Miffed By Marketing? You’re Not Alone [Opinion]

Paul RusnakRaise your hand if you’re familiar with the term “Framily.” OK, let’s see another show of hands for those who find creepy the Direct TV ads featuring bizarre-looking, talking string puppets flailing about with “ugly cable wires.” Yep, thought so. It’s hard to miss marketing messages — good or bad — since they are constantly in our face. Whether watching your favorite TV shows, nosing through periodicals, trolling the Internet, or scrolling through social media news feeds, the barrage is there to either beat us into submission to buy something or just drive us crazy. The aforementioned ad campaign examples are two that have pushed me to the cliff’s edge.

Advertisement

Marketing is not for everyone. It’s an acquired taste. Subjective as all get out, the way individuals or companies choose to portray themselves or a product can be received in one of three ways: acceptance, indifference, or disdain.

It seems more farm operations are attempting to reach out directly to consumers. Go about it the right way, you’ve struck gold. A failure to connect most likely won’t mean the end of your business, but it does mean time, effort, and money wasted.

Instant Messaging

Thanks in large part to technology and social media, direct marketing has evolved exponentially in recent years. Being able to communicate via Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube has provided a platform for any and all to distribute messages instantly en masse for free. Reaching out this way to inform and gather intelligence is the norm now. What you say and how you say it is up to you. And you can say it with photos, promos, links to articles, videos, and more.
So, you have the info plus the desire and means to distribute it. But will they bite?

Top Articles
25 Years of Project GREEEN’s Growth in Controlled Environment Agriculture

Tune Into Your Target

Knowledge about your target audience is essential for any successful marketing campaign. Perhaps instead of guessing what your followers want to know, ask them. It will save confusion. For example: I wonder if it was case study results that moved automaker Lexus to conceive its recent commercial glorifying the letter “F.” This vexing advertisement, which features edgy imagery and sexy sounding dialogue, feeds viewers quite the line: “‘F’ provokes lust, unleashes wrath, incites envy, and elicits pride.” Really? This is a car we’re talking about, right? Don’t know about you, but I’ve never associated the letter “F” with success.

 

While the ad is attempting to pump performance models sporting a less than desirable alphabetical representation, I don’t get it, which means others probably don’t either. Mark that as a (F)ail in marketing and branding.

Engaging your customers is the only way to meet their needs. If you don’t first succeed as you wish, you’re not alone. Even those who pay big bucks for killer marketing can wind up with a dead fish. Just think what you could do with a large marketing budget. Surely it would earn at least a B+.

Has an annoying marketing campaign ever dissuaded you from purchasing a product?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

0