Dumbest Marketing Move, 1/8/10

What does your URL say about you??

Well, today's DUMB Marketing Award goes to whorepresents.com for their URL!

They may have had something in mind when they obtained this URL, but what does it spell out? As a simple web-surfer I see WHORE Presents. Just imagine, they're getting a lot of traffic to their site that isn't relevant because they aren't in the whore business but some might think they are with that URL. They might even be losing money from their pay-per-click ads from people misreading their website.

It actually spells out WHO Represents. Here's their logo.



Well. it makes a little bit of sense once you see the logo. At least they were smart enough to capitalize the R. Overall, I think this is a dumb URL and yes, URL's are part of your marketing mix.

Lesson Learned: Pay attention to how things might be misread in print, internet and everything in between. Your URL is like naming your kid, you don't want them to be teased, and you definitely don't want your URL to make the DUMB Marketing Move list.

Best, Curmmie

Dumbest Marketing Move, 1/1/10

This week’s Dumbest Marketing Move goes to……I don’t know! We don’t know what company this is on the billboard. (pictured below). Maybe they thought it was a clever billboard, but they are really missing the boat and it was an expensive trip. PLEASE LET US KNOW WHO THIS IS IF YOU KNOW. We will send them a dumb marketing move certificate in honor of this award!

Four major flaws in this billboard are that there was no logo included, no contact info or website, too much copy and it required too much thinking. Billboards are one of the hardest forms of advertisement out there and this billboard brings that point home. Billboards require the most creative thinking in copy writing. You must be succinct, saying what you need to say in a few words. You have less than 3 seconds to get your point across to your audience, even if they're only driving 35 mph.

Lesson Learned: Keep your copy short, dummy proof it, make it obvious what it is for, and use a visual! Visuals on billboards speak louder than words, unless your words are clear and concise. