Marketing Communications Article
In completing this analysis of an article, I chose an article by Columbus (2006) that illustrates how marketing departments both in manufacturing and enterprise software companies are striving to stay in touch with their customers more than before, often using new approaches to do this. In terms of the credibility of the article, there is sincerity and honesty in the author's voice, as he is advocating a new perspective on how to understand customers, not a specific product or service to accomplish the task. The author has a bias to the non-traditional approaches companies can use to listen to their customers, and shows an impatience with marketing organizations that only rely on dated cuase-and-effect relationships in relating to their customers. The central theme of this marketing communications article by Columbus (2006) is that it's time for marketing department
The author asks if the reader would trust their company to do business with them. While the changes called for are critical for the growth of any company, for some readers it may appear to be too revolutionary, as is the case with inviting bloggers to an event and letting them freely discuss it online. This is a risky move but for the company profiled, SAP, it turned into a huge marketing communications win, as bloggers gave more immediate and unbiased reporting of one of the software company's largest events ever. Conclusion The bottom line is that this article is intriguing in that it shows what forward-thinking marketing organizations are doing to continually align their marketing communications programs with prospects and customers. Critique Columbus (2006) makes some excellent points with regard to rejecting the status quo of how marketing has always been done in companies and calls for an embracing of major change. s to snap off the auto-pilot of how they have always done business and embrace user-generated forms of media including blogs. The author's focus on asking marketers to step away from their roles as marketing communications professionals and ask themselves the question of whether their work is making their companies more trustworthy is also excellent. Further, the author also brings up the excellent point that while blogs are non-traditional forms of user-generated media, they are the voice of prospects and customers and do need to be paid attention to. What is fascinating about the article is the move by software company SAP to invite bloggers to a recent event and freely let them report on it. The central theme continues with getting back in touch with customers and earning their trust. Audience The audiences for this article are marketing managers, directors, and vice presidents in manufacturing and software companies. The "tell it like it is" mentality of this writer as it relates to getting away from just relying on maintenance revenue earned mostly through wining and dining clients is also so engrained in some company cultures that it would be difficult to change it. In the end analysis, the author seems to be aligning with trust being the greatest marketing communications tool of all. Yet on the other hand, the author makes some excellent points, and foremost is the one hat traditional cause-and-effect relationships do need to be questioned in marketing departments, specifically regarding how prospects are attracted to the company's products and how they buy.
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