Procter & Gamble Bet 1,600 Staff that Online Marketing is More Effective

In an excruciatingly clear sign that online-integrated marketing has overtaken traditional advertising means, Proctor and Gamble, who have an annual advertising budget of… wait for it… $10 Billion, are cutting 1,600 staff to move towards online media.

CEO Robert McDonald told a group of key Wall Street analysts that online means such as Google and Facebook are “more efficient” than traditional forms of advertising & marketing.  As he explains:

There are just so many different media available today and we’re quickly moving more and more of our businesses into digital. And in that space, there are lots of different avenues available.

In the digital space, with things like Facebook and Google and others, we find that the return on investment of the advertising, when properly designed, when the big idea is there, can be much more efficient. One example is our Old Spice campaign, where we had 1.8 billion free impressions and there are many other examples I can cite from all over the world.

This realisation is a great example where all businesses – big and small – need to move with the times. There is simply no arguing that it’s more cost-effective AND flat out EFFECTIVE to advertise on media where you are targeting people who are either looking for your product or are in the market for something like what you offer. The same principle applies whether we’re talking Google, Facebook, Twitter or Youtube.

This is especially relevant at the slightly smaller end of town where your business would benefit from some form of video advertising, and a “proper” TV campaign is out of your budget. No need to do a massive media buy when you can get the air time for free. Take a cue from the Old Spice Guy!

Marketing Accountants to Business Owners

Marketing accountants is normally tricky, especially when you’re marketing them to other business owners. To be blunt, many accountants make the big mistake of thinking their prospective clients actually care about what they do. And by that, I mean many accounting firms promote themselves focus on what they DO, rather than the specific payoffs.

It’s Marketing 101, but the “Menu of Services” approach persists, as does a tendency to illustrate their competency using other stuff that no-one cares about, like using the news page of their website to tell their business clients that the Tax Office has changed rulings XYZ without actually explaining why this is of any sort of emotive consequence to them.

Which brings me to the TV Commercial we did for Jeffrey Budd and Associates. It tackles what’s probably the biggest emotive issue for many small to medium business owners in relation to their accountant – does he actually care? Sure, for many business owners, they just want a firm to process their tax and make sure someone’s on top of compliance. 

But often, they want someone who is accessible, can value add with great advice, business insight, and help beyond maintaining the status quo. You know, that “proactive” sorta-stuff.

But what’s it feel like when you want that, but it isn’t happening? It’s sort of like being stuck in a doomed romance: