SO HERE WE ARE IN 2011. Never has there been a more competitive time to be in the business of marketing. There have never been more ways of spending budgets. There has never been more pressure on budgets. Or, come to that, more theories about what you should and shouldn’t be doing. What is clear is that whilst many are waffling on about this trend and that development, some are simply getting on with doing things that get results. We are some of those people. And this is some of how we do it.
PART 10: DON'T SCRIMP ON YOUR PRODUCTION BUDGET
Yes, we just said that.
We know, we know. Everyone is telling you that everything can be done cheaper.
But that’s because generally they care mainly about just getting your business.
Rather than making your business as successful as possible.
It’s true that as technology develops, it’s becoming possible to make things much more quickly and more cheaply than ever before.
This is great on one hand because that means the barriers to creating great stuff are lower.
But one side effect is that it encourages some people to look for big savings in all aspects of production.
Which is okay. Everyone wants to get a good deal.
But not all savings are positive savings.
The difference between successful and unsuccessful work often hinges on how well it is executed.
This is the inconvenient truth of marketing.
You can have exactly the right message, in exactly the right channel, but if no one noticed, you might as well have said nothing.
Think about all the campaigns, ads and communication over the last couple of years that you’ve been most impressed with.
Most probably, they were executed very well.
They stood out above their competitors, not only because they were right, but because of how they were put together, finished and crafted.
You can’t achieve that if you price good people or processes out of your productions.
Savings in the wrong places can seem like good value in the short term, but are poor value in the long-term.
Look for savings in the right places, but encourage the best possible outcomes by being prepared to pay for the things that make the big difference.
It will help you to stand out in the marketplace more than almost anything else.
PART 1: CREATIVITY & CRAFT ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER
PART 2: THE BEST COMMUNICATION IS STILL ABOUT PEOPLE
PART 3: FOCUS YOUR COMMUNICATION ON CHANGING BEHAVIOUR, NOT JUST CHANGING ATTITUDE.
PART 4: BE DIFFERENT IN THE CATEGORY
PART 5: DON'T SPEND ALL YOUR TIME & MONEY TALKING TO FANS OF YOUR BRAND
PART 6: BE IMPATIENT & AMBITIOUS WITH YOUR TARGETS
PART 7: REPETITION. REPETITION. REPETITION.
PART 8: BE WARY OF THOSE PROFESSING ABOUT "THE FUTURE OF ADVERTISING"
PART 9: DONE WELL, TV IS STILL THE SHORT CUT TO SUCCESS
Gotta disagree with you on this one, guys.
ReplyDeleteIf you need to save money, far better to take it out of production than creative.
A good piece of creative run small, in black-and-white, printed on cheap stock will do far better than a beautifully executed dull idea.
Of course, in an ideal world, it would be nice to have both. But we don't live in an ideal world. So if you've got to cut costs, do it in production.
Hello Mark. Who said anything about a dull idea?
ReplyDeleteAgree a brilliant idea simply done is better than a polished turd, that's not the point of this post though.
You might like Part 11 by the sounds of it.
Good post, I'm glad someone has finally said this. You can't keep chipping away at production budgets and expect your advertising to be effective.
ReplyDeleteAn anonymous commenter writes...
ReplyDelete"I disagree with Mark, don't think he is right about putting all money in creative. (but writers always say shit like that, they have to believe it's all on them). I think that great ideas can be killed in the execution, it's not a good idea if it's not made well. Get a great architect to design you a house and then build it out of mdf. However there have been a lot of production type companies taking the mick for years charging 10 times what things could cost, and therefore killing a load of good ideas before anyone even gets a chance to see them.
Having said that i do get annoyed when people get good ideas mixed up with the production values, most/a lot of stuff that gets praised or wins awards etc is normally massive productions."