Art & Commerce: A Sustainable Brand - Integrated PR and advertising is an investment in the future

by Jeff Ellsworth, vice president of marketing services at Strategic Communications Group in Silver Spring, Md. It is difficult for the CEO of any high-tech firm to decide where to invest company dollars. Obviously, product development is critical. So is hiring the proper management team and staff. But equally critical is a plan for marketing and public relations that brings your positioning message in front of the people who can help you succeed, and to sustain that message with the right people. This is not a new concept. When Mitch Kapor started Lotus in 1984, he had $5 million in venture money, no product, no staff, just an idea. Kapor spent one-fifth of his investment not in people or R&D but in advertising his product before it was ready. The results? Once Lotus 1-2-3 was launched, Lotus sold an unprecedented 100,000 copies in the first quarter. The success of Lotus isn't a mystery. The company took steps to control the perception of what it was going to provide through a balanced, integrated approach. Wherever press and potential buyers looked for information, they were presented with a message in context. That is the first step in getting in the door to sell your company and its product. Many CEOs of high-tech firms are in a position similar to that faced by Kapor. The fledgling company has attracted venture capital on the strength of an idea, and now faces the challenge of using that money to create a viable company. Ensuring viability requires the establishment of a sustainable brand image that will carry the company well beyond this startup period and create a mainstream business force. How can this best be accomplished? It was easier in Kapor's day. There were fewer new companies battling for mind share, and it was possible to differentiate one firm from the next. But that's certainly not the case today. Even companies with revolutionary ideas are competing amid a cacophony of messages. Each day the list of new companies grows, and each has a story they'd like to tell. CEOs are primarily looking for the best way to create value for their companies. There's an increasing tendency for the startup, with the need for product development, staffing and other major expenses, to rely on public relations alone to create the awareness component of the value proposition. PR allows a CEO to spend less over a longer period of time, and, done right, will produce a measurable increase in awareness. But there is more to creating value for a company than just building awareness. A company needs to produce an image of what it is, and what values it stands for. That's where an integrated approach combining PR, brand advertising and marketing comes in. This integrated campaign will help your company achieve its value positioning and mind-share goals. It will attract attention quickly and get high-level messages to market. It will create market differentiation and awareness within the media community, which will boost your sales effort. And it will build a sustainable brand image that might make the difference between your company being around in five years and not. Can you afford to do anything less? K

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Art & Commerce: A Sustainable Brand - Integrated PR and advertising is an investment in the future

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