Professional Communication: project an image, don't be creepy

How to create an image? How to communicate professionalism? Are there standards which can help us enhance the communication strategy?

Study Case

The answers to those questions are correlated and almost impossible to find separately. However, there are quite a lot of companies out there trying to cut down the communication costs while making efforts to score high on image rankings. I have in mind a recent experience from a big international corporation operating in the office space renting business. The experience included both online company research and visiting the local office. The research phase showed non-existing CSR policy, non-existing employee benefits, accusations of careless behavior in connection to the terrorist attack against the World Trade Center a few years back, and company-produced marketing videos. The visit at the local office revealed a high rate of employee turnover, very unusual hiring policy (hiring only for lowest hierarchy positions with no requirements for education and experience, on minimal wage), and deceiving job descriptions.

When walking through the door you are greeted way too eagerly by the staff which makes you almost uncomfortable. What they pride themselves for is great flexibility in services and high level of professional customer service. The only customer feedback is available through the corporate marketing videos though.

Communicational no go

What was observed at that company is an absolute communicational no go. The non existing CSR policy and the lack of personnel benefits in a country as Denmark where CSR is becoming more than a standard and employees are treated with special care as assets is a sign of unprofessional management. The smile of the receptionist is not enough to make up for corporate mismanagement or irresponsible behavior. It also needs to be in line with services, surroundings, corporate culture and needs to be rooted in a thorough policy. Otherwise it comes across as insincere and creepy. Smiling while doing your job needs to be just as professionally distanced as your work style. Are you flirting with the customer or servicing them? Make it clear.

Image: communication standards and guidelines

Image management, even though there is such a discipline, sounds very wrong as image management is nothing but the tip of the iceberg. Hiring a professional to work on your image does not make a lot of sense if you have not clarified what the company stays for and how it wants to be regarded by your stakeholders. Stakeholders are all individuals and groups that are or can be affected by the operating of your business and/or have an interest in your business.

You need therefore to start from identifying your business’ core characteristics and analyzing the strategic stars for your brand. After clarifying what is desired and what is possible you need to get very practical and analyze in what ways your vision and mission can be embedded in your culture and business operations.

While you make considerations about communication practices, image building and communicating your values outside of and inside the company you need to get acquainted with the professional communication standards which will be your guarantee that your communication strategy is not going to backfire by earning you critics or even lawsuits in connection to unethical behavior.

 

After you manage to create a thorough and working communication strategy completely aligned with your business operations you might want to go one step further and consider CSR. There are countless studies showing that a CSR policy is considered a plus and sometimes a definitive criterion for choosing your company as a partner, provider or employer. For the policy to work though, you once again need to be consequent. Just as you need to make sure that you have implemented a communication policy that fits your business profile you also need to do the same when engaging in CSR. If you are not careful about this you might end up being accused of using CSR as a promotional tool instead of as a sincere expression of your concern for your stakeholders and the environment. You might for example decide to fund poor children in Africa but you have to explain why it is the poor children in Africa getting your support and not the local caner organization, for example.

After completing your communication strategy you need to make sure that it covers as a minimum mission, vision, development strategy, internal communication and employee management, HR policy and benefits, corporate culture, online and traditional marketing activities, branding, crisis communication, media relations, external stakeholder management, customer relations specifically, community care and involvement, and CSR.

When you are ready you will find yourself under a stack of thick guidebooks addressing the separate topics. You will have to always make sure that they are aligned with strategy and updated regularly. Among those guidebooks you will find the one describing how you need to treat customers in order to communicate the desired corporate image.

Do you now understand why smiling a lot is not professional but creepy?

 

DIDI

Influencers and how to become one yourself

Influencers: The Stakeholders who own you and the Stakeholders you can lead

 

When living our lives no matter whether as individuals or as a part of organizations and the business we often make choices or have opinions which do not represent who we truly are. Sometimes we “catch” ourselves making those unnatural steps but most of the time we become unknowingly who our choices make us. The reason is that we are not born free. We are limited in so many ways by laws, culture, education, religion, etc. that we have grown up used to the idea that we must obey the rules.

Rules are indeed very important, if not the very core of society in all its forms. However, growing so obedient we have become slaves to many more rules than it is necessary in reality. Examples can be fashion, music, group rituals, diets, exercise, lifestyle in general, etc.

You will probably ask why we buy certain clothes or go to a certain club? You will not be the only one. Every business no matter how big or small wants to know that.

