MAD MARKETING TACTICS™ !: Sales

Showing posts with label Sales. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

Worst Product Name... Ever!

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Why on Earth would anyone choose (assuming no torture by a sadist from one of the former Eastern Bloc nations [i.e., Turdistan], or the promise of a hunting trip with Dick Cheney) to name a product or service Monitis? It sounds like a disease. It rhymes with Colitis, Bursitis, Arthritis and a whole host of __itises.

As the author (having destroyed all of the opposition) of The Mad Marketing Tactics Blog, I have to go on the record as saying that that name will most definitely hurt the sales of the product. Names are critically important in marketing and branding -- especially if they are either favorably or unfavorably associated with other product names or words in common usage. If you name a product (with due credit to Piriform) something like CCleaner, it sounds wholesome, useful and efficient. It is a clever hybrid of C drive and Cleaner. It actually describes what it does.

But then there's Monitis.

Here's what WebProNews had to say in a brief advertisement of Monitis (you can try it for free!), which sounded to me, and perhaps to other people, like getting a chance to audition herpes -- or worse. It even has a "moan" in it. Yet, the way the product is described, perhaps it is something great that just happens to have a horrible name; sort of like Smuckers jam. But then, they had an excuse, because it was a family name. And they even promoted a mildly self-deprecating campaign -- "With a name like Smuckers, it has to be good." It helped to boost sales, and once people tried it, they continued to be loyal customers. Let's see how Monitis fares:

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Please remember that I do not endorse the product. Nor do I seek to defame it. It might be good, it might be bad. But none of that matters. The only thing that matters to a marketing and branding professional is that the name stinks. Period.

Thank you as always for reading me, and for sharing my articles with your colleagues, cohorts, comrades, co-conspirators and connections through your ever-increasing use of the various social media platforms. And when I say thank you, I mean it sincerely.

Douglas E. Castle for The Mad Marketing Tactics Blog and for CFI Business Growth

I'm actually a very friendly, approachable, engaging fellow. I don't have Monitis, either.

Labels, Tags, Keywords, Categories And Search Terms For This Article:

marketing, names, branding, sales, web products, C-drive cleaners, cloud computing, Monitis, hepatitis, crowdfunding, CFI, business, growth, humor, memes, impressions, LinkedIn, Douglas E. Castle, WebProNews, CCleaner, naming things, associations...

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Douglas E. Castle On LinkedIn - Join Me!

#MadMarketing

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Monday, May 21, 2012

Make Your Customers Into Evangelists -- The Apple Strategy

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The most inexpensive but powerful sales force which you can recruit (in fact, they volunteer without being asked!) for your brand is comprised of uncompensated, satisfied and enthusiastic customers or end-users. This is especially true in the consumer goods sector, but it also applies to B2B commerce as well.

Every satisfied customer is potentially a connector, an expert or a person of influence who can convince or otherwise persuade others in his or her social and/or business sphere to purchase your brand. These people are, in the most positive sense, your infiltrators and viralizers [a Lingovation]. Their word-of-mouth has the powerful benefit of being non-advertorial and uncompensated -- their "testimony" rings true.

If these people are encouraged to utilize social media to spread word of their newly-discovered (or historically-grounded) faith in your brand, this evangelical effect acquires further resonance, reverberation and a longer tail.

Apple is the ideal example of a company that uses this volunteer army of missionaries to support their marketing and sales efforts.

An interesting article follows for your consideration:


How to succeed in the enterprise without really trying: Apple's crunch
Companies are now crawling with Apple sales representatives -- not paid representatives, but end-users. Read the ZDNet Article. Then come back to us! (We'll wait)

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The ultimate goal in this sales approach is not merely to build an army of brand missionaries, but to make them into a social community -- something like a company cult, without the brainwashing, KoolAid, weird oaths and pledges or other common Waco-type associated pejoratives. These people interact as a growing group, and they seek to expand the group as new "believers" are brought in.

From the standpoint of behavioral psychology:

1. people like to express their opinions;
2. people like to join clubs;
3. clubs, like living organisms, tend to develop a life force of their very own, and strive to grow larger and more influential.

Having said this, wouldn't it be wonderful to do everything in your power to create and grow an outspoken, dues-free fan club? I think so.

Douglas E. Castle for The Mad Marketing Tactics Blog

#MadMarketing