Millions of Dollars for an Obvious Conclusion

It’s called “branded entertainment” and it’s the new wave in marketing for major brands. Well-known brands--like Suave, Adobe, Corona and Verizon--are allocating massive marketing dollars to entice consumers to experience the brand.

Branded entertainment is more than just advertising. It involves providing various communication outlets for consumers to interact and follow a brand. It’s a website with puzzles, games and webisodes. There are multiple touchpoints like emails, text messages or postings on social media sites.

The objective is understandable: marketers want to create relationships with their consumers. Experts remind us that people don’t necessarily buy products or services, they buy relationships. Create a lasting bond with a brand, and the user will consume more content and more products.

A perfect example of branded entertainment was the web-scavenger hunt launched before the release of Batman: The Dark Knight. There were a series of on-line clues that led consumers from city to city. The campaign also offered free copies of a fictional Gotham Times to those people that sent in a picture of themselves as the Joker.

What baffles me about this whole thing is what the experts are claiming!

These experts get paid outrageous sums of money and their enlightened conclusion is that you need to build relationships to sell more? Isn’t this something we already know!

Small businesses have long understood that marketing is mostly about relationships. For a small business, every marketing touchpoint is an interaction with the consumer. More important, each touchpoint is real. No virtual reality with small businesses!

Relationship marketing is the foundation of any marketing plan. It should be the first component of the marketing plan for your business. It encompasses customer service, community outreach and the creation of a positive and lasting image of your brand.

In fact, it’s such a crucial subject that I intend to dedicate many more posts about relationship marketing.

For now, I simply smile when I realize that major corporations are investing tremendous marketing dollars with the same objective that I both pursue and recommend.

Sure, they may have million dollar budgets. Their agencies boast some of the most creative, artistic and intelligent people around. They employ data tracking software, customer segmentation models and statistical analysis.

But in the end, all those resources are dedicated to the same thing small businesses seek everyday: a platform to interact with a customer to ensure a positive experience and repeat purchases.

Maybe small businesses need to teach big businesses how to market.