We do so because we are “told” so. Among us who obey there are also the so called influencers. Those are individuals who are a part of the groups to which we belong and who do not always stay ahead and behave as leaders. Those are simple people who speak the language of the crowd and understand its mechanisms. Of course, influencers are also often also public figures who beforehand have groups of followers.

Influencers are important for business from two points of view – as possible promoters/anti-brand activists and as trend creators. In the first case we talk about marketing efforts or restoring brand communication. Needless to say, this may mean the success or the failure of a brand. In the second case we talk about researching and detecting future trends predicted by behavior of influencers. Using this method can help channel the business efforts in the right direction.

This is also the reason why companies try to attract influencers as their employees or as their loyal consumers. But they fail to understand that being an influencer by “buying” an influencer’s voice is not the best practice. The reason is both that public figures are overused as corporate faces and “private” influencers are often individuals who succeed as such thanks to their strong, honest voice rooted in SOME principles. That is to say that there are no universal influencers. Somebody who is known as knowledgeable in nutrition will without a doubt be as useless to McDonald’s as they would be to Siemens if they start promoting hamburgers after swearing off all fast food throughout all their lives.

There are of course many “sneaky” ways to include an influencer’s voice in the corporate marketing but one should always beware that if an influencer is used in an attempt to manipulate the public and this information is leaked out of the organization great damage might be expected brand-wise.

The truth is that the times of manipulation are over. The only winning strategy for a company is to answer the demand, be honest and responsible. Getting the attention of influencers depends on a company’s ability to predict trends and act on them, cooperate with the public and always be a step ahead of competition.

This is the only way a company can become an influencer itself. However, besides being a market leader one way or another, the company should understand what makes one an influencer – a strong honest voice, rooted in clear principles. Companies need to understand that if they have a stand there will be somebody who will want to listen. And follow.

Misusing CSR

CSR as we know it and CSR of the future

 

The concept of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) is not new. Some link its birth to the middle of the 20^th century and the attempt of tobacco corporations to remedy their public images and to shift the focus of attention from the harm they cause to the good they claim they do. However, the concept has been developing all through the past years and has come to mean incorporating philanthropy and responsibility towards stakeholders and community at large. A definition of it could sound as “doing business by doing more good and trying to avoid harm”.

The way CSR is been practiced also differs greatly from country to country (explicit and directly marketed in many countries and implicit and promoted by earning recognition of third parties in other countries). For this reason any generalization about the concept cannot be feasible.

However, it cannot be denied that many companies use the CSR flag as a marketing tool. Dorfman, Cheyne, Friedman, Wadud and Gottlieb give a great example of that in their article “Soda and Tobacco Industry Corporate Social Responsibility Campaigns: How Do They Compare?” (www.plosmedicine.org). They be a few CSR campaigns run by soda corporations. Pepsi’s RefreshProject turns out to be the perfect example of misusing CSR.

The problem about doing that is not only ethical. What happens is that corporations use the consumers’ desire to do business with responsible companies to turn them into loyal users of their products. The biggest question here is about the consequences of such an act when we talk about companies which produce health endangering products as sweets, fast food, soda, alcohol, tobacco and medicines.

This issue is highlighted further by the ever greater use of social media in consumer relationship building. Using social media allows for constructing consumer realities and boosting consumer brand involvement by participation in causes, games, initiatives. When CSR activities as a part of marketing become viral through social networks the motive behind, thus the real goal of the campaign gets blurred into the mass excitement. In campaigns as the Pepsi Refresh Project results are expected to be more sells and not so much philanthropic projects, confirmed by a Pepsi official, cited by the authors.

Even though business of business is business and this will never change, with the appearance of greater tools for managing (not to say manipulating) consumer behavior it is necessary that companies take the responsibility accompanying such great power.

Many researchers argue that regulation agencies are too slow in following progress in technology. Thus the consumer is left at the mercy of companies employing ingenious marketing campaigns designed to shape behavior. Therefore something more is necessary. That could be the next CSR direction which would allow companies to master responsibility in close consumer contact.

That could be done for example by engaging in social marketing and reshaping businesses to reflect the needs of society. That is of course idealistic, the realistic approach would be to either focus marketing efforts on adults only, to increase the amount of health information freely available to users or to avoid creating unhealthy habits by using social media involvement of consumers.

