Bad Commercial = Poor Perception

We've all seen some commercials that after we watched, we wondered, what they were thinking!

Check out this run of poor publicity.

I can see how ideas can backfire.  Perception is crucial in the buying decision process, and in our book, Marketing by Pride & Ferrell, they discuss selective distortion.  Selective distortion happens when people disregard information that they don't agree with.

In business and in life we hope that our messages are saying what we want them to, and we hope that we can fix any misconceptions.  

It's a terrible thing to lose business because of a negative perception. 

I can't even watch it anymore...

I was flipping through the channels the other day and one of the Transformers movies was on.  Within the first 5 minutes of watching I counted at least a dozen brand name products.  Now, thinking about all these marketing themes and ideas, I had to google product placement in Transformers.

What really got me thinking was the presents of the Army.  Did the Army pay Hollywood to be in that movie?  Is part of our military spending budget labeled Hollywood?  So, dollars that could be spent taking care of soldiers past and present is use to show how the Army can kick some fictional robots butt.  Does anyone else see a problem?

I guess I wouldn't say I didn't know it was there, but The Persuaders had said something about becoming desensitized... I really didn't think about the actual money spent until we began discussing product placement.

I can't even watch it anymore... I've been trying to find any kind of dollar figure on what the military spent on product placement.  I found one article from USA Today discussing Army spending with NASCAR.  If they continue their sponsorship of NASCAR it will cost $8.4 million this year.  They're talking about discontinuing sponsorship, but how much have they spent already?  That's just with NASCAR... it's makes me wonder if the payoff is worth it.

U.S. Army to discontinue NASCAR

A Lesson In Marketing...

When we started our window cleaning business, I was hesitant to spend, spend, spend.  I wanted to buy only what we NEEDED to get the business off the ground.  There is so much uncertainty, and I was worried about the risk.

My husband insisted that he needed a new truck complete with logos to get the business off the ground.  I told him he was crazy.  He should use the truck he had, and put logos on it later when we can afford them.  I told him not even to put logos on it after I saw the $$$$.  I said, "Wait a couple of years so we can build up some money, and we will get a new truck and then put logos on it."  I couldn't have been more wrong...

I guess you could say, I was persuaded, because there it is, the truck.  Before driving to see his 1st customer he had it ready to go, and we have never regretted spending the money we do on that truck since.  It is our best form of advertising!

The other day, Brett pulled-up to a job at the same time as one of our competitors, and we received the job even with a higher bid, because of Brett's image.  Sometimes it is upsetting when he is right about issues we disagree on, but today I am happy to have "learned this lesson" because business is BOOMING!
       

I found this short video.  It is very helpful in learning what the 4Ps are and how they are the gears that drive success in business.

WATCH IT!

Product, Place, Price, & Promotion are the 4Ps.  

Offer Products customers value

Configure Price including all $ transactions

Include a wide range in Promotions

Place = proper distribution

I agree, that marketing to so many, is just the promotion aspect of the 4Ps.  I can see now that marketing encompasses all of theses elements.  Each part equally important in building sales. 

SWOT

As I have been reading through the beginning chapters of the book, I immediately became interested in SWOT analysis.  I can see the value of determining each of these elements in business and in personal life.

business-docs.co.uk

I saw a few videos on youtube of people using this analysis to evaluate themselves, and I can see where this process would bring many things to light.

In business I can see the value of this analysis. Summarized from Marketing by Pride & Ferrell, once written out for everyone to see, organizations can match strengths with opportunities to build competitive advantage.  Also, this visualization can spark action towards converting weakness into strengths and threats into opportunities.

New to this...

I would love to find a niche to utilize a blog in our business too!