Should You Change Your Brand Name?
By leadership author and keynote speaker Ross Shafer
You know how we’ve been told, “Never Judge a Book by Its cover? Well THAT’s wrong and I’ll tell you why. Sometimes a book or product doesn’t sell because you haven’t communicated the purpose well enough. It’s marketing that I want to talk about today. How do you get people to pay attention to YOU. First, what you sell has to be in high demand…and quickly communicated. I love old newspaper ads that get to the point. Headache? Instant Cure.
I know authors who dream up a clever title for their book but it doesn’t offer any clue about what’s inside – and then wonder why it dies on a bookshelf. I’ve known OTHER authors who have simply RETITLED their books and sales blew up. That’s today’s premise…so now I want to tell you a story about a failing high school “shop class” that retitled itself and became one of the most popular electives in the district.
The high school is in Dallas and they were about to cancel their SHOP CLASS because parents thought it was an outdated subject and a skill set that wouldn’t help their kids get a job. So, the brave shop teacher changed the name of the Shop class to MANUFACTURING…and the class filled up overnight. See, parents thought learning about Manufacturing was cool…like it was preparing their children to be the next Apple…or Tesla. Did the teacher change the curriculum? A little.
The kids still learned woodworking and auto repair but the teacher created assembly lines – and taught the related costs of getting through each step. Brilliant. Same class. Different name…and it was an overnight success. If you’re having trouble selling your goods or services…why not give up on your overly-clever brand name…simplify it. Rename what you sell…or rethink the application of what you sell…to something in much Higher Demand. And then tell people you learned it from a high School shop teacher.
Ross Shafer is a leadership author and keynote speaker. For more info contact Ross at Helen@RossShafer.com.
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Ross Shafer is the author of (9) popular business books and (14) human resource training films. In a former career Ross won (6) Television Emmy awards for his work as a TV host, writer, and producer. Today, Ross is a sought after keynote speaker and consultant for Fortune 500 companies worldwide.