In response to Bruce Wichland's Post...

"Which major media source do you think is best? If you were a company looking to advertise, which media source would you use?"

According to the business dictionary, advertising is the non-personal communication from an identified sponsor using mass media. Through advertising, companies can get their products and services known to the public. I believe that two of the most useful ways to advertise are through television and direct mail. If my company was brainstorming ways in which they could go about advertising, I would use television and direct-mail as my two advertising techniques.

Television advertising reaches out to a larger audience at one time compared to local radio and newspaper advertising. Also, as Bruce mentioned, television has the advantage of both audio and visual components. By having an advertisement on television shows that your business is willing to spend the money to get your product out there. It makes your product or service look creditable due to the fact that with television you can be as creative as you want and almost create a "personality" for your business. I bet you can think of at least three television advertisements that have clicked in your head, whether or not you have ever purchased that product or service, I am willing to bet you can either recite a number or phrase from the commercial. Television has a unique way of making users remember different things, and repetition may be one of the strongest marketing techniques when it comes to advertising. The more you hear a phrase, the more it becomes engraved in your mind.

Another efficient way to advertise is through direct mail. Direct mail may be one of the oldest techniques and considered to be "out dated" to some consumers, however I believe it is still a very useful tool for advertising. Direct mail has many advantages over other advertising techniques. Direct mail is a personal, targeted way of attracting customers without having to compete with other competitor's ads. Instead of sending e-mails out to every user possible, direct mail makes it easier to send advertisements out to the customers who really have value to your company, giving the customer more of a personalized touch. Another advantage over electronic advertising is that with direct mail, you have more of a chance of the customer opening the physical copy of the advertisement, compared to the electric copy where they can simply press "delete" without even opening the e-mail.

What do you think? Do you think direct mail is out-dated and not useful anymore? Which advertising technique do you find most essential?

Twitter as the newest marketing tool

I recently read an article titled, Twitter debuts Promoted Tweets: Virgin America, Starbucks among the first to use service. The author tells about some companies that are using Twitter as a new way to market their companies. According to Porter Gale, VP of marketing for Virgin America stated "the people who follow us want to fly us and want good deals, so we are rewarding our best customers for following us." The purpose of these companies joining Twitter is so they can "enhance their conversation with existing followers." One ad you can locate under the Virgin America page reads as follows, "Send us Your Best Geek Moment", where various users would then send in pictures of themselves trying to use new technology. This is an opportunity for companies to really interact with their customers on a different level besides through websites and in store interactions.

Starbucks, one of the first companies to sign up for this new Twitter phenomena posted an ad that read "on 4/15 bring a reusable tumbler and we'll fill it with brewed coffee for free. Let's all switch from paper cups." Also, there is a link under the ad that tells about Starbuck's environmental philosophy. I found this to be the most interesting point in the article because after all the research we have done on Panera, it is interesting to see what the competition is doing to promote themselves to the public more.

The article states, "brands have to approach this as an opportunity to create dialogue and value." I believe that Twitter could be an opportunity for many companies to promote their business and get themselves out there more. What do you think? Do you think Twitter will become the new Facebook? Do you think all companies will begin to "Tweet?"

If you are interested in reading the article, here is the link:

http://www.dmnews.com/twitter-debuts-promoted-tweets-virgin-america-starbucks-among-first-to-use-service/article/167885/