Posts Tagged ‘brand awareness’
The rise and fall of today’s economy
Posted by Lynn Hartley | Filed under Advertising, Interactive, Media
In these tough economic times I see and hear more and more frustration around me about what’s yet to come. From the car dealerships on TV who are concerned about their sales to the cashiers at businesses like Linens and Things who are working out their final days before closing. It’s a really sad situation that I have been fortunate to have only seen once in my lifetime.
As I continue to monitor everything, I’ve noticed how advertising is slowly decreasing everywhere. From an agency standpoint, one would assume this is to compensate for losses and cover additional layoffs that may have been needed. But it makes me wonder – Is this really the best approach for the consumer?
While cutting some things here and there are important to the continued success and “catch-up” of a business, it’s also important to keep certain sectors such as print and interactive intact to make the most of not only your presence but also your brand. Your brand identity is so important to the growth of your business. It provides such a strong distinction between you and others that it can help give the best advertising (and not just because it’s free)…word of mouth. Your brand also provides reassurance to those loyal customers that, while they continuously come to your property because its second nature to them, will be the first to raise a flag if they stop seeing your presence in the market.
As a consumer, whenever I see less advertising by great brands the first thing I think of is the economic status. The second is weakness. If I wanted to take a vacation to get some rest and relaxation, I would be truly scared to make my purchase at a place that appeared to be dropping off. I would assume they were unstable and may take my hard earned money into bankruptcy with them.
If I wanted to go to a luxury destination or “my tropical paradise”, the world today naturally pulls me to log onto the Internet. Once I’m there, I’m most likely going to google destinations that I am interested in. If I had a particular place I loved to go then I would be loyal, choose them and that would be that. But if I am randomly choosing as a potential customer would, than I would start my research with the properties at the top of my search listing.
In destination purchases the consumer can be so finicky. Myself included. I am more apt to ignore the places that list every detail without the jazz, than those that give me a soothing sense of worth that my money will provide. So even if I love to take Caribbean vacations and always stay at a Sandals Beach Resort, if I stop seeing them in the market, I will easily become intrigued with the next feel good place.
With that said, if someone cut their search advertising I probably won’t interact with their website during my selection process. On the other hand, if someone kept their search but cut all their print, I may see them in my top results but I may not recognize them. Those properties that let both work hand in hand are the ones that I will see, recognize and click through to find more information on. It almost makes me think of the old situation where you have two people running for class president. I always focused on the candidate who stayed in front of me to get his message across but the one who seemed to bounce in and out quickly faded out of my memory.
