This article was originally published in 2017 and is being republished in relation to Firestarter.
the Reykjavik Music Accelerator where we sent one of our own to be a mentor.

The point of this post is to show that the message is more important than the platform. Being aware of what message the customers receive trumps where they receive it.

There are a lot of articles that keep telling us that 'unless we're doing [insert marketing activity here]' at least three times a week we might as well just close up shop.

Building a brand is either telling people, or reminding them, that a product or a personality exists. The reason Coke spends $1 billion per year on advertising, is so when we think of a soda, we think of Coke. Trust in brands comes from our familiarity with it, and trust leads to profit (read more about that here).

P&G's Thank You Mom campaign was not promoting one specific product, nor asking anyone to buy anything. It was done entirely to strengthen the P&G brand, that most people already know. By building trust in the product, the next time someone needs a toothbrush or a deodorant, they'll be more inclined to go for a P&G product.

Creating interest in a product, is the same as increasing demand. It's making people want something. This is very often done before the product is available, so when it hits the shelves people already want it, and go out to buy it right away.

It's like a movie trailer. Looks amazing, right? Too bad the feature isn't out for another six months. It makes us want it more because we can't have it now. It creates demand. And demand means sales.

Driving sales is putting a product in front of people – and asking them to buy it. It is the job of marketing to tell anyone who'll listen, what products are available to buy and ask them to buy it.

It may sound too obvious to work, but these are the 'Buy Now' buttons online and banners in the grocery store. Ever gotten back home from the supermarket with some random product you had no intention of buying? Odds are they were on a specific promotion, either reduced price or on a prominent stand in the shop.

See how three separate Facebook posts, posted by the same band
within one month convey three different messages:
1. Building a brand, 2. Creating Interest, 3. Driving Sales.

Instead of thinking about where we should be posting, what we're posting is much more important. If we're still not sure about the difference, here are three question we should be asking ourselves whenever we're interacting with our customers or audience:

1) Am I asking people to do a specific thing (driving sales)?