Print media enjoyed unparalleled status at the start of the last decade. It was the No. 1 choice of advertisers who looked at defining their Corporate/ brand image. And, why not? Being the ubiquitous medium, it was a natural choice. Publications gladly looked at increasing their reader-per-copy; and their
ad-rates too!

Then, at the turn of the present decade, the action moved to TV, with the sky having opened up to satellite TV. Suddenly, corporates wanting to target more eye-balls and deliver the message more effectively, had a plethora of channels to choose from - from a vanilla DD to the differently-flavored entertainment, news and business channels. And of, course marketing budgets rose to unseen heights. 

Other popular choices, today, include media like the Radio, Outdoor and the Internet. The Radio was never the first choice of premium brands, unless the target segment was extremely specific or it was jingles for recruitment purposes. However, the outdoor media, seemed a good choice with digitization of images, giving you excellent quality to represent your brand well. But it's reach is largely local.

Coming to the Internet - largely a pull-based medium, it is difficult to grab the attention of the reader, given the space and word constraints. Impressing the mouse-click-happy reader is possible only through a well-designed website, in the absence of which, you might just end up looking like a cheesy body-shop!

And so, we're left with the print and electronic media as the two best choices for brand-building. The trend over the years, where these are concerned, has clearly been - small is beautiful. Crunching ad space, while hiking rates, suits the space providers, forcing advertisers to extract more bang per buck, or pay through their nose! And, let's face it, using ad-strips to convey your brand identity is not my way of brand-building. Is it yours?

So, where does the simple answer to your branding needs lie? It's in the simple newsletter that wins hands-down in the cost-benefit analysis. The advantages it brings to your organization are far too many to be ignored. Used as a tool, primarily to inform your clients, associates, vendors, employees, and the market in general, about everything you think they need to know, it silently builds your organization's brand, image, status, ethos, and what have you. It gives you the space to say just what you want - not anything and everything, like your website, and not incoherent snippets, like your ad-strips. Unlike the bill-boards, that are city-centric, your newsletter can travel anywhere you want it to. Digitization of images? Well, the same digitization of hoardings, makes your newsletter images look as dapper as the Saville Row suit its reader wears!

Content of your newsletter establishes your superiority over your domain and lets you woo prospective employees quietly, yet effectively. It lauds your achievements and milestones, informing the right audience about the right things. More value over the perfect reach! All this, at wonderful cost efficiency to your organization, as readers-per-copy increase!

And lastly, while exorbitant ad-budgets ensure that the biggies get their due through the press or the telly, what happens to the small and medium-scale businesses? Faced with constant challenges of growth, they are stuck in the chicken and egg problem of brand-hence-growth or growth-hence-brand. Unable to afford the big spends, they still want to brand.

Our answer is the newsletter. It's Simple. Efficient. And says it all.  

Sandeep Nanu  runs CBEYOND Design Pvt Ltd, a Bangalore-based corporate communications agency focussing on newsletters.

Issue BG76 July07

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