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November 27, 2007
Your marketing budget is too big when:
- Your company or PR firm sends press releases to every blogger on the Power 150.
- Your organization writes more press releases than blog posts.
- You have more than one meeting about the wording of a press release.
- You buy lists of names or email addresses.
- Your employees or consultants obsess over "brand equity."
- You've created a brand presence in Second Life.
- You send SMS ads to mobile phones.
- You advertise inside video games.
- You advertise on mobile billboards.
- You advertise during movie theater previews.
- You hire Donald Trump, Martha Stewart or Jessica Simpson to appear in your marketing.
- You obsess over "brand recall" numbers.
- You invest more than a buck in stock photos of people for your website.
- You commission a new website splash page.
- Your new or redesigned website is built entirely in Flash.
- You hire the person responsible for the "Lingerie Bowl."
- It contributes to childhood obesity.
- You learn that your company is astroturfing or sock-puppeting.
- Your CMO's definition of engagement is: "Turning on a prospect to a brand idea enhanced by the surrounding context."
Tell us: What you would add to the list? Here's a sampling of items from commenters on how to know when your marketing budget is too big:
- You pay your PR firm based on how many analyst briefings they can line up, regardless of whether the analysts are writing about companies like yours (from Josh).
- You're hiring companies to "make" something you've already created go viral (from Jennifer).
- Your ad budget exceeds the GDP of Tonga (from Bill).
- Your advertising agency makes a bust of your CEO (also from Bill).
- In a meeting, the word “eyeballs” is used in the same sentence as “Super Bowl" (from Bill yet again... hat trick!)
- You hire a person to "do word of mouth" -- basically, a one-person, one-off promotion ingenue, with a penchant for perky and a endless supply of Rockstar Diet (from Mike).
- You can't sleep because you don't have at least 100 keyword phrases yet for your new blog (from Connie).
- You advertise during the Super Bowl... and no one remembers (from Shama).
- You're not testing every idea (from Jonathan).
Other blogs that reference Your marketing budget is too big when::
» More wisdom from the WOM gurus at Church of the Customer from Digital Hive
Check out the latest post from Ben McConnell of Church of the Customer. Digitasians will remember a visit earlier this year from Ben's compadre Jackie Huba. Entitled your marketing budget is too big when, I love this post (and the [Read More]
» Is your marketing budget too big? Didnt think so from Ponder Marketing
Heres a fun post from the Church of the Customer blog Your marketing budget is too big when:
Some of my favorites among the items on their list:
you have a brand presence in Second Life
you advertise inside video games
you hire th... [Read More]
Amen.
I agree with nearly all of these. But what's your problem with video game ads and movie theater previews. Awareness isn't everything, but it is something ... and these have some value.
I would add:
> You decide you need a "community strategy" even though your brand is ignored or loathed by your customers.
> You hire people to improve your online reputation instead of fixing what's wrong with your company.
> You pay your PR firm based on how many analyst briefings they can line up, regardless of whether the analysts are writing about companies like yours.
Excellent post! I've seen several of those happen more than once, even with small businesses on a very tight budget. Generally, that's more related to not understanding the need to tie positive ROI to a campaign than simply having "too much money" in your budget.
I'd add...
> You engage in "Ego bidding" - Buying PPC terms simply to keep your CEO happy, not because they actually convert to customers
> You're hiring companies to "make" something you've already created go viral
> You're still creating micro-sites for any and every ad campaign you create
Ben,
Awesome post. Let's see:
>Your ad budget exceeds the GDP of Tonga
>Your advertising agency makes a bust of your CEO
>In a meeting, the word “eyeballs” is used in the same sentence as “Super Bowl”.
and a mashup:
>You send SMS ads to mobile phones in Second Life
Heya Josh -- Awareness is all about branding, and branding is like the Paris Hilton Paradox: Everyone knows who she is, yet no one bought her CD.
BTW, I can't imagine that item number 3 on your list ever happens! :)
Jennifer -- The viral one is good. I can hear the call already: "We need to make this thing go viral, like what Diet Coke did with those Mentos!"
Bill -- And just for the record, the GDP of Tonga is $178 million (according to the CIA World Factbook).
You hire a person to "do word of mouth" - basically, a one-person, one-off promotion ingenue, with a penchant for perky and a endless supply of Rockstar (Diet!)
I'd like to add a couple:
* You publish a book entitled "Marketing Through The Internet On A Shoestring Budget"
* You host a special event promoting your wisdom to brand your company as the Internet Marketing Guru.
Here's one:
You can't sleep because you don't have at least 100 keyword phrases yet for your new blog.
You advertise during the super bowl...and no one remembers.
"Splash page" is sometimes used to describe to the more commonly used landing page so I'm not sure if that was your intention or maybe you are referring to those jazzy flash intros on homepages.
Landing pages (and their optimization) would actually be just about the best use of marketing budget I can think of.
oh, my add to the list--your marketing budget is too big when you're not testing every idea
Jonathan -- I was referring to the jazzy Flash intros which, sadly, have not gone extinct.
"It contributes to child obesity."
Haha, that killed me. Seriously.
I have to agree with Shama. I can't remember half of the ads I saw there.
You spend money on marketing without bothering to track the results.
You pay an agency to do the strategy for you and then go on the speaker circuit to explain your ground breaking innovation.
You never have a meeting to discuss eliminating advertising that isn't producing results.
Buy the naming rights to a Stadium
Consider Times Square billboard spots
I agree. interesting article.
Right!! It's hard to control the budget especially on advertising and PR. It's usually over budget!!
