Media choices make branding harder

With the proliferation of media outlets, the temptation may be to think that it”™s easier for a company to brand itself. But Larry Chiagouris, marketing professor at Pace University, says just the opposite is true. We asked him about that and other trends in marketing and public relations.

Q: It seems that every company is looking to brand itself as something or other these days. Does the endless array of media choices help or hurt?

“It”™s harder to brand than it ever was before. Back 20 years ago there were fewer media choices, it was easier to make a media buy and capture the attention of your target audience and be relatively certain that with a few media buys you could register your brand in people”™s minds. Now media consumption is fragmented. It”™s very hard to establish a new brand in the minds of target audiences. Public relations is now a more potent force in building a brand than ever before. PR professionals package content that outlets seek to acquire. PR now has an equal seat at the table, if done well it”™s a powerful way to put your brand identity in front of people.”

Can you give an example of that?

“You see it with charities. Susan Komen is under attack now but Avon did a wonderful job of associating itself with that and didn”™t have to spend on advertising. It”™s an example of using sponsorships of newsworthy events to get your brand out in front of an audience.

In what other ways are companies trying to brand themselves?

Increasingly for large businesses, we”™re seeing the CEO in front of the camera. An early example of this was many years ago, when Lee Iacocca was doing ads for Chrysler. That was thought to be groundbreaking. It was unusual to see the CEO in front of the camera. But companies now are trying to humanize themselves, give themselves a persona, we”™re seeing companies sticking the CEO out there, the top guy or gal, to put a face on company. Sprint is an example, and Angie”™s List, which gives people information about services in their neighborhoods.

So both big and small businesses are doing this?

Yes. More and more smart small businesses recognize that the owner is integral to the company and not just in the back running the business. So now every butcher, baker and candlestick maker is out there. I don”™t know how long this will last.

What other trends are you seeing in marketing and public relations?

The fragmentation of the media is a trend that has been with us for 15  to 20 years and it continues in many different ways. The Internet accelerated it. Now have more media choices at every level and the ability to buy media in a more focused way geographically.

Are you seeing that businesses no longer feel they need to hire media professionals, they simply use the Internet for promotional purposes?

Yes, and this is good and bad. Good because businesses can do more with less money than they could 20 years ago. But bad because mistakes are being made. A restaurant may offer discounts through Groupon but then find that because of the discounts they didn”™t make money and the consumer didn”™t return without the discount.

Where do you see any especially creative uses of the Internet for promotional purposes?

In the areas of information and entertainment, they”™re using sampling. Music is being sampled. Longer trailers are being used to promote movies and whole chapters of books are used for promotion.

How about the use of social media?

The jury is still out as to whether social media brings a return on the investment. You can”™t control what people say about you. Pinterest is an example, where you upload photos or logos or images relevant to your business. But intellectual property lawsuits may arise as people grab images off the Internet that should be paid for. It”™s the latest trend, actually a fad. We”™ll see if it becomes a trend.