A great ad writing lesson from Bob Parsons (GoDaddy founder)

He doesn't get it. It doesn't matter what he thinks, it matters what he does. He will have all his defenses up - only there will be just one that intrigues him.

Starts a tickle in the back of his mind.

Wonders, clicks through to have a quick look, likes what he sees and wonders to himself if it wasn't the one thing he needed to help tidy his desk. Or whatever.

Stick to the day job, Bob Parsons.

Mind you it doesn't matter to marketers that he doesn't get it - explaining what motivates humans is perhaps the most difficult thing on our planet*. Especially when everyone wants to rationalize it. Because such rationalizations make all the assumptions that top marketers have dug into, understand and employ in their advertising.

*With the possible exception of the impulse behind that motivation. That's when the sparks fly.

I'll be honest: I cannot remember a single GoDaddy ad campaign. All I remember from them is that if you search for hosting, the first PAID ad that comes up is invariably GoDaddy.

I also notice that this ad invariably says: hosting just $1.99/$2.99/$0.99.

They're in a market place where many, many people need their service every day. They're in a market place where, let's face it, a large chunk of the market want everything cheap.

EDIT: So the ads were US only anyway. That would be why I never saw one :p

Isn't it interesting how those in the US think it was effective advertising - and those who don't, well ... don't?

Have they been brilliant at their job - or just leveraged a lot of paid advertising to crack a nut that they could have cracked with 100x less spend and some insight?

Oh, and what is so memorable about "Go Daddy"? Is it parental services or family law suits? What has GoDaddy to do with hosting? Or am I missing something that is obvious to people who use lots of money to get any old name known in their chosen field? Because that's what it sounds like to me.

Now Hostgator - that is rather better at telling people about what the company does. Mind you, they are selling family law suits, aren't they?

Moriarty, I don't think the company name has to tell you what they do. Pepsi and Coke (to tap into that other thread ) don't have "carbonated soft drinks" in their company names. Nike doesn't say "trainers", French Connection doesn't tell you it's clothing.

More important is to have a name that is memorable. Go Daddy is memorable, for one reason or another. If you asked me to name hosting providers, Go Daddy would be the first I mentioned, not Hostgator. On the other hand, I don't use them and never would.

Amazon - the word defies description

Google - this was something to do with the concept. You may not know this but the Stanford guys got it wrong. They wanted the name Googol - not Google. Googol was a mathematician with hankerings for the abstract - not as abstact as Graham - but abstract nonetheless. A Googol is 10 raised to the power 100. Big, and very abstract. You don't find many of them unless you inhabit a bank and deal in futures derivatives.

eBay - totally abstract.

Caterpillar - referring to the way the tracks moved. V. Clever and has nothing to do with butterflies save the movements of their offspring.

Apple - abstract branding. But then computers are pretty abstract, aren't they?

As to branding - that is manipulation of emotions at the basest level. In economic terms it is a blunt tool that needs a lot of muscle to lift it. As my father always said: you lift with your head not your arms - and for a girl, that is good advice indeed.

Lifting a sharp implement is always more effective than a blunt one is. This goes for branding just as it does for Adwords or the printed media. Not to mention engineering.

So give me one good reason to study the lifting of large heavy objects when I can use nutcrackers to do the same job?

I'm sorry Moriarty, I don't think I understand your point.

IMO, you need something memorable as your company name. What's going to stick in the mind more: Amazon or Books R Us; Warrior Forum or The Internet Marketing Forum; Premium Orange Juice or Tropicana?

That's not branding, though.

Ask the average person where to buy a domain name. I'd guess 99% would say "GoDaddy", and less than 5% would even know of an alternative.

I'd say they're doing fine with their ads.

Anyone who watched the Super Bowl will remember the ad with the nerd making out with the hot girl for a long time. It was pretty disgusting, but it made everyone pay attention and people talked about it like crazy, so it did its job.

Their commercials always have a call to action to visit their website, which is marketing 101 to us but virtually non-existent in the business world.

They've got smart loss-leaders (Get Your .99 Domain!) and a sales funnel that makes even seasoned marketers look like rookies.

"Great, you've added your domain! Would you like hosting? .Biz/.info/.org/.co? Private registration? 5 years registration? Additional emails? SSL? A website builder? SEO? SEM consulting? Bundle and save!"

Their funnel runs deep.

I'd be willing to bet money that while they're advertising .99 domains their average transaction size is probably in the $50+ range per order.

That could be because the US is their target market, just a hunch.

I'm not a big GoDaddy fan personally.

But as far as marketing goes I think they're doing fine.

The reason Mr Jobs called his computer company "Apple"

Was because (in the old days), you looked for stuff in Yellow Pages - and it would be at the top of the listing.


Steve

Well, it does goes back to his days working in the apple orchards.

Apparently, he was enjoying a “fruitarian diet” and thought the simple name was “fun, spirited, and not intimidating“

And of course the Ads were always at the top of yellow pages.


Steve

...one of those new fangled computers.

And there it was - an Apple Ad.

Perfect.


Steve

Mal...you're being stupid.

82? Yeah...I remember that as being a big year for Apple...

Give me a break.

You're making yourself look dumb.

Apple's first print ad - July 1976. Spot the typo.

A lot of registrars could also learn from GoDaddy's agressive up-sells. You'll go bankrupt just selling a domain once. Just like most successful products out there.... it's all in the back-end.

Nope.

Branding is for those who don't have much imagination. Those who use it usually have no choice but to continue. Those who have the choice choose more effective methods. If that is a straw man, burn it. If you do, you will lose the secret it holds for you.

So I will ask you again to satisfy my inquisitiveness. How do you define branding?