Networking & ads

We're still getting some great weather in the UK.  Last night I had the pleasure to be at event in aid of breast cancer.  As well as a good cause the organisers (those friendly London based Lloyds corporate and business banking people) got their event just right.  We were outside in the sunshine at historic Chandos House drinking a selection of fine cask conditioned British Ales they had transported in. The time flew by.

All this put me in mind of a rather clever article in BusinessWeek comparing networking events to advertising. It's a good article as it uses simple comparisons between networking and advertising to get some very good points across.  For example:

"It's a cliché, but it's true: Most of what we need to know for successful social interaction we learned in kindergarten. In the same way, most of what makes an ad successful can be gauged by whether it passes the cocktail-party test. It's easy to get attention by shouting, jumping up and down, or otherwise acting inappropriately. But that's not the kind of attention you want."

Getting the message across whilst keeping it simple is something that is not easy to do, but it's something I've noticed David Koopmans in Business of marketing and branding does well.

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Comments

[Sam Bruce]

Great to see your new image! Bright eye catching and good sized print. Advertising needs to be "honest, simple and direct" The public are not fooled by ambiguous adverts, promising the world and giving poor service.Its a matter of trust. Blogging is a good way of advertising whether its for services or goods, especially for SMEs. Beats the cocktail parties,if social interaction is not your thing.

[Philip Woodgate]

Hi Sam

Thanks for your kind comments on the blog image. It's been so sunny here in London lately that I thought it needed brightening up.

I agree with you about trust. How many service companies benefit from referrals from existing customers? Without the customer trusting the service company to deliver there wouldn’t be a referral.

[David Koopmans]

Hi Philip,
Thanks for the compliment; good, clear communication is so fundamental to effective marketing and increasingly so in my view.

The power of consumers/prospects (aka people) to switch off from those who are verbose, unclear or plain boring will increasingly require everyone in business to have a good hard look at the communcations they are cranking out.
Like your blog, keep up the good work.
David

[Philip Woodgate]

Hi David

A good example of clear use of language is Mckinsey & Company (the well known management consultancy firm advising large global companies and governments). This is to be commended.

I once went for a pitch for a firm of consultants. I read the brochures and did my homework, but I really couldn't understand exactly what they did. I kept asking at the meeting (I take the view that you MUST get a good understanding of the business). Finally, I found out that they basically get people from the same industry sector in the same room to discuss the issues confronting them. For me the whole thing was dressed up using the "dark arts". I didn't get the client!