The problem with a pure marketing approach to promoting and branding an organization is that it is likely to be self-centered, especially when the team behind it is internal. There is a lack of outside perspective and concern for the real interests of the audience. Unless there is professional marketing research that is ongoing, followed by serious consideration to the findings, marketing alone is not usually as effective as it should be.
The best branding emphasizes relationship-building with much effort devoted to interacting with an audience on a regular basis. There will be more listening and less direct selling. The most effective campaigns integrate public relations, marketing and advertising and companies that succeed are those with teams reflecting various talents combined rather in silos as we too often see.
I review many e-newsletters and websites critically and find that far too many are all about selling something to me rather than informing or offering something of value. Our agency really appreciates working for clients who understand this and strive to offer value in all of their customer communications. You find this in articles, whitepapers, presentations, online news rooms and newsletters with valuable information written in layman’s terms, and in websites that invite comments. The best are organized per the visitor’s needs rather than how the company is structured. We like the organization of The Alta Group’s newsroom and the valuable information of whitepapers produced for Siemens Financial Services. Also, see the very informative column developed by Fredericksburg Oncology on FredMD (“More than one cure is needed to ‘win’ the war on cancer”).
Please feel free to share your examples and suggestions for our review.
