I was reading the Metro section of the local paper yesterday and saw a cartoon that struck me. The first panel shows a doctor telling his patient in the intensive care unit that he is in critical condition and needs an operation. The second panel has the doctor telling the patient that until he can get up the courage to operate that some band-aids will have to do. At this point, you may wondering what in the world this has to do with marketing. Well, a lot. A lot of executive management running small, medium, and large size companies do not understand that placing a “band-aid” over a problem is not the answer to solving it. Letting the marketing department go when budget cuts come along or ignoring marketing processes because there isn’t enough money to cover an adequate marketing campaign - all band-aid mistakes that end up costing the company more money than the marketing salaries or campaign would have cost to start.A “band-aid” is not a solution to the problem. A band-aid solves the problem for the moment so you don’t have to face the real issue. It’s equivalent to putting a band-aid on a leak in water dam. A band-aid is going to hold that leak for about one second before the band-aid flies off and the water starts to surge once again. A non-profit organization has a brand awareness problem. It is one of the oldest institutions where it is located, but even residents who have lived in the area their whole lives do not know the institution exists. Like most non-profit organizations, money is tight. When the institution experienced further budget cuts, the miniscule marketing budget was cut by 50%. Now the institution doesn’t have the money to do any advertising. So how does this solve the problem? It doesn’t. It’s time to suck up the courage to spend a little money to make a little money. I have said it before and I’ll say it again - if nobody knows your company exists, then your great product or service might as well not exist either. So much for the band-aid…

Article Tags: Branding | budget cuts | marketing
Filed under: Advertising, Branding, Marketing Trends