DJ Sprague

Marketing and advertising is most effective when every communication with the public has a consistent message and theme, and is part of an integrated planned strategy. In other words, don?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t send mixed messages, inconsistent themes, or messages that are independent of your positioning or branding strategy and objectives.

One of the most common mistakes in advertising is the pursuit of a quick fix. This most commonly occurs in one of two ways. The first is where one competitor in a market creates an ad or a campaign that looks good or exciting (although it may not actually work), and then the competitors in the same market copy it. The problem is that none of the companies stand out anymore, and the entire message and impact is watered down with a sea of me-to look-alike ads.

The second situation is where a company will buy a variety of individual and completely different ads, events or campaigns from a variety of different vendors and media reps. These ads never work together or support each other because they are completely different. Nor are they part of an integrated look and consistent, theme, message or strategy. In essence, every company looks like the others, and the power of branding, campaign momentum and frequency is lost.