Fusion Affinities – Why You Shouldn’t Cut Corners with Your Marketing

Proctor and Gamble have announced that they will be cutting their marketing budget in favour of cheaper online alternatives to help them become more efficient. Fusion Affinities urge businesses not to scrimp on marketing and explain why an effective marketing approach can help a company’s future growth.

Back in April, Proctor and Gamble, the company behind some of the nation’s best loved brands such as Ariel and Gillette announced they would be cutting their marketing budget in a move to make the company more efficient. The decision was made by the company in a bid to reduce their ‘non-working’ costs and streamline their services by focusing on digital and mobile marketing channels. Whilst Proctor and Gamble believe this move will allow them to target customers more directly and improve their market understanding, sales and marketing firm Fusion Affinities are concerned that such a highly digital approach could isolate customers.

Proctor and Gamble claim that despite spending less on their new digital marketing strategies, the overall effectiveness of their digital approach will increase when compared to their previous more traditional approaches. The company have shifted their focus to becoming more productive and believe that reaching out to customers through digital channels will help them to connect to their customers and act on feedback more quickly. Fusion Affinities however aren’t convinced. Although digital marketing has the capacity to reach a wide audience, the quality of the leads it produces are usually weaker as it’s difficult to accurately identify a target market through online channels, and especially through social media. The firm are also worried that relying on online communication could harm Proctor and Gamble’s family friendly brand reputation. Although considered a more personalised form of communication, interaction with customer digitally can never be as effective as honest face to face communication and may leave many customers feeling disconnected from the brand. Dehumanising the company in this way could be a risky move for a company who pride themselves in being family focused and inclusive and could isolate loyal customers who maybe aren’t as tech savvy.

Although the marketing world is changing due to the rise in digital technologies, Fusion Affinities believe it’s hasty for businesses to turn their back entirely on other more traditional marketing techniques. Marketing through different avenues can broaden a firm’s reach and ensures that no customer group is left out. This will not only help a business increase their sales, but will also get people talking about the brand which could lead to a wealth of future sales. Fusion Affinities believe that marketing directly is the most powerful tool for building a positive brand reputation. The firm specialise in face to face marketing solutions and have seen first- hand the positive responses this form of marketing and sales has had from consumers. Taking the time to meet with customers and learn about their needs in person helps a business build trust among customers. This level of customer service means that many businesses who use this form of marketing are benefiting from word of mouth recommendations from their existing customer base and therefore improving their reputation.

Fusion Affinities is a sales and marketing firm based in Bristol. The firm take the time to ensure their innovative campaigns align with their clients business goals and brand message, so that they can accurately pinpoint the best demographic. The firm help their clients to build strong customer relationships through face to face interactions which allow their clients to adapt their services to suit individual customer needs.