Tuesday, October 05, 2010
Before Their Time
Some products and services arrive before their time and no amount of PR and marketing is enough to gain acceptance. Here is one. Here is another.
The electronic medical record is more than a decade overdue, but a combination of economics and resistance from doctors has prevented its adoption. In-store TV has seemed to be a natural from the time it was conceived but for a combination of reasons, it has never taken off.
How does one promote products and services with such a dismal record of success? Every argument has been used. None have worked. In the case of the medical record, vendors are betting Federal regulation will give them the breakthrough they need. In the case of in-store TV, hope is the driver. Maybe this time it will succeed. From a PR point of view, there is little a practitioner can do. It is a matter of slogging and chipping away at attitudes a bit at a time without a guarantee of gaining the objective.
There are more of such products and services in the marketplace. They dwell in a shadow world largely beyond the help of persuasive communications. They remind us yet again that PR and marketing have limits.
The electronic medical record is more than a decade overdue, but a combination of economics and resistance from doctors has prevented its adoption. In-store TV has seemed to be a natural from the time it was conceived but for a combination of reasons, it has never taken off.
How does one promote products and services with such a dismal record of success? Every argument has been used. None have worked. In the case of the medical record, vendors are betting Federal regulation will give them the breakthrough they need. In the case of in-store TV, hope is the driver. Maybe this time it will succeed. From a PR point of view, there is little a practitioner can do. It is a matter of slogging and chipping away at attitudes a bit at a time without a guarantee of gaining the objective.
There are more of such products and services in the marketplace. They dwell in a shadow world largely beyond the help of persuasive communications. They remind us yet again that PR and marketing have limits.
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