You're Not Microsoft, McDonald's, Or Coca-Cola - So Don't Emulate What They Do (Part 2)
Friday we talked about big businesses, how they advertise and why you shouldn't advertise that way. Here's more on that subject:
In the past 50 years, providing for the needs of people has been split into three groups. We now have three types of businesses that give people what they want.
Level ONE Business, surprisingly, is the biggest provider of services and products in this country - our government. Some of us would adamantly argue that our government has taken over our education system, transportation, safety & protection, our savings for retirement and distribution of food and clothing for over 15% of our population. Even many of the medical and legal services are closely controlled/provided by our government. Average business owners cannot compete in these markets, which control as much as 40% of our gross national product.
Level TWO Businesses are what we call the Fortune 500, which includes the top 1 to 5 thousand companies in the country. They're comprised of premier global majors with diverse growth portfolios such as Google, McDonald's, Wal-Mart, Microsoft, Coca Cola, etc. Some of the top Fortune 500 companies have portfolios of high quality assets and capabilities, and financial strength to generate enhanced value for their shareholders. We've been indoctrinated by years of advertising and social acceptance to buy from these companies. Any product or service that can be standardized and distributed to 80% of the population without changing the design or concept has been converted to a national brand name over the last 50 years. They have the financial resources to advertise all over the place; a million dollars here, half a million there. It takes a lot of money and time to build that kind of brand equity.
Level THREE Businesses include everybody else. Everything from start up businesses and mom and pop's, all the way up to companies that do hundreds of millions of dollars in annual sales. Level 3 companies cannot rely on broad based repetition-oriented advertising that builds brand awareness. It's not that Level 3 businesses can't or shouldn't build brand awareness. And it's not that they can't spend a lot of money on advertising. They just can't do it nationally on Fox, ABC, NBC, and CBS at $50,000 to millions per 30-second spot (you may remember that many of the dot com's tried and failed miserably). Level 3 businesses need to be more frugal with their marketing budget in order to create successful action-oriented advertising.
We'll continue this discussion tomorrow.
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You're Not Microsoft Or Coke, So Don't Do What They Do - Part 2 - Adult B2B Mkg. Tip
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