Even though there is no active reaction by the public concerning social media and CSR efforts of companies at the moment it is certain that with mounting research on the topic public awareness will soon be raised and the issue will be faced. That is why it is a good investment to rethink your CSR strategies and social media appearance so that they reflect the values your company stays for. This is the surest way to avoid a crisis and go ahead of competition when many are going to face the anger of the public.

 

DIDI

Social and fast - no other way to do business

Social Media Marketing and Trends

Doing some research on use of Social media as a communication tool I stumbled upon an article from 2008. The article was called Enhancing Promotional Strategies Within Social Marketing Programs: Use of Web 2.0 Social Media, written by Rosemary Thackeray, Brad L. Neiger, Carl L. Hanson and James F. McKenzie. I have to admit that I was more than surprised. At first I thought that the authors somehow had misused the term social media. Or misunderstood its uses and importance. Then I realized that the key to that mystery had all the time been right next to the title: year of publication 2008.

I was reading with amazement because I realized how much and how fast our world had changed. Back in 2008 only a small percentage of all internet users were users of some kind of social media, predominated by teenagers and young adults (up to 24 year olds). Today social media is not any more a media in the classic sense of the word. It is a part of our lives; it is a part of who we are and how we communicate.

After reading a lot of literature I still think that research is having troubles catching up with the social media reality. Because it has changed our world in a way so that everything happens ever faster and with ever more consumer involvement. And let’s face it – only the time needed to write and publish an article – around 2-3 years for academic articles - will be enough to make it obsolete.

Companies on the other hand cannot allow themselves the luxury of falling behind. That is why advice as  this the authors of the mentioned article give – be cautious and research the possibilities of incorporation of new media channels in the communication strategy – is not one to be followed. As Kotler points out in his Marketing bible, it is not any more a world where the strongest survives, it is a world where the fastest survives.

Following trends seems to be a relatively good strategy, however you position yourself willingly as number 2 or number 1000. Instead you need to create your communicative environment. It is already established that corporate communications, marketing and any business activity will be done in close cooperation with consumers – or the company will not exist for long. In practice this means that you need to stop following trends only because the others are doing it. Instead, focus on your consumers, on any other stakeholders you deem important. Research THEM, cooperate with them and facilitate communication channels approved by them. That will be your guarantee for success. On top of the fact that you will establish communication that is maximally beneficial for both sides, you will gain the appreciation of your stakeholders.

An example about why you do not need to worry about upcoming digital miracles or trends is a simple request as the one a Danish fitness chain received on their Facebook page – consumers were asking whether an iPhone app was being planned.

As long as you offer a good product and good service and you manage to engage your consumers they will always turn to you to solve whatever matter there is – from a communication issue to product specifications. Is it really necessary to explain why this is very important?

That is why you need to learn the rules of the game – be perceptive and reactive. Be proactive and helpful. Engage and be engaged. And maybe the most important of rules: whatever you do, do it fast. We are not any more living in times where waiting 4 to 6 weeks for TV shop delivery is OK, is the norm. Waiting is not acceptable. And here come tools as social media giving us the new timeframe for successful communication: now, that minute. Forgetting that risks us our costumers forgetting about us.

We don’t know what will come in the future. And that is okay. The future will most certainly not come without us. Keeping up with today’s pace is all we really can do. It is only a few who are brave enough to dare the future. Some succeed big, most fail. It is up to you which path you choose but being fast is still the rule.

 

DIDI

Motivating or demotivating employees

Internal Communication and HR: Employee Motivation

Many companies nowadays focus on innovation or customer contact or competitors and often forget to take care of their most valuable asset: their employees. It is not a secret that without employees no company could ever exist. Yet we have to keep in mind that an employee present does not equal employee contributing.

In order to research what would drive employees to contribute maximally in the work process several scientific fields have been developed, some of them adopted by HR-specialists, some of them – by marketing and communication professionals. One of the most salient fields is concerned with motivation and in this case – employee motivation in particular.

Employee motivation is very important because it not only helps enhance performance; it also contributes to image management, prevention of and reaction to a crisis. Employees are essential when it comes to productivity and innovation. But employees can just the same popularize your company as a company with a great working environment and standards, etc. The stand of employees is also critical when it comes to overcoming a crisis. Keep in mind that the media will be more than happy to find that one unsatisfied employee ready to trash you and be sure they will find them.

Those reasons seem more than enough to stress the importance of keeping employees happy. Whereas there is a whole field researching different employee satisfaction factors, motivation is that factor which more or less encompasses every perception connected to work and translates it into readiness to work harder tomorrow than today.

