We’re going to play a short game. You ready? You have to answer six questions. No peeking ahead!
1. If your cat scratched your finger, you would go to the bathroom and get a _____________.
2. If you were thirsty at work, you’d go to the _________________ and buy a soda.
3. On the way home from work, you need to stop at __________________ to buy a new tv.
4. I can’t start my day without going through the drive thru at _________________.
5. I need to load more music onto my _________________.
We’ll hold off on number 6 for a minute.
Now comes the fun part. I’m going to guess your answers. Now it is fair to say that I do not have any prior knowledge as to who is reading this right now, at this moment. I’ve always been a fan of magic tricks, but this is no magic trick. I am willing to bet that I have at least one of your answers correct. There is a very good chance that I have more than 3. Let’s see how close I came.
1. Band-aid
2. Coke machine
3. Best Buy
4. Dunkin Donuts
5. iPod
We tend to think in brands. For example, maybe for number 4, you said “Starbucks.” Possibly you said a different store than Best Buy for number 3. However,I am pretty sure that most people did not say:
1. Plastic adhesive strip
2. Vending machine
3. Electronics store
4. My local coffee shop
5. Personal mp3 portable device
Your company’s goal needs to be: Our product must become synonymous with our brand. There are whole sections of the country that call any soda “coke”. Can you imagine working for Pepsi, walking into an establishment, and having someone refer to the bottle of soda you are selling as, “Some of that Pepsi coke”? Ideally, you want your customers to stop referring to your product by its generic name, and refer to it only via your brand. What you need to figure out, for your specific product, is how to accomplish this feat. It is not the same for every product, and you need to spend some serious time looking into the demographics and psychographics surrounding your specific products.
I skipped question number six.
6. If I needed (what you’re selling) I’d pick up the phone and call ________________.
I sincerely hope that eventually, everyone asked this question will say your company’s name.
