When Amazon ran a 90-second ad for Alexa during the 2018 Super Bowl for an estimated 81.2 million viewers, it cost approximately $14.9 million. Other advertisers such as Disney, Pepsi, and Tide paid an average of $5 million per 30 seconds of air time. Altogether, advertisers have spent a total of $5.4 billion on Super Bowl ads since 1967, equivalent to $6.9 billion adjusted for inflation, with the cost of a 30-second spot climbing from $40,000 ($300,000 adjusted for inflation) to $5 million over that period, multiple news sources have reported.
Why are major companies willing to spend so much on advertising? It’s because they recognize that publicity is vital to running a successful business. Publicity is the key to positioning your brand in the mind of consumers, reaching your target market, and generating leads that convert into sales. Smaller businesses also need publicity in order to attract customers and generate sales. Here are some reasons why businesses of all sizes need publicity.
Publicity positions your brand
One important function of publicity is positioning your brand. How you position your company influences how consumers perceive you and feel about you, which in turn affects whether or not they trust you and want to buy from you. Your positioning also influences how consumers view you in relation to your competitors, impacting their decision to buy from you or to go with one of your rivals. Publicity is one of the biggest factors that determines your brand’s positioning, making it crucial for effective marketing.
Visa is one example of a brand that has leveraged publicity in order to improve its branding. Even though Visa is one of the most popular credit cards in the world, the company’s research found that consumers felt an emotional distance from their brand. To address this, the company launched a publicity campaign that used interactive content to encourage people to use their Visa cards to shop, dine, or travel. The campaign boosted the company’s Facebook engagement from seventh to first in the finance category, while pushing it to second among lifestyle brands.
Publicity reaches the right target market
Publicity can also help ensure that your branding message reaches your intended target audience. When you’re not actively courting your intended audience, you have no idea whether your message is reaching potential buyers or whether you’re wasting your efforts on people who aren’t inclined to purchase from you. A carefully crafted publicity campaign can be designed to reach a demographic that matches your ideal buyer, speak to their needs, and showcase benefits that will appeal to them.
An example of a brand that uses publicity to deliver a fine-tuned message to its intended audience is Amway. Amway’s direct selling business model is designed to benefit independent business owners seeking to earn extra income from selling health, beauty, and home care products, so its publicity campaigns emphasize content that appeals to entrepreneurs. For instance, Amway’s blog describes how the company provides business training and marketing support to help entrepreneurs lay a foundation for a successful business.
Publicity generates leads
Publicity is also one of the best ways to generate leads. A publicity campaign using a medium such as the Internet, social media, or television can allow you to reach hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of prospects, far more than you could reach through other lead generation methods such as word-of-mouth referrals. A publicity campaign can also be one of the most cost-efficient ways to generate leads.
An example of a publicity campaign that yielded a significant boost in lead outreach is this video about Kylie & Liza, depicting a rescue kitten comforting a girl dying of cancer, to promote animal rescue nonprofit Mutual Rescue. Within two months, the video had generated over 5 million views.
Conclusion
Brand positioning, target marketing, and lead generation are three reasons why companies of all sizes need publicity. No matter the size of your business or what you sell, publicity can help you hone your branding message, reach your target audience, and attract more customers.
