Relationships Vs Business - Which Is More Important In Advertising? | The Communication Blog

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Relationships Vs Business - Which Is More Important In Advertising?

By Quinn Harris


Successful businesses know the importance of building and maintaining good working relationships, whether it is with partners, employees, business or trade organizations, the government, media representatives, vendors, consumers, or the community at large. A business must carefully balance the benefits of these interpersonal relationships and should never allow these relationships to blind their judgment especially when it relates to what is in the best interest of the business's continued success and growth.

Buying advertising media based on interpersonal relationships is a common mistake made by many small businesses. Instead of following the strategic marketing plan, the business takes a major gamble by doing business among people they know and opting for that warm, copacetic feeling that is part and parcel of such deals. However, when the smoke clears the business has made costly advertising expenditures with little or no results and the long term negative effects may not readily be seen.

So as you can see, the spending has been done, the marketing budget most likely exceeded (but probably it has not been exceeded yet), and in most cases there would not have been enough done to tap into the demographic market the business had intended to penetrate.

They say negotiators make strange bedfellows, so is this always true when buying media? No, it is not, but before considering this option and choosing a media format to buy, a business has to think first of their demographic and choose the right target market. Any business can make the right media buying choices and profit at the end of the day if they know how to keep track of the target market's buying habits and behaviors, which may include their general interests, their preferred choice of entertainment or preferred media in which they are to get the message. Once the advertising business has developed a strong sense of what media channels may prove to be the most effective it should try each a little at a time carefully tracking the results of each. Once this is complete the business will be able to make an educated decision on where to invest its marketing dollars, prioritizing expenditures into the mediums that have proven results for the business.

This article is not meant to dispute the importance of having valuable relationships with people in the media, similar or related businesses and other organizations, because it is indeed important to value these relationships if you look at the big picture. But again, negotiators make strange bedfellows in more than one way, and valuing a friendship in the business world over everything else will almost always be a mistake - concentrate first on developing synergy with your strategic marketing plan and everything else should follow.




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