Advertising communicates your company’s strategic marketing messages to the world. The venues could be radio (satellite or tower), print advertising, trade shows, personalities and endorsements, office voice messaging, telemarketing efforts, your marketing collateral, product packaging and design (the design of the container communicates a unique message), television, product placement in movies, web related communications (i.e., blogs, e-mail blasts, Podcasts, banners, YouTube or other streaming videos, etc.), promotional products that you give away to clients, vehicle signage, public relations communications (not really advertising, but a message written by someone in the media who gets your story out), uniforms (I hope you have great looking uniforms), billboards, and sponsorships, to name a few.
Your orchestrated communication plans can be very intense and integrated to leverage your brands (some are better at it than others). Integration basically means tying it all together. In the world of marketing, the better marketer wins. To the best of your ability, these programs need to be shared within your organization. Your people are the first-line of market penetration - they are part of your marketing army, your home team. If they are kept in the dark about the marketing activities of the company, they won’t be able to capitalize on opportunities at every level within the company. Be sure and share your marketing and advertising plans with your personnel. Don’t divulge trade secrets or provide all of the details concerning your tactical plan (corporate espionage does exist), but do let your staff know what you are doing to attract more customers. Hopefully, this will be a good morale booster in the process. It seems that a market leader is not only seen that way in the market, but also at the company.
Customers are quick to pick up on a healthy company that seems to know what they are saying in the market. For example, your customer may say to the receptionist “I heard your commercial on the radio” and the receptionist might say “Yeah, I love our new radio commercials!” So do you see, it doesn’t hurt the brand, it actually helps.
The market is always changing and your marketing team should be constantly working to keep your company looking fresh, timely, and relevant. Make time to share your television commercials with your staff, run the radio commercials for your dock staff or administrative staff, share your print ads with everyone, post them on the bulletin board, place them in the employee mailboxes, etc. Make your team a part of the company brand success, it is so easy to do!
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