I came out of an advertising pitch/ marketing think tank meeting today and wondered why the proposed plan had to cost upwards of $150,000 to work according to the "experts" who gave the dog and pony show. Then I figured it out...they get paid on what we spend therefore it ISN'T in their best interest to sell us a "smarter" marketing solution...it is their goal to sell us an expensive marketing solution. In this case it was cable television.
I don't watch much television and the little I do watch is mostly on-demand and HBO so I rarely see any commercials. With over 100 channels what are the odds I would ever see one of my commercials anyway is what I thought...and $10,000 or more per participant wouldn't mean much...at least from my experience. I have advertised on radio and cable in the past with moderate results.
Smarter marketing today in my mind means direct marketing with either email, Internet SEO, or direct mail directing the recipient of the piece to a web site with maybe a short "television" commercial, a web query or maybe a "call to action" with an "800" number. Small budgets with creative campaigns (guerilla marketing) can sometimes produce the biggest bang for the buck. Look at the campaigns that find their way onto YouTube.com or similar sites. These ads are now showing on the "new television" 24/ 7 on-demand and forever with one initial cost.
So...all I can say is before you spend the big bucks for your marketing program think of the message, who you want to see or hear it and then think of ways to delivering it more directly and with less cost...it might just be the best way to get the job done in the first place...and at a fraction of the cost. The so-called experts don't get paid as much...but then...if you don't spend as much...do you really care?
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