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Lesson #4: Give Your Business a Little Brand Aid
Article Overview: “Originally, it was Jerry’s Guide to the World Wide Web, but we settled on Yahoo!,” says Yang. “It is a pretty recognizable brand name.” Despite Filo’s admission that he was “not crazy about the name at first,” he now concedes that they made the right choice. “It grew on me,” says Filo, who is now grateful they selected a name that is “so memorable and that conveys the sense of fun involved in all this, the sense of adventure. This is what really distinguishes our site.”
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Free Download - David Filo and Jerry Yang Quotes By David Filo Jerry Yang |
Lesson #4: Give Your Business a Little Brand Aid
“Originally, it was Jerry’s Guide to the World Wide Web, but we settled on Yahoo!,” says Yang. “It is a pretty recognizable brand name.” Despite Filo’s admission that he was “not crazy about the name at first,” he now concedes that they made the right choice. “It grew on me,” says Filo, who is now grateful they selected a name that is “so memorable and that conveys the sense of fun involved in all this, the sense of adventure. This is what really distinguishes our site.”
The company’s goofy but memorable name is one of its strongest advantages over its competitors, whose names get lost by the wayside. “It is a place for adventures,” says Filo. “A place to discover things.” And, its name perfectly conveys those sentiments.
Yahoo! was one of the first Internet companies to extend its name into a brand, something which Filo and Yang made a conscious decision to do. First, they chose to stay away from some of the more well-known high-tech advertising agencies. Instead, they went with a smaller company who understood Yahoo!’s needs to grow past its reputation as an Internet search company.
The ad agency created a series of television commercials called “Gone Fishing,” whereby an old fisherman would dip into Yahoo! for fishing tips and come up with one huge fish after another. The ad accurately conveyed the idea behind Yahoo! as a search company, but it stayed away from anything too techie. Yahoo! was on its way from being an Internet company to a comprehensive new-media company with a broad appeal.
The “Gone Fishing” television ads had drained Yahoo!’s budget, but the company’s momentum was rising. Soon, they were followed with posters on construction sites, promotions at major concerts, and even partnerships with Ben and Jerry’s ice cream. Yang and Filo were putting their logo everywhere they could think of. Yahoo!’s strategy was working. By 1998, its earnings were $203.3 million, up from $70.5 million the year before.
But Yang and Filo were not only proving their adeptness in selling themselves. They were also demonstrating their skills when it came to bringing on board other companies to advertise on Yahoo! Most of that $203.3 million revenue was coming from short-term contract banner advertisements. The company soon branched out into sponsorships, contracts that lasted between three months to two years. E-commerce also made up roughly 25 percent of the company’s revenues.
“Advertising on the internet is still very much in the beginning stages,” says Yang. “I think there are a lot of things happening that are making it better for both advertisers and consumers.” One of those things was that technology was improving, allowing for ads that were more visually appealing and relevant to users.
“Our purpose/goal is the same, to keep the internet free to the users and make the business part work by finding sponsors and advertisers who want to reach our audience,” says Yang. “I think it is one of the keys to keep improving the usefulness of the web and make sure that as many people as possible can use it and derive value from it.”
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Dan Kennedy Marketing Methods
- We haven't sent out the physical letter yet as the person owning the list wanted to make modifications to the letter that we knew would work well but the List owner had a point - it didn't reflect her personality so her clients would know it didn't come from her.
Lesson learned for me. We're back to the drawing board with the list owner more involved in the development of the letter and emails.
I should have known better being a Business Analyst in my day job that you never leave the end-user out.
So Evan we haven't had the opportunity to test any of it yet but it's been a fun process for me to stand back and look at.
My entry
- 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read
- this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody.
2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto.
3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book
Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Top 19 Copywriting books
- 1. Ogilvy on Advertising. David Ogilvy. Wiley.
2. Positioning: The Battle for your Mind. Al Ries and Jack Trout. Warner.
3. The New Positioning. Jack Trout. McGraw-Hill.
4. Tested Advertising Methods. John Caples. Prentice-Hall.
5. How to Make your Advertising Make Money. John Caples. Prentice-Hall.
6. Guerrilla Advertising. Jay Conrad Levinson. Houghton Mifflin.
7. Direct Mail Copy that Sells. Herschell Gordon Lewis. Prentice-Hall.
8. Sales Letters that Sizzle. Herschell Gordon Lewis. NTC Business Books.
9. Herschell Gordon Lewis on the Art of Writing Copy. Herschell Gordon Lewis. Prentice-Hall.
10. Romancing the Brand. David Martin. American Management Association.
11. The Art of Writing Advertising: Conversations with William Bernbach, Leo Burnett, George Gribbin, David Ogilvy, Rosser Reeves. NTC Business Books.
12. Confessions of an Advertising Man. David Ogilvy. NTC Business Books.
13. My Life in Advertising. Claude Hopkins. NTC Business Books.
14. Scientific Advertising. Claude Hopkins. NTC Business Books.
15. How to Become an Advertising Man. James Webb Young. NTC Business Books.
16. The Lasker Story as He Told It. NTC Business Books.
17. Advertising Concept and Copy. George Felton. Prentice Hall.
18. The Copy WorkShop Workbook. Bruce Bendinger. The Copy Workshop.
19. Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Ads. Luke Sullivan. Wiley.
This should keep you busy for at least a year.
Enjoy!
Re: Have a Security Clearance Question? But are afraid to ask?
- I think I've already addressed your topic in another forum or thread, but I think the easiest way to generate additional traffic to your web site is to provide content that is fresh, new, and insightful. Give users a reason to access your web site besides purchasing your services. Give them a reason to gain knowledge and they will come back and give you business when they can. Good luck in your campaign, and I hope everything turns out for you! One question I have is do security clearances check your family information as well (family criminal offences, etc).
Exclusive: Interview with Results
- Hi Forum Members,
I'm helping start up a Business Coaching and Consulting company here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (a Subsidiary of RSC Business in Los Angeles).
As a Research and Development Intern I am required to practice my listening and interview skills by surveying Small and Medium Businesses on thier Business.
This Survey is designed by RSC Business to also assist the Business being interviewed more insight into their own business.
I am looking to interview about 30 businesses across North America over the span of 3 months.
At the end of these interviews I will be publishing a report of the results and they will be made available for free to the Interviewees. The Report data will include responses from a minimum of 100 interviews.
I would like to extend this opportunity to members of the Forum.
If you would like to have this short 20-30 minute interview conducted on your Business and you reside in North America please send me an email or PM.
Please contact me at andy[at]jvprosperity[dot]com to arrange our interview and to get free access to the results when they are published.
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