I cannot remember when last I had a dull minute in my life. The market for PR in the IT sector has never been more vibrant, more alive with opportunity. And the reason, quite simply, is that publicity builds brand.
Publicity builds brand; advertising defends market share.
Like many other people, I had for years believed that advertising builds brand and publicity reinforces it. Over the last few years I have been persuaded of precisely the opposite: that publicity creates brand and advertising reinforces the message.
Do you want proof? Scan the columns of mainstream and trade press and read headlines. Analyse your feelings and reaction towards positive headlines. See how you feel about Microsoft, SAP, Softline, MGX, CCH, DataTec, Ixchange and others. Then see how you react to the headlines referring to companies where the news is not necessarily positive at the moment: Compaq, Baan, Brainware, USKO. Analyse your feelings towards these companies. You probably won`t be able to justify your feelings; they`re likely to be subliminal, based on perception. But then, in this market, perception is reality.
Take a look at companies which have lost 90% and more of their value as reflected on the JSE; and look at those which are still sitting on healthy, eye-catching p:e ratios and share prices. There`s not always logic and very often it will be publicity that is the missing factor.
Listen to Al and Laura Ries in their marketing bible, "The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding". "What works today is publicity, not advertising. This is especially true in the high-tech field. All of the big global marketing powerhouses - Microsoft, Intel, Dell, Compaq, Gateway, Oracle, Cisco, SAP and Sun Microsystems - were first created in the pages of the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Forbes and Fortune. By publicity, not by advertising."
Does this mean you can dispense with that hideously expensive advertising? No, of course not. If there were 1 000 companies in the market and all decided to go only the publicity route, there`d be no advertising revenue and therefore no publications. What it does say is that there is a role and purpose for each of advertising and publicity; just as there is for advertorial.
Great PR without advertising is less effective than the two combined, and advertising without publicity is dispersed to the point of wastefulness. Publicity builds brand; advertising defends market share.
Finding the balance
This must be the most difficult part of the PR process. It is the one which says that your PR accurately reflects not just your market activities, but also the market`s and your customers` experience of you. (Cognitive assonance rather than cognitive dissonance. As Ralph Waldo Emerson put it: "What you are shouts so loudly in my ears I can`t hear what you say.")
It is about defining your strategy; then articulating, communicating and living out your vision; fulfilling your mission; defining the values that constitute your company and brand; acquiring and developing the appropriate competencies; and ensuring the external world`s (customers, investors, peers) experiential confirmation of the brand.
Few companies get it totally right - here in SA or in the world - those that do can scarcely beat customers and investors off with a stick as their value proposition to the world is complete, sustainable and iterative.
Quote of the week
"Never forget leadership. No matter how small the market, don`t get duped into simply selling the benefits of the category.
"There are also the long-term benefits of leadership. Because once you get on top, it`s hard to lose your spot. A widely publicised study of 25 leading brands in 25 different product categories in the year 1923 showed that 20 of the same 25 brands are still the leaders in their categories today. In 75 years only 25 brands lost their leadership.
"Never assume that people know which brand is the leader. This is especially true in fast-growing, new categories like contact software and maintenance software. Most new prospects have no experience with the category and little knowledge of available brands, so they naturally gravitate to the leading brand." - Al and Laura Ries in "The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding".
Share