They see MARCOM (it includes all interaction including blogging) as an unnecessary elements, instead they offer 20% or 30% off to boost the sale in short term. I agree this hurts the brand is long run, but who cares? Company is not an individual so company is no one.

The sole objective of a marketing manager or director is to squeeze as much profit as they can from the brand during their tenure and once they are off, who cares.
It’s MARCOM department that reap rewards and who suffers, consumer. Sale is not good for your pocket. It leads to impulsive buying behavior and multiple exposure to this might make this a permanent trait. You can see this in peopel around you.

I believe what used to work may still work -but Social Media works better! hopefully as the “marketing genre’ (as i like to think of it) grows, so will the confidence of the decision makers, and more importantly the people controlling company finances. For right now, all we can do is keep doing what we do best: blogging, tweeting, facebook(ing?), youtubing and more importanly – MEASURING.

There’s an old British phrase -’the proof of the pudding is in the eating” And once the economy starts picking up again, which it will, we Social media folks will be right there to let people taste and enjoy the results.

keep up the good work.

Alex -S-