A Pride of Chumbies
Posted by Erin Koch
Xconomy, one of our favorite online news sources, has a story this week on the Chumby – a cuddly/awkward touch-screen digital device that can be customized to do what the user wants.What caught our eye was Chumby co-founder Duane Maxwell’s comments about the Chumby marketing campaign (from the Xconomy article) – specifically the fact that the company intentionally made the device controversial:
Sure enough, the Internet is full of passionate debate over the Chumby-between ardent fans and strident critics.
But the controversy over the Chumby is exactly what its developers wanted. Maxwell says they never spent a dime on marketing. “This is another net phenomenon. We didn’t have the budget for Apple-style mass marketing, but it turns out that word of mouth-particularly among hackers and technically sophisticated people-carries a lot more weight than advertising. So we made an effort to target them.”
Word-of-mouth marketing – particularly when it is fueled by effective messages targeted at the right audience – has always been one of the most effective catalysts to action (in Chumby’s case, the target audience was the technically sophisticated and the desired action was both debate about and purchase of the product). And they did a great job as covered by the Washington Post, The Street, New York Times, among others.
But how do you get from a clear goal to a desired result? At Gable PR, we always recommend audience research as a first step to any PR effort. Who are your target audiences? Which messages will move them to act? And what are the best channels and methods for getting those compelling messages into the hearts and, minds and frontal lobes of your targets?
For those who want instant results, headlines, and customers/investors/partners, we remind them that even if you know where you want to go, it could be a longer and more complex trip than initially imagined. And you’re more likely to get there if you have a well-planned roadmap before you back the car out of the driveway.
Photo by Andrea Kizsa
Tags: branding, creative, marketing, positioning, social media
