Via Scoble, I came across this quote over at Kevin Schofield’s Weblog:
Marketing is a difficult discipline, that requires both theoretical and practical knowledge. Just as marketing people should respect technical people, technical people should respect marketing people. I think in the long run one of the most important business lessons that people will take away from studying Microsoft is that when you put sharp technical people and sharp marketing people together and things click, you can create a very, very profitable business. [Kevin Schofield’s Weblog]
Kevin works at in the Microsoft marketing group and tries to help Scoble understand and appreciate the difference between marketing and advertising so that the art and science (primarily behind the marketing) can be respected. I’ve definitely learned a great deal in my time in Marketing… and believe that while I’ve got plenty to learn (as is natural) there is much to offer based on my experience.
I’d add this bit to Kevin’s post, since my experience is from the Agency side, rather than the client side…
Advertising needs to respect Marketing as well.
There were far too many times for me to count where marketing (particularly direct and interactive) were used as window dressing to sell advertising based primarily on ignorance to better position the Agency to sell more sexy ad campaigns rather than focus on the issue at hand which might be more easily addressed through a targeted marketing campaign. Because the science behind the marketing usually takes a good bit of time and effort and cooperation from the client (they’ve got the data initially) it gets passed on for TV-appeal. It’s great to see your work on-screen.. I know, it feels good from my perspective too! It’s redeeming to share that with your family and have them appreciate what you actually do, but is very difficult to track a few key details of how you are spending your money like:
Who’s watching…
Are they interested in my product/service?
Are they even considering my product/service?
Do they use a competitors product or service?
Are they already a customer?
How long and what level?
Perhaps an upgrade offer or cross sell of related services would be a better use of message…
Before I dive into the deep on the differences between direct and general advertising, I’ll just end with this thought…
There is almost always a great deal of focus that can be brought to a campaign to make sure that the greatest number of interested parties see your message and are likely to respond (and buy or get in touch with you) in an attributable way. It’s hard to beat the mass efficiency of TV in primetime or daytime, but is that really where your message should be? Wouldn’t you rather know who you are communicating with and engage in a dialogue?
