You're Not GM, Mickey D's or Coke - So Don't Market Like Them - Adult B2B Mkg. Tip

[AdultB2B]

You're Not GM, McDonald's, Or Coca-Cola - So Don't Emulate What They Do

The key to their success isn't necessarily based on how good they are (Inside Reality), but rather on massive advertising repetition. General Motors, McDonald's, and Coca-Cola advertise for the sole purpose of building distribution and BRAND awareness. They do Image Advertising. Their ads attempt to marry a lifestyle feeling to their product so you'll get that same feeling when you buy.

For example, in 1997, Pepsi spent $1.24 billion in advertising, while Proctor & Gamble spent $2.743 billion. McDonald's spent $1.041 billion and General Motors spent a whopping $3.087 billion! That's why Chevy could hum the tune "like a rock, like a rock, like a rock" and it worked. If you spend over a BILLION dollars, you'll get stellar results too! Here's a stat that might surprise you: Do you know how many billboards Coca Cola had along American Roads way back in 1930? A thousand? 10,000? 100,000? Try 300,000! That same year they also had over 20,000 building walls painted with their logo, over 5 million soda glasses with their name printed on them, and over 400 million newspaper and magazine advertising impressions...in 1930! See, it takes time and money to really build that kind of brand awareness and it can work great for your advertising and marketing if you are fortunate enough to have a marketing budget of over $100 million a year.

99% Of Most Advertising Is Nothing But A Huge Jumble Of Hyperbole, Fluff And Unbelievable Platitudes With Black-Hole Nothing Words!

You'll hear words like: best service, biggest, most professional, highest quality, most reliable, speedy, convenient and lowest prices. And you'll hear phrases such as: "We're number one"...well, Whoop Dee Do. Number one in whose eyes? These mindless words and phases do absolutely nothing to communicate why you're the best deal. Why you're an exceptional value. Why or how you solve the problems that nobody else solves.

But most businesses go on year after year yawning these verbal platitudes that do nothing more than get their name out there, if that. Why would anyone want to waste marketing dollars that hardly says anything to anyone? It's because the majority of us have been obediently trained (from the wrong sources) on how to advertise.

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[Magnus3x]

Maybe GM should have been left out of this analogy, LOL their sales are falling like a rock just like their balance sheets.

[Evil Chris]

I think those marketing tips are a little dated.

[Quagmire]

That article has been done to death.

Throw us a fresh idea on how NOT to market like them but be able to build a brand and profit.

[AdultB2B]

Originally Posted by Magnus3x

Maybe GM should have been left out of this analogy, LOL their sales are falling like a rock just like their balance sheets.

This was written a while back when the car industry was a little more healthy. I thought about taking GM out, but if you remember back, that song, which was a hit, was on the tip of everyone's tongue and people associated it with GM and their trucks. But it's a good example of brand marketing with a lot of money to spend and what it does for you long term, nothing. Branding only works if you have that kind of money to spend and it's not the best way to market. If GM had used that money to do their marketing the right way they wouldn't be in the bind they're in now.

Hopefully that makes it a little less dated for Chris (lol).