Given the number of studies and the importance of the issue recognized by scholars it is difficult to understand how come so many companies overlook this crucial element of success. Sometimes mistakes in that area could be so big and with such visible results and still nothing happens.

In my experience, most often and biggest mistakes management can make are excluding employees of decision making, not recognizing and rewarding efforts and results, allowing disagreement in goal setting (the set goals are not supported by employees), being dishonest or trying to play employees when it comes to salary or benefits, and creating a stressful environment where the stakes are too high and the efforts are not enough or not channeled correctly.
 

The results here can vary from zero motivation to conscious sabotage of the company. Management should not make the mistake of underestimating the seriousness of the issue. Therefore it is crucial to monitor employee motivation and to work proactively for its enhancement.

Monitoring employee motivation is usually responsibility of HR as they have a whole toolset for that starting with surveys and personal dialogues and including monitoring results, number of days off work, sickness, taking initiative or part in discussions, etc. HR has also the ability to create a diverse and complex motivation program fitting the need of most employees.

However, there is still that element dependent on management: management should allow for inclusion of employees in decision making and should ensure fair employee management before starting to think about HR.

Communication professionals in most of the cases are educated in management and HR. Their role is to be connecting link between departments, between employees and management, between the organization and the outside world. They will be the first to notice problems in the organization and that is why you should take their warnings into consideration and act accordingly and timely.

DIDI

Stakeholder management: Relationship expiration date

Relationships and Stakeholders

 

As all things relationships also come with an expiration date. Even though it might not be a 3-day expiration date stamped on a package it does not mean that it will not come. Relationships are basically also just a product – a product of invested time and effort. And here comes the question – when do they expire?

Drama and tears might be reserved for personal relationships but the end of a business relationship should be just as dramatic. Business today is run through leaning on a vast number of relationships and cannot be run without them. We talk about our customers, our suppliers, our partners, our broader network, our governmental links, our international relations and so on. Every business has a number of critically important relationships and an enormous number of less important ones.

Those relationships are different from a management point of view and require different policies. However, what is common for them all is that they should be a primary concern of management as developing relationships is an investment in the future of the company. They are a time and resource craving process and that is another reason why relationships should be valued high – building new relationships – when possible – costs much more than maintaining established ones and sometimes costs the company’s position on the market.

So when do relationships expire?

Relationships – no matter whether it is a B2C or B2B – characterize with mutuality. That means that they have been established because both parts believe in the benefits from the relationship. They develop in time if the benefit lives up to expectations. And they cease to exist when such benefit lapses.

In practice this means that maintaining a relationship includes not only establishing it and working on the agreed terms but actively looking for development opportunities. If we look from a B2B point of view this translates as the need to be better than competitors, to offer more revenue, both in terms of cash and image enhancement. You are not unique as a company as there are hundreds of similar companies out there trying to do better than you. That is why what you should do when working on developing B2B relationships is to focus on answering the main questions: What are the benefits of this relationship? How can we make them more salient? Is there place for development? Is there something we could add? How can we gain more from the relationship? Are there companies who can offer something better than us? How important is this relationship for our business? Can we trust each other? What will keep us together? Can we work better together?

Those questions should be answered both by management and in cooperation with your partner. Business relationships are much like personal ones. They require discussion and agreement. The difference here is that even though some of them are driven almost completely on personal basis, they are still benefit-based. If you want your business to succeed you maintain only relationships that are beneficial to you. That is why focus on value creation is more than necessary.

If we take the B2C perspective, things are generally the same. However, it happens only rarely that a company has enough contact with its customers to be able to discuss mutual benefits. That is why maintaining the relationship with your consumers requires the employment of different tools. Some of those include market research, consumer research, bench marketing, and innovation. One should of course also consider market niche, positioning, and market segment. From a positioning point of view the product should deliver what it promises – quality, low prices, high prices and prestige, etc.

However, satisfying the expectations of your consumers is not enough. Once again you should make sure that your offer is better than the offer of competition. And there are many ways you could differentiate yourself. In the last decade or so though, a certain method has shown quite good results. You should listen to your customers, understand their concerns and help them solve their problems. That means you could support the local football team or buy medicines for the nearby hospital. Doing that will add value to your product and buying will not be a random choice but a meaningful decision.

A bit of a warning here though – such an involvement can bring you great benefits and image enhancement when being an honest act but it can also destroy you if dishonesty is found by your stakeholders.

