Denny Hatch writes a great piece in the latest edition of his newsletter, “Denny Hatch’s Business Common Sense” about the madness of trying to use direct marketing to build brand:
The examples he quotes (what he charmingly calls “products of epic lunacy in direct marketing”) are mostly consumer-based and related to direct mail, but the overall conclusions extend easily to B2B and and are views with which I’ve long concurred:
“Brand building is the job of general advertising*. They’re in the business of creating awareness.”
“Direct marketing is in the business of changing behavior.”
“Brand loyalty cannot be bought. It must be earned.”
*I submit that in this day and age you could also include online advertising (banners and the like) in this category.