September 11th, 2009
Tech Needs New Words: Tech Marketing Needs Your Help
How to sell Tech like the consumer products folks do
While on HRE Online yesterday, I spied this revolving advertisement. I was struck with the copywriter’s spelling of ‘integrated’ and how no one caught this in editing or graphics. But, I can’t really complain as I’ve let some howlers get through in my blogs and I know others will slip through, too.
Ad that's needs an integrated spellchecker
But, in selling high-tech solutions, technology marketing types are way behind the curve compared to their consumer oriented marketing mavens. The latter group unabashedly makes up words to describe their products. Check out this ad I got this week from Pizza Hut. My dictionary, interestingly, doesn’t have ‘awesomer’ in it. That same old school dictionary doesn’t have ‘ginormous‘ in it either.
Awesomer?
Tech marketers rarely make up words to describe their products. I think it’s time this changes.
If we stole some of the consumer product naming tricks we’d have tech products that:
- have Wessonality
- are peanutier
- have the Jif-ference
- lack cornthenticity
- are stroftier
- are juicealicious
- etc.
Can’t you imagine the tech advertising copy now –
“Forget gigabytes, now hard drives with enriched gigglebits!”
“Defragging is now de-figment of your imagination”
“Now your desktop has ‘fax-appeal’”
“More than a spyware detector, it’s a slyware buster!”
“Finally, a printer/fax/scanner that’s a fun-in-one!”
“iTunedOut my kids last Xmas – This year they’ll get their own iPod”
“iPhone therefore I am”
“Introducing the CompaqCompaq, the CQ2, the smallest laptop ever made by HP”
What suggestions do you have to help the tech marketers of today? Post your made up words here – but act now as operators will only be on duty just a few more hours….
This blog explores the intersection set between services and technology. If it impacts either space, it will be covered here. Brian Sommer is a former Accenture partner. He did an 18-year tour of duty there and ran three small practice units (Finance Center of Excellence, HR Center of Excellence and Software Intelligence). He’s sold service projects in almost every continent and remains just as current on both services and technology today as ever before. Brian is currently CEO of TechVentive, a strategy consultancy servicing technology providers, and a research analyst with Vital Analysis. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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