Picking A Medium For Your Message

Nation's Business, Feb, 1999 by Nancy J. Wagner

Nancy J. Wagner is a promotional-marketing writer in Seattle.

To reach your customers effectively, you should become familiar with the distinct approaches of marketing, advertising, and public relations.

At its launch several years ago, U.S. Micro Express, Inc., a computer-services firm in Bellevue, Wash., had an annual advertising budget of $50,000-most of it for ads in large-circulation newspapers. Even after sales leveled out at $10 million in the seventh year, the firm continued to pour money into print ads.

Two years ago, company officials decided to ask clients how they became aware of U.S. Micro's services. Most cited recommendations from satisfied customers. In addition, a review of the firm's clients disclosed that most were Fortune 1000 businesses, not the small companies and home-computer users at whom the advertising had been directed.

Company officials realized that their advertising dollars had not even come close to accomplishing what they expected.

Changing tactics, U.S. Micro shifted most of its promotional efforts to a series of direct mailings targeting Fortune 1000 companies. The firm also strengthened its technical-support department. Within two years, U.S. Micro's sales were increasing again, a strong indication that the company had found the best way to promote itself.

Although U.S. Micro remained profitable while trying various types of promotion efforts, many small firms lack the resources for such experimentation. The first step in determining how and where your promotional dollars should be used is to become knowledgeable about the differences among marketing, advertising, and public relations.

Marketing encompasses a range of tactics, such as handing out small gifts bearing your logo, maintaining a presence at trade shows or on the Internet, and providing superior customer service and product support.

Advertising, on the other hand, is simply the process of buying time or space in the print media or on the Internet, television, or radio. It lets you say whatever you wish about your product or service.

Public relations differs from advertising in that you can't control how or when information about your company will be presented to the public. But when your product is mentioned in the news media, it is usually perceived as a third-party endorsement-provided the context of the story is positive or at least neutral.

To determine the best form of promotion for your company, you need to define your budget and goals. If you're on a tight budget, you might want to look at developing a public-relations campaign.

Public Relations

In Mercer Island, Wash., Lenders Interactive Online Network (LION), a firm that provides World Wide Web-site services for mortgage brokers, had a limited promotion budget. The firm sent press releases to mortgage-banking publications describing its high-tech services. Articles about LION and mentions of the firm soon began appearing in the publications. Calls from prospective clients who had read about LION's services came soon thereafter.

"Technology is a big buzzword right now," says Joe Ringer, executive vice president of LION. "We send out about two press releases a month, each geared toward explaining some new concept or development we have in the works. This seems to keep the interest lively"

LION's efforts appear to have worked. Its sales have increased in the past three years to 350 new accounts per month, up from about 20.

To help ensure that a public-relations campaign is aimed at the right audience, first determine who buys your product or service, then find out if anyone else influences your clients in their decisions to buy from you.

"We began to realize our audience went beyond the obvious buyers of our product," says Jon Torrey, vice president of marketing at PRIO Corp. in Beaverton, Ore. PRIO manufactures a device that aids optometrists in diagnosing and prescribing special eyeglasses for people with computer-related eyestrain.

"We first targeted optometrists in our PR campaign," says Torrey. "Then our research indicated consumers who were aware of our products were also asking their optometrists to use our testing device. That's when we realized we needed to target this type of consumer as well."

Publishers are constantly searching for information about products and companies, says Torrey. After deciding which publications PRIO wanted to approach, Torrey requested editorial calendars from each one. "Then we narrowed down our press releases or made suggestions for articles which fit those guidelines," he says.

Although a small company might have to pay for a public-relations firm or hire a writer to create its press releases, any free publicity generated by the releases makes this one of the least-expensive ways to increase the public's awareness of your business.

PRIO has tried other advertising and marketing campaigns to add clients, Torrey says, but its PR efforts "turned out to be the key factor in building our client base."

Advertising

Before launching a print ad campaign, find out where your customers are, advises Carol Salomon, advertising manager at Peet Bros. Co., an Ocean, N.J., manufacturer of electronic weather instruments. Do they listen to the radio, read magazines, use the Internet, see billboards while commuting to work?