Another tool you could use to maintain your consumer segment are the very popular discount or loyalty programs. Most of the time they have proved to be quite efficient. The only downside is that they will not ensure you loyal consumers in the long run.

That you could achieve by involving them. Be transparent. Be responsible. Give them a look inside. Give them the word and let them be part of the company’s policy. No one can tell you better what your consumers want then your consumers. Listen to them and empower them. This way they will stay with the company as they will be part of it.

It is true that it is not always such tactics could be used but the ones described here are only a small part of all possibilities. Different businesses and different countries present with different challenges and very specific solutions to very specific problems. When talking about relationships generalizing is almost impossible or at least incorrect as relationships are unique and defined by a long list of factors. They should be treated as unique. Time and resources should be invested into continuous research and relationship development programs. As relationships do expire. They expire in that moment when you think that there is nothing more that should be done.

Will it be worth it to realize it the moment after?

 

DIDI

Transparency and consensus on policy

On many occasions leaders have to make difficult or unpopular decisions to keep the business up and running and they are often enticed to not share the truth with their employees or partners or divert their attention in order to act undisturbed. Often the thought is to share the results of their actions in the right moment while avoiding the unpleasant debate about what should be done. Sometimes things go as far as the leader believing that they are the only qualified person, thus discussion is a sheer waste of time and nerves.

No matter what the case though, my advice is to not fall into that trap. Years ago I had the opportunity to observe exactly what happens when a leader decides to act independently and the truth is that it cost him everything.

Reasons in that particular case were lack of trust, many definitive stakeholders (Agle, Mitchell, Wood, 1997), variety of policy issues and political challenges, insufficient financing, internal fights and conflicts of interests. Many of those were caused by tough policy, lack of transparency and consensus, no discussion or stakeholder involvement. It is arguable whether many of those issues were not just inherited but there is no doubt that the policy of independent control and silence only deepened them.

The result was that a leader who did fight a good cause and tried to make a difference ended up voted out from the organization by the majority of those who he had worked with side by side in the previous 8 years.

I have to point out that I do not claim he never did anything wrong policy-wise. However, considering the context of the social and business environment, he did not do anything outrageous. He did create enemies by following dedicatedly his strategy but in doing so he achieved a lot in terms of organizational goals.

Then why did his allies vote him so rigorously out of the organization?

 First reason: No consensus on policy.

Even though the organization was meant to be lead by a management council most decisions were made by the leader alone. Many of the interests of those from the council were never taken into account which resulted in much expected outrage.

Second reason: Conflict of interests.

The social, business and political environment presented the leader with many challenges. First, it was the challenge of defending the interests of the organization and in doing so creating enemies both in the government and within the ranks of the organization itself when he would fail in negotiations. Second, unfortunately, influence meant privileges and high earnings, thus virtually everyone was trying to become a leader, regardless of the consequences for the organization and those dependent on it. As a result many managerial decisions were ruled out just in an effort to sabotage the leader.

Third reason: no regard to rules and regulations.

In order to achieve his goals the leader disregarded rules in connection to elections and power distribution. This resulted in outrage.

Fourth reason: no transparency.

Transparency is important as clarity about what is happening and why is a potent support drive. Not understanding or not knowing the reasons/goals/methods resulted in confusion, doubt and lack of support. In a more traditional organizational environment it would also lead to lack of motivation in employees.

Reflecting on this example a few things become obvious. A leader should accept that they cannot achieve their goals alone. They need support from employees, partners, allies, government and other key stakeholders. In this sense, an organizational understanding will mean understanding the need to engage key stakeholders in a productive dialogue. By that I mean that you must:

1. Understand the structure of the organization and the power distribution.

2. Understand the need to follow rules or propose changes when inefficiency is found.

3. Identify opinion leaders and make them your allies.

4. Understand the environment you do business in – institutions, regulations, competitors, partners, communities, identify important stakeholders.

5. Understand processes of decision making and analyze results from past experience. Consider process enhancement.

6. Understand the need of stakeholder management as a complete strategy.

Along this process you should realize that transparency is directly connected to stakeholder support and corporate image. You cannot upkeep a good image without reporting your activities and you cannot successfully manage an organization without achieving consensus on strategy. Therefore two more must-dos should be added to the list above and special attention should be paid to them:

7. Optimize internal and external communication channels enabling discussion, feedback and reaction to reported issues.

8. Maximize transparency.

Business today cannot really have secrets as there are too many ways for the truth to reach the public. Therefore it is advised to provide informational access to your activities. As a matter of fact transparency is becoming a currency in terms of both image building and image protection. Being honest with your stakeholders builds trust and support which result in sticking with the company even when a crisis hits (see for example the Johnson and Johnson Tylenol case). 

What concerns internal stakeholders, it is very important to keep them informed and to involve them in decision making. Transparency and consensus are probably even more important internally as the support or lack of support by your employees and partners means the success or the failure of the organization. A frustrated employee can do incredibly a lot of damage by not doing their job, affecting the motivation of their colleagues, going public or spreading the company’s secrets.

In two words, there are good reasons to work transparently, maybe consider different forms of reporting and stakeholder involvement, and to work on achieving consensus within the organization on organizational goals and policy, all the while keeping in mind stakeholder interests.

DIDI

What advertising is not

Advertising has always been an important part of any communication strategy. But what does that mean in practice when deciding on marketing strategy?
I was recently asked to look through some university notes meant to help students prepare for their state exam. As I read I realized that there was a serious problem. It seems that many consider commercials to be the center of any marketing activities. And this is what they are not.

Stakeholder Management: behind the commercial

 

A commercial is designed not just according to the desire to sell certain product to certain target group. A commercial is designed as a visible end of a long marketing process. That is because even before designing a product or a service one should make sure that there is market for such product or service. That includes a comprehensive analysis of consumer needs and desires, of competition, of resources, of market tendencies. A successful product is usually designed in collaboration with target groups. Communication specialists always advise that consumers and other stakeholders are empowered when it comes to decision making. And this is a reasonable advice as practice shows that empowered stakeholders are more involved and thus less likely to switch to another company/brand. This implies that potential consumers along with all other stakeholders will be involved in the design and production of a product. Therefore they will not need to be informed about the new product through commercials.

A very good example of empowered consumers are brand communities as the Apple community. There we talk about much more than a product or a consumer need. What drives sales is the brand community’s culture. It is a question of pride to own an Apple product and it is always desired to have the latest model. The same we observe with the Harry Potter community. What can make a 10-year-old spend a night in front of a book store in order to get the new book as the first? It is not advertising. It is much more. Behind Harry Potter we can find a whole industry bringing the characters to life making them important part of the children’s lives through producing dolls, posters, creating stories, online communities, myths, etc. Thus it is superficial to regard advertising as a central marketing activity.

Kotler says that marketing is as an iceberg – what you see on the surface is just the tip of the iceberg. And this is where some less experienced companies stumble. Not understanding the importance or scope of marketing is fatal.
 

Advertising and types of commercials

Advertising offers good possibilities for reaching out to wider consumer segments, for establishing status or class, for promotion, for additional information, for keeping up interest, for comebacks. And used as such it will serve its purposes. Especially if designed accordingly and distributed through the right channels.

There are three general types of commercials – rational, based on promoting quality, stability, and price; emotional, designed to prompt an emotional response; and class-establishing, promoting luxury and exquisite lifestyle. There are furthermore commercials meant to accompany a product’s launch, to stabilize market positions and reach new consumer segments, to remind of the existence or characteristics of a product and finally to announce a comeback.

Media Strategy 

The media we choose for a commercial depends on the marketing strategy just as much as the commercial itself. Everything starts with analysis, mapping publics, budget, status, goals, and strategy. Nowadays typically used media as TV, radio and newspapers are no longer as effective as they have once been. This is mainly because of the enormous impact internet has on our lives today. Most people use it to get informed about products, read reviews, contact consumer communities. That is why it is almost useless promoting quality or other characteristics. People have the power to find the very truth about a product. For that reason today it makes much more sense to advertise the existence of a product, especially valid in the case of small or new companies, the class of the product and its superiority – why should we consider buying it.

However, we should not forget that today’s society is flooded by products and services and it becomes more and more obvious that other differentiators are needed to turn consumers’ attention towards one self and their product. It is advised that as long as you cannot provide a product impossible to copy, you have to invest in building an image that will make your product more desirable than the products of competitors. Doing so includes different types and mixes of activities as CSR, brand communities, partnerships, welfare, support of causes or science/medicine/sport/culture/etc., discussion groups, company outreach, transparency, reporting and many more depending on the branch.

That is why I will say it once again – advertising has its purpose, goals and results when used as a part of a thorough marketing strategy. It should not be underestimated, but even more importantly, it should not be overestimated.

DIDI