I don’t know about you, but I have never heard of anyone “yahoo-ing” anything. Not “ad agency” not “advertising agency”, not “Johannesburg ad agency”, not “marketing consultant Johannesburg” and not “cat or dog”. Why? Because Google has become synonymous with “search” whilst “Yahoo” and all the other search engines have become after-thoughts. Of course, this is great for Google, which continues to sweep in the money but not so good for Yahoo and other search engines who are forever playing catch-up.
No wonder then that not so long ago the head of Yahoo issued an instruction for Yahoo staff to return to base as it were and resume working from its offices – as opposed to them working from home, their beach houses or the nearest Starbucks. Will it make a difference? Well, it may start to engender more of a close knit community at the company but Yahoo has fallen so far behind that it will take a lot – and a long time – for the company to make up lost ground.
After all, after having grown accustomed to using Google to search for things on the internet for quite some time, would you suddenly switch to using Yahoo? I don’t think too many people would. Unless of course, there was some sort of value-add that Yahoo could introduce to entice us.
The real point of this article, though, is to highlight the importance of attaining a dominant position for your brand, such as Google has. There are of course other examples of brand dominance, of which Tippex, Hoover and Xerox are three.
Take Tippex. As I write this, I cannot think of a competing brand – although I’m sure there are a few. What happened to them? If they’re around, they’re certainly not upper-mind. This being the case, should I ever need to “tippex” something, guess which brand I would reach for.
Take Hoover. If you’re an American, you’ll “hoover” your carpets. The brand has over the years become synonymous with “sweep”. This is powerful stuff. How does a competitor even begin to compete?
Then there’s Xerox. Maybe not so much here in South Africa, but in the US, people “Xerox” documents. “Xerox” is the generic name for “copy”. The brand is a dominant brand. Competing brands, of which there are many in this sector, have it all to do.
Another dominant brand is FedEx. In many countries, FedEx is a trusted and household name synonymous with “courier”. The brand’s positioning statement of “When you absolutely positively have it to get it there overnight” resonated with people and today, many people would not even think of calling a competitor when needing to courier a parcel.
So what does it take to become a dominant brand? Essentially consistent marketing, resulting in word of mouth. The process can take years – decades even – and requires an advertising commitment that encompasses all the major advertising mediums ie TV, radio, outdoor, print and online. A commitment to ongoing PR is also required.
To get to a stage of dominance, one would ultimately need to get people:
*noticing your brand
*liking your brand
*buying your brand
*becoming ambassadors for your brand
If you can successfully get people to like your brand and trust your brand, they will likely endorse your brand and in so doing, become brand ambassadors – spreading the word to family and friends. The importance of word of mouth cannot be over-emphasised.
Again, take Google. Way back when it was just another search engine. People started talking about Google. Today, do you know anyone who doesn’t Google?