Long-term marketing.

• Author: Johnson, J. Douglas
• Position: The need to keep advertising one's products - Media & Marketing

Why do Coca-Cola and McDonald's keep advertising?

Ring! It's the phone. You're climbing the stairs with the mail in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. Ring! You rush down the hall and bounce off the door frame. Ring! You cross the room, kick the wastebasket, put down the coffee and pick up the receiver. "Hello? Nothing. The caller hung up. They were too energized and antsy to take time to talk to you. Three rings and you're out.

Now apply this telephone parable to the advertising you do for your company's product or service. Are you a they, one of those quickie callers who gives up on the third try? A lot of people are. Or, are you a long-haul type, willing to wait until the guy on the other end can get there, connect and catch your message? (Walker Research of Indianapolis, which conducts thousands of telephone interviews every year, lets the phone ring four to six times. Good thinking!)

For insight on the values of siege vs. skirmish promotion, we tapped the wisdom of some Indiana advertising experts. The upshot is, "Chill out, give your publics a generous interval to hook up, then soak up your story."

Don't get us wrong, a speedy campaign is right on the money if you just bought a load of rot-prone tomatoes and have to peddle them pronto. Perishables must move. However, consider them exceptions. Generally you tout a beloved brand, a treasured service a product lie that has made you a buck over time or the cherished firm name. Plan to persevere.

And for lots of good reasons: First, you have to contend with the obstreperousness of potential customers. They may not be paying rapt attention, not hanging on your every adjective. Richard E. Bonsib, chairman and CEO of Bonsib Inc. in Fort Wayne, syas, "Research shows that you don't get noticed right away, particularly in the broadcast media. You have to build up to a point of being seen and heard. Jumping in and out of the media wastes a great deal of money. You need to establish yourself and keep going."

"Most people will never even admit they are influenced by advertising," claims Richard T. Kreusser, president and CEO at Handley Miller Stuart in Indianapolis. "They will certainly never concede it did because that is like saying, 'I'm stupid. I can be influenced by some advertising guy.' I think it is a very unconscious, emotional reaction that often takes a lot of time to set in. Somebody has to be willing to say to themselves, 'Well maybe that is a better product than the product...