terms of aesthetics, not in terms of raising Google’s ability to rank your site high. Even a mere SEO report of the website can offer very positive higher website traffic. Every advance toward the number one search engine position will yield a noticeable increase in sites visitors. Research estimates find that 4 out of ten people will click on the top Google listing with only 1 out of 10 clicking on the second.
The one thing that generally trips up companies embarking on a effectual PR campaign is the lack of clear strategic planning. At Impact PR we advise you to begin at the final objective and work backwards from there. Ask yourself how you will get to the end outcome? Is the resource allocation high enough to allow us to achieve the necessary outcome? This recommendation applies to any public relations strategy – large, medium or small.
A further question is whether the marketing plan should use advertising or public relations or both? Generally public relations works especially well if there is a significant news angle – this can best be described as something specifically special about the product or company in question. For example an online shopping website which gives all its profits to charity. Other factors which may influence a campaign’s success is how well the product is matched to the personal needs of the target media. Eg a new camera seems to go very well when the target market is female aged 20-30 – since they can intimately relate to the product.
Advertising might be implemented when the objective is shorter term in nature or when the objective requires high repetition to be achieved. Google adwords are usually a great help if budget is modest and/or if the product is in popular category – ie web surfers know to search for it. For brand new products in new categories, public relations/other forms of marketing can be an effective way to improve awareness.
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