“They say that marketing and PR is built on relationships. Unfortunately there are plenty of BAD relationships out there. The ones that are beneficial for both sides (and last through thick and thin) are the relationships that you invest yourself in.” –Spike Jones of Brains on Fire, Greenville, SC
I read this post by Spike Jones yesterday and haven’t been able to get it out of my head ever since. To sum it up here, Spike argues that the “answer” for you and your company is not the-most-amazingest-ever-made Super Bowl ad or the-longest-ever-made-infomercial (give the man points for picking on two things that have never made logical sense to me) but instead to inspire a movement, a long-term and mutually enriching experience for the people (and don’t forget that it IS people you want to be dealing with) you’re trying to reach.
Marketing is only as good long-term as the cause behind it. I think this concept is SO vital for nonproft/activist groups to grasp. Yes, you can come up with the most of-the-moment branding, and yes, you can jump on the band-wagon of whatever is the latest and greatest medium of reaching your audience. But…ultimately…you’d better have something to say. You’d better inspire someone that your cause is one worth sticking by for the long-haul. You’d better think beyond the marketing/PR campaign you have in the works right now. Because–you can never predict when the economy is going to freak out everyone living in your country. And you can never predict which new technology will be the coolest next month. The only thing you’ve got a handle on is your message. Your mission. Your vision.
So, craft it wisely.
Anyone have any good examples of an organization, for-profit or not, that has this kind of on-going, good relationship with its people?
4 responses so far ↓
Paull Young // January 27, 2009 at 3:27 am |
Great post Tiffany, thanks for the pointer to Spike’s post too.
I was recently reading the transcript of a lecture Rupert Murdoch recently gave in Australia where he said that the biggest thing he learned from his father about the newspaper game was that if you always worked in the interest of your readers the loyalty you received in return would see you through.
This really struck me as important – one of the world’s finest business man pointing to the importance of relationships at the core of his approach to business.
This is all to often forgotten in the short-term, immediate ROI, numbers based approach to work that many marketers (and senior decision makers) base their work on day-to-day.
tiffanysellers // January 27, 2009 at 3:34 am |
That’s a very good point. I’m seeing already in my very limited experience with the PR world that it truly is easy to get short-sighted in approach and butcher the whole relationship aspect of the practice. Do you have a link to the transcript?
Paull Young // January 27, 2009 at 4:05 am |
I bought the paper back from an ABC shop in Sydney
You can watch/listen to the lecture here: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/fora/stories/2008/11/03/2408957.htm
It’s very Australia focused though.
tiffanysellers // January 28, 2009 at 12:28 am |
To be honest, I’m kinda of a closet Australian wannabe… so I won’t mind