Branding = Advertising= Expensive is this true? Can think of some Brands like Google who do not spend on Ads but they are in a unique space....Does creating a Brand for "mortals" have to be expensive?

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.Google has its slew of innovative products that spread volumes of positive news about them.Google got its branding right from the start. A very vibrant logo gives out the right messages about the company- as an innovative young and vibrant p_layer_. But needless to say, Google does advertise. If I were to take a small sample- say Bangalore, and if you scan the TOI, Ascent, every alternate week, we would find half page ads for Google- all recruitment ads for ad sense or ad words or so.
Advertising becomes an expensive medium more so because of the cost of buying space in mainstream media. However, these days with a near explosion in media innovation, there are a multiple cost effective media which can be tapped. But the reality is that last year 59% of the total Indian advertising spend was taken away by PRINT media. And guess what was Indian advertising's total spend- almost 17,000 crores[size=3][/size]

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Hi Balaji,
Here’s my take on this subject
Branding = Advertising ; Disagree
Advertising = Expensive ; Agree

I think there are mediums like the newsletter which can create strong branding for any industry and yes far less expensive than advertising.
Am saying this purely from my experience of creating professional newsletters for various industries.
A typical example I can think of is this newsletter that we do for a company that deals with neurotic and psychotic drugs. From the time we started this bi-monthly newsletter just over a couple of years ago, about 5000 psychiatrists in the country have been able to relate to this brand and is definitely boosting their sales due the recall value created by this newsletter. The total cost (Design, Content and Print) of this 8 page (A4 size) newsletter for a year (6 issues, 5000 copies) was under 4 lakhs.

The cost incurred by a professionally designed typical 4-page newsletter of lets say 1000 copies (e-newsletters works out cheaper as you don’t have printing costs) including sending out will be around 30k. You chose to have a bi-monthly issue of the same, we are talking about less than 2 lakhs a year to reach out to your customers/partners, which I believe creates a strong brand recall value if presented well.

The beauty of a newsletter is that it’s far less intriguing to take that space in your mind (which can be negative when it comes to ads and brochures alike). It’s subtle and hence more accepted.
There’s more about the newsletter and its functions in one the articles I wrote for Business Gyan sometime back. It can be accessed here.

http://www.businessgyan.com/below_the_line/news_letter_an_instant_facelift.html

Can't think of any other medium for now, will update when I do...

Sandeep Nanu
www.cbeyond.in

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Hi Balaji,
Here’s my take on this subject
Branding = Advertising ; Disagree
Advertising = Expensive ; Agree

I think there are mediums like the newsletter which can create strong branding for any industry and yes far less expensive than advertising.
Am saying this purely from my experience of creating professional newsletters for various industries.
A typical example I can think of is this newsletter that we do for a company that deals with neurotic and psychotic drugs. From the time we started this bi-monthly newsletter just over a couple of years ago, about 5000 psychiatrists in the country have been able to relate to this brand and is definitely boosting their sales due the recall value created by this newsletter. The total cost (Design, Content and Print) of this 8 page (A4 size) newsletter for a year (6 issues, 5000 copies) was under 4 lakhs.

The cost incurred by a professionally designed typical 4-page newsletter of lets say 1000 copies (e-newsletters works out cheaper as you don’t have printing costs) including sending out will be around 30k. You chose to have a bi-monthly issue of the same, we are talking about less than 2 lakhs a year to reach out to your customers/partners, which I believe creates a strong brand recall value if presented well.

The beauty of a newsletter is that it’s far less intriguing to take that space in your mind (which can be negative when it comes to ads and brochures alike). It’s subtle and hence more accepted.
There’s more about the newsletter and its functions in one the articles I wrote for Business Gyan sometime back. It can be accessed here.

http://www.businessgyan.com/below_the_line/news_letter_an_instant_facelift.html

Can't think of any other medium for now, will update when I do...

Sandeep Nanu
www.cbeyond.in

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Dear Forum members,

I think a combination of internet and word of mouth marketing can do wonders for any branded product or service during difficult times. Loyal customers can become a PR medium for extending brands while the internet may be used to conduct feedback or opinion surveys or brand discussions on respective company websites or blogs. This would increase the loyalty of customers and also enhance the credibility of the product/service offering at negligible costs.

For example a vehicle manufacturer could use the consumer data available at its service/dealers outlets to obtain a response or feedback through the internet, and also provide some incentive to the customer for spreading the good word of mouth.

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@ sandeep - advertising is not always expensive.. these days with the the online space gaining lot of popularity there are smart ways to improve ones online presence.. for example.. yahoo small business (smallbusiness.yahoo.com) provides search engine marketing services at a very nominal rate.. the reach is also wider through the online medium ...

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