In case you haven’t noticed, AT&T is absorbing the its wireless brand, Cingular. The transitional ads have been running about three weeks now. Cingular was developed as a stand-alone brand for wireless service but AT&T is responding to market research that showed consumers prefer bundled services. So, AT&T is investing in un-doing everything they have put into building the Cingular brand.
So what does this mean to you? There is a lesson on spending in this for you no matter the size of your practice or small business. If you are in an area where the ads are running, try to notice how many you see in a week... or if you are a real media junkie, how many you see each day.
The point is, this is how you spend to influence brand.
One of the biggest issues new clients bring to us relates to spending on media. A big buy for you does not even get a major brand started. That is because branding in the media requires a good campaign plus two key factors: money and frequency. As a small business servicing a niche, you are not going to get any breaks. For you the hill is higher.
AT&T are spending millions on re-establishing an element of one of the strongest brands in advertising history. And, there is a good chance that you learned about his here. What does this say about what you can afford and how you should be allocating your marketing funds.
This is one of the best areas in which we advise our clients. I can’t tell you how many ad campaigns we have discovered that are just money pits... and the client keeps them going because they do not know any better. Well, I can tell you... there are better options out there.
Direct marketing, one-to-one marketing, Internet marketing... they are all more cost-effective strategies if you feel like you are throwing away your money on an ad campaign that is not working. And, if you have to ask if its working... it usually is not.
