Know-How Exchange : Branding

Okay, before I dive back into my copywriting.

Firstly, why do customers come to expert.nl? Oh, and who are they? Perhaps they aren't the kind of person who thinks about vacuum cleaners and shavers. The kind of guy who likes Skyfall (on their homepage) isn't going to be thinking about hoovering the floor.

TVs, ipads and laptops are a very different segment of the market from domestic appliances. There are a rare few people who will buy both.

Advice: find out who their best customers are. The ones buying all that high-tech stuff. Because they aren't buying for their kitchen. What we have is something of a polarity here. Knowing who your best customers are will tell you about what they are not.

Now Expert's style for their household equipment is exactly the same as for their computers. Typical commodity advertising from a typical commodity supermarket. They set out their wares and wait for customers to look at them.

Just because it is the same website does not mean it has to be the same style. It needs to be a style that people who like doing the hoovering like too. The name Expert is a good one, it just means that you need a different approach. A radically different approach. You might not even link the two departments/sections on the site together any longer. So find a website where they sell more household stuff than computers and you are half way to solving your problem.

I hope this helps, and your English is a lot better than my Dutch!

To your success, Moriarty xxx

[URL deleted by staff]

A few of the keys to higher sales in specific categories are function (what the device does), appeal (why it's worth having), portability (ease of mobility), and social desire (why it's worth being seen with and why it's worth wanting).

Think about it.

Would you buy a washing machine or a vacuum cleaner to access online content or to tote it around and to show off to your friends?

Of course not.

No one would. Well, very few people.

A new washing machine does not make its owner look hip, cool, and with it.

But a new iPad Mini? Or a new, super thin laptop?

Those things are different: they're new, they create desire, they imbue status, and they proclaim modernity, sophistication, and wealth.

It's the things the ownership and possession of the device convey (for instance: modernity, sophistication, wealth, etc.) that make the product—the device, the car, the suit, the watch, and so on—worth owning, not specifically the item itself.

Although people may spend money on the item (money they may not necessarily have, which is the behavior trait that drives credit card debt), the things they're really investing in are the traits, qualities, and impressions that their visibility of possession projects
and exhibits to other people in terms of their personal "ownership" of the item as seen by others.

When people are owners of the laptop or product they signal to others that they're worth associating with.

When people as potential non-owners of the desired
item associate with or are seen to be associated with
someone who does own the item, some of that sparkle
of associated ownership rubs off on the non-owner.

In turn, that "rub-off" creates additional desire.

It's this set of behaviors that underpins our obsession with celebrities, pop stars, movie stars, and the life styles of the rich and famous.

To generate sales of items that are selling less well it might be worth trying celebrity endorsement, or making the items more visible while also focusing on their respective.