I recently picked up Marketing Management, the latest and greatest in marketing textbooks by marketing gurus Philip Kotler and Keven Keller. The book has been the standard read for marketing students for over a decade. It’s now in it’s 13th print edition.
So why with the breadth of knowledge at my finger tips with the internet and blogs have I been browsing through a slow, clunky textbook? I was curious to see how the well the book has been able to keep up with this fast paced industry changes that have taken place in the last 3 years.
And what did I find? Well for the most part, I found a lot of great material. There was a definite focus put on the voice of consumers. Blogs, Social Media and other new mediums were present. I’d say that for a textbook, it was surprisingly up to date.
However I did find some discrepancy with the way that the concept of Brand Equity was presented in the book. Below is an illustration from the book of Integrating Marketing Communications to Build Brand Equity. Take a look and then I will express my concerns.
Integrating Marketing Communications
to Build Brand Equity
We as marketers seem to think the answer is always MORE. If we aren’t making the numbers then maybe we need “more ads” or “more sales reps” or “more direct marketing campaigns.” “If we could just get one more mention in that publication I’m just sure that it will we’ll finally break through.”
The problem with more is that there’s already a lot there. Consumers are overloaded with information as it is. So adding more may just muddy the waters even further and doing more of the wrong things isn’t going to get better results. In fact, in most cases you will be causing more harm than good. (See my modified version of the illustration below.)
Integrating Negative Marketing Communications
to Detract from Brand Equity
If you’re in all the channels already, maybe the answer isn’t more but BETTER. Maybe you need a better sales team, one that holistically understands the companies brand. Maybe you need to stop repetitively pounding the same message into consumers heads and think of better ways to show the value your brand can provide.
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What are your alternative to the more?
