Can I get 1-800 WINDOWS
I got an email from someone recently asking if we can get 1-800 WINDOWS. The response applies equally to a lot of generic number requests and covers things pretty well so I thought it was worth posting for anyone else as well.
While 1-800 WINDOWS might sound like the most valuable number for your organization, you have to realize that your goal isn’t to figure out what might be the best number, but to figure out what is the best number AVAILABLE. There’s a slight difference there but it’s an important one.
I’m gonna venture to guess that the name of your business isn’t “Windows”. That’s because although you may work with windows, the word windows alone isn’t a unique enough name to be seen as a unique source of products or services. You won’t be able to stop anyone else from using that word and you won’t show up in the search results for that name.
I’d also bet that no matter what name you use, people that hear or see your commercial are already going to know you work with windows no matter what your phone number is. And the word Windows only says the type of business you’re in, it doesn’t explain why they should use you or why your windows are any better. While a generic 800 version of any big industry does give you credibility, and an industry leading image, the secondary versions don’t have the same credibility or effect. And when someone goes to your website or yellow page ad, the word Windows applies equally to anyone else’s service. So while it may be clean and memorable, your goal is to make something memorable in connection with you and your business, not just the industry in general.
So All that’s really trying to explain why more creative options are actually more valuable than the most obvious thing you can possibly think of. The real goal of your advertising is to get their attention and say something that will stick with them. Generic words just don’t stick the same way creative terms do. You’ve heard the expression thinking outside the box. Well 1-800 WINDOWS is smack dab in the center of the box.
1-800 WINDOWS is also one of the least available numbers you’ll ever find. So it doesn’t actually matter very much how valuable you think that would be for you, or how badly you want it. It’s not 1992, so you’ll have to look beyond the most obvious options if you want to have any hope of actually getting something.
I don’t really know enough about your business to say what the best number would be or exactly what I would look for. But I would start with your name. If you’re looking for generic terms like you mention in your email, try putting your state in front of anything generic. That helps you get out of the pool that 98% of your competitors have already fished in or are looking for. Try your company initials, or the reason why they should use you instead of anyone else. Whats your strongest selling point? What makes you different, not what you have in common with everyone else? Do you have a slogan? (a slogan is a better way to be more creative and gives your whole advertising a powerful theme)
You also have to realize that in order to figure out what the really best option is, you have to be extremely thorough, just like you would if you were on a job search. You have to make the goal to find ALL the options, not just one good option. And if you do your job search one at a time, it’s much harder, than if you send out resumes to everybody in the whole industry. If you know you’ve tried every business possible and have five job offers you’ll probably wind up with a better job and be more happy with it than you would if you just got and took the first decent job offer.
It’s not easy. But then if it was easy, it wouldn’t give you much of an advantage, then would it? This is what big companies pay advertising agencies big bucks for.
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
No Comments »
No comments yet.
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Leave a comment