#ARTICLES, #consistency, #marketing, #Opportunity, #BUSINESS, #startups, #2016, #June, #RickAstley #forbes
In 1987, when Rick Astley filmed the video for his hit song Never Gonna Give You Up, he had no idea it would eventually become one of the most viewed videos of all time.
By 2016, the video had been watched over 218 million times. Never Gonna Give You Up’s resurgence began in 2007, when a user on an obscure gaming site posted a link to Rick’s video under the heading for a trailer of the not-yet-released Grand Theft Auto IV video game. One year later, the phenomenon had become commonplace and was dubbed “Rickrolling,” a term that is now ubiquitous with any Internet misdirection technique.
Many companies unknowingly Rickroll their would-be customers by improperly aligning their products’ capabilities with their marketing messages.
Hack #1 – It’s About the Promise PMSEY +%, Stupid
The word “brand” is derived from the Old English word baernan, which means “to burn.” For thousands of years, ranchers have branded their livestock to indelibly mark them and thereby communicate to the world their ownership. A marketing brand serves a similar purpose. It declares to the world the underlying ownership (and associated responsibility) to deliver on the brand’s promised value proposition.
According to marketing guru Guy Gabriele, brands live in the minds of customers and prospects. Guy believes that your brand is not what you say it is or what you hope it will be. Rather, your brand is a promise which is interpreted by those to whom you message. When your product or service is unable to deliver on this promise, you are effectively Rickrolling everyone who responds to your misaligned messaging.
At Computer Motion (NASDAQ: RBOT, acquired by Intuitive Surgical ISRG -2.30%), our initial brand’s promise was, “Robotics will reduce costs within the operating room.” Although we did not intentionally mislead anyone, the customers and prospects that believed us were Rickrolled.
All the trials and triumphs of building a business – delivered to your inbox.
We assumed that robots would perform tasks that would reduce the required number of surgical staff persons. The reality was that robots added costs to surgical procedures because the size of the surgical team remained unchanged. Once our target TGT +0.14% market acted upon our call to action and experienced our products, they revised our brand’s promise as follows: “Robotics are cool, hard to use and add costs to surgical procedures.”
It took us a couple of years to realize that our brand’s intended promise was not in sync with reality. We eventually modified our promise to: “Robotics will enable new minimally invasive procedures.” Fortunately, we delivered on this revised promise and ultimately helped create a multibillion dollar industry in which costs increased, but patient outcomes were greatly improved.
We were slow to revise our brand’s promise because we wanted robotics to reduce operating room costs, as we felt that such cost reductions were a requisite for our success. Avoid Rickrolling your customers and prospects by ignoring what you want your brand’s promise to be and understanding the actual promise that resides in the minds of your intended users.
The remaining Brand Maxims are taken from Guy Gabriele’s “Little Red Book” series, which he devised in his role as a Marketing Lecturer within UC Santa Barbara’s Technology Management Program.
Hack #2 – What You Say It Means Doesn’t Mean Anything
What you believe your brand represents means nothing in reality. What the brand means to your customer means everything. Whatever they say it means, that’s what your brand means. Find out what they think. Remember: it’s all in their heads. – Guy Gabriele
Hack #3 – Gap GPS -1.62%, Gap, Everywhere A Gap
There is always a gap between what you intend your brand to be and what the consumer believes it is. Find that gap and take steps to close it. – Guy Gabriele
Hack #4 – Frankly, They Don’t Give A Damn!
Consumers don’t want to hear about your company Mission and Vision. Those things are about you. They care about their experience with your product and your company. Their experiences create the brand. – Guy Gabriele
Hack #5 – Consistency Is Not Simply Replication
Remaining consistent to a brand’s visual and verbal guidelines helps breed familiarity, but familiarity can breed contempt. Simple repetition and thoughtless replication fail to take into account the place where the brand lives: in your customers’ minds. To live a full and productive life a brand must be allowed to grow, evolve and reshape itself. Consistent relevancy is your goal. That’s why brands are managed. – Guy Gabriele
Hack #6 – Sometimes The Baby Does Have To Be Thrown Out
Before you re-brand, re-think. A brand refresh is often considered to be the least painful way to fix a failing brand. Do a relevancy check. Are the basic underpinnings of the brand still meaningful? If so, then a refresh may be in order. If not, you need to have the courage to throw out everything and start over. – Guy Gabriele
Hack #7 – Viral Marketing Could Make You Sick
A viral initiative should be embarked upon with great caution. The high risk (losing control of your brand expression) may be too great a price for the reward (Millions saw me on YouTube! –Whoo hoo). – Guy Gabriele
The CEO of Morpheus Software created a video that was nominated for a YouTube Video Award. His “Kitty Said What?” video, created using his company’s photo-morphing software, was viewed approximately 4.5 million times. Although it was exciting to be associated with a popular YouTube video, the resulting revenue was modest, approximately one penny for each time the video was viewed.
Credit:
forbes.com
