Revisiting How NOT to Market Your Company

Last week I posted this picture as an example of how not to market your company. And the comments came in, mostly in favor of House #2, so I thought I would revisit this topic.

My intent at the time was to focus on the “spirit” of house #2, not the actual platform. My point being that if your competitor is marketing their product in a certain way, just imitating them is not the way to go.

However, you were also right. As a marketing tactic, the “Ditto” is brilliant.

When I was a kid growing up outside of Philly, there was one house not too far away that went nuts decorating for Christmas. A yard filled with lights and all sorts of large animated objects. People would drive from all over to see it. I would bet that most areas have a house like this. Word of Mouth was the main mode of marketing: “Have you seen the house over on Suchandsuch Street?”.

Then the energy crisis of the 70s hit, and for one or two years the decorations weren’t there. We all noticed.

Now take the two houses in the picture. House #1 is pretty standard decorating fare…if not a bit overdone. I’m sure a lot of people would go a little out of their way while driving at night just to see it. But House #2 (the Ditto house) did them one better. You better believe that Word of Mouth was huge on that one, and I bet the traffic on their street was quite busy.

I’ve been reading Word of Mouth Marketing by Andy Sernovitz and thinking a lot about how we get people talking about our business, product, or service. It comes down to three things:

1. Have a great product

2. Have a great message

3. Have a way to get that message out.

You have to take care of the first one yourself, then work with your customers and community to come up with #2…and of course Social Media can help a lot with #3.

How are you getting Word of Mouth? Do you have a plan for 2010?

Tagged as: Marketing, Social Media, word of mouth

Harl Delos

There's a story about a guy who had competitors build superstores on both sides of him. One had a huge sign reading "Best Selection". The one on the other side said "Lowest Prices". The guy in the middle with the little store? He put up a new sign that said "Enter Here".

Somewhere along the line, entrepreneurs get the idea that businesses need to be all things to all people. That's not true. When times get tough, the businesses that survive are those that offer the ne plus extra "Most" and those what are the rock-bottom lowest-cost provider. The ones that get wiped out are the providers that offer a so-called "value" product - not the cheapest, at a fair price.

But who wants a so-so product at a so-so price? There are many ways you can be best or one way to be the cheapest, and even during flush times, they do well. As Bing Crosby sang to us, "You've got to accentuate the positive! Eliminate the negative! Latch on to the affirmative! Don't mess with Mister In-Between!"

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