Bob Parsons of GoDaddy.com Talks Marketing, Brand Building and Why Sex Sells

Written by Craig Allan Teich
Co-Founder of Profit Platform Pro

Why Does Having More Fun Often Lead to Making More Money?

I hope you enjoyed Bob’s video. Is it, like most of GoDaddy’s marketing, a bit juvenile and silly?
Yes, but what’s wrong with that?

One of the qualities I admire about Bob is that he is fun.
He likes to have fun. His companies are fun. His marketing is fun.
And you know what, this may come as a shocker, but most people in the world like fun.

Infusing fun into your business, both as an attribute of the culture and as part of your brand identity, will pay-off in many ways. It will make you a happier person, which makes you a better leader. It will make your team happy, which translates into greater productivity, higher employee retention, and improved ability to attract talented new employees.

And as a marketing tool, fun attracts new customers while keeping current clients spending money with you instead of your competition. A fun company, which is a brand identity built by way of fun marketing like that of GoDaddy, is like the cool club or group in high school. Everyone wants to be a part of it. Why? Because it’s FUN! (Yeah, I know, it’s now rocket science.)

Fun Strategies for Building a Successful & Profitable Brand

As my partners and the entire Profit Platform Pro team near our launch, more and more thought is being given to our brand identity. When I first conceived of the Profit Platform Pro concept, I wrote down on a single sheet of paper all the words that I wanted to be associated with our products and services, as well as the overall brand identity. Some of those words and phrases which remain as our most important guides are:
Easy, Powerful, Inexpensive, Professional, Help people make money, All-in-one-solution, Fast, Accessible, Great customer service by real people, Great tool with phenomenal training, Game changer, Beautiful, Powerful and easy Customization, and Fun.

That original piece of paper is still taped to the wall near my computer. I refer to it often when considering our product development, and also when we are developing our initial marketing and brand building campaigns.

Why Playing It Safe Often Turns Play Into Work

During discussions with my partners about our marketing and brand identity strategy, my wilder ideas often elicit some push-back. That happened recently when I introduced my idea for two superhero characters as our potential mascots. I expected the hesitation. (However, I was pleasantly surprised when only one, not both, of my co-founding partners tried to squash the idea, the other seeing the potential right away.)

We all have a tendency to play it safe, especially when it comes to business. We’ve all grown up in an environment that stresses how business is serious. “If you want your business to be taken seriously, then your business must be conservative and professional,” is the conventional wisdom, but what a bunch of hooey that is.

Here’s the naked truth:

If you want your business to fade into the background and have zero competitive advantage, then play it safe, be conservative, and do what everyone else is doing. But if you want your business to standout, excel, be remembered, and grab market share like a hungry beast, then get wild, get fun, get creative, get different, get sexy, get bold, and then get rich.

Some of the most successful businesses with the most valuable brand identities have been created around a fun, irreverent, and often controversial culture. Companies which come to mind immediately include Virgin, Playboy, Google, Yahoo!, and GoDaddy (of course). Even boring insurance companies like Aflac and Geico have enhanced their business and brand identity by using humor, fun and some silly mascots.

And maybe most importantly, fun companies are fun to create and fun to work for, which makes work a lot less like work, and a lot more like play, and that’s good.

The Bottom Line

If you want your business to stand out from the crowd in a positive way that translates into more sales and higher customer loyalty, one of the most effective ways is to infuse your company, your marketing, and your brand identity with fun, humor and sex appeal.

And a little outrageous but harmless controversy never hurts, as Bob Parsons and GoDaddy have proven so well.

So get creative, be brave, and success will be yours. Good luck.

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I’d love to hear your comments on this subject, which is near and dear to my business heart. And if you can site some examples of companies who have used these strategies effectively, even better.

Cheers, Craig
Catch me on Twitter . . . @CraigTeich

October 22, 2009 by Craig Allan Teich

Tags: Bob Parsons, Brand Building, Branding, Fun Business, GoDaddy, Internet Marketing