ithinkyoushould. Have a Marketing Plan that includes a Public Relations/Media Plan.

In business life, you are nothing without a marketing plan AND a public relations/media plan. Business & Marketing/PR go hand in hand like milk and cookies, pasta and sauce, wine and cheese, fries and salt.  You get the picture. Unfortunately, so many small businesses fail because while you may have a great idea and a great product, few invest the necessary thought, time, energy and dollars on the smart tools that will help to bring your product to market.

In our over-media saturated world, the companies that gain the most air-time, are more often than not the companies who invest big dollars to ensure that their products are placed front and centre on the media landscape. If we are bombarded and pressured to buy “Concept A” over “Concept B,” or “Product A” over “Product B” it is because some clever body out there is making damn sure that we keep our eyes on their prize. Quite instantly the [subliminal] buzz words and phrases that  they use to market their great ideas instantly become part of the culture and we incorporate them into our lingo without missing a beat:

Dr. Oz wants you to focus on You, Oprah wants you to Live your Best Life, Nike wants you to Just Do It, Adidas tells us that Impossible is Nothing, Coca-Cola wants you to Smile, and the list goes on. If we are not called to swift and  immediate action by these slogans, then we are gently persuaded that we are Lovin’ It by McDonald’s, that I’m a PC and Windows 7 was my idea by Microsoft, that Banking can be This Comfortable by TD Canada Trust, that  Ziploc was designed with you in mind [thanks for the refresher NYTimes], and so on.

It is these smart marketing strategies coupled with smart design and smart public relations/media initiatives that keep these brands in the forefront of our minds, at the forefront of  the media cycle, all with a strategic hand in our pocketbooks. It doesn’t hurt that TD has been voted Best Customer Service, that Nike endorses [and drops as necessary—boohoo Tiger!] multi-million dollar gifted athletes or that Microsoft’s Bill Gates is a great philanthropist in addition to being a likeable and business-savvy geek.

Smart marketing, and clever planning make all the difference and the difference lays in not only what you market, but how and why and when you market your product. So here’s the thing: in addition to setting goals and benchmarks, one must aim high, and if you can’t aim high, then aim mid-market. That’s right people. I said, “MID-MARKET!”

The mid-market landscape is populated by wanna-be brands who might never reach the top tier level of products similar to theirs, but they don’t care. They are content to be B-Status players and as a result they are able to milk that status for all it’s worth. What’s clever about the B-Status players is that knowing that they will  “never” become top level players, they are free to market the hell out of their B Status as a viable option to the A Level Brands . The bells and whistles aren’t as loud and/or shiny, and it may not cost as much, but no matter, the B Status/Listers have a calling and a following and they know what their demographic wants. The point is, they too have a  marketable strategy—a failsafe Gameplan that keeps them on “back-up” status should the A-Lister lose public favour or fall from grace. Yes, the market is that fickle, because we the people are that fickle.

A good example of smart marketing is the comic/brand Kathy Griffin. Many years ago she made a name for herself by promoting her “D-List” status. Her program, My Life on the D-List skewers the Hollywooderati while making good  fun of her life as what she terms a “D-List Celebrity.” What’s smart about Ms Griffin is that in promoting her “D-List” status she has made herself an “A-Lister” by default. She is also clever enough to know how not to alienate her fans or to isolate herself from the very category that she established to win a unique demographic all her own.  She’s been smart enough to keep her brand loyal to what she set out to do, and she’s been strategic enough to leverage her “D-List” status to insinuate herself into the A-List category/environments where she would have been previously unwelcomed.

Griffin’s [media]strategy involved her creating a Reality Show long before Reality Shows were the norm, and she brought us into her “private” world of entertainment where few celebrities would “allow” such access. In fact, the sole reason the Tabloids exist is to deconstruct and annihilate the untouchable personas “A-Listers” create—by way of their own marketing strategies— to distance themselves from the grubby masses. So for example, Brad Pitt will do a Edwin 503’s jean commercial in Japan, but we  won’t ever have a hope in hell of seeing him hawk jeans here much less smile for a celebrity Gap ad. And thus an industry was born.

So from this we can glean that strategy is everything, and that a good strategy underscores any marketing/public relations/media campaign that you will ever embark upon. You need insight, and foresight and forbearance. You need to invest and be confidant that what you have is indeed worth fighting for and you will stop at nothing to achieve your market share be it A Status or D Status. There is room at the top for everyone and no one. How badly you want it depends on your Value Add and the strategies you employ to get you there. I think you should get going. There is plenty of room at the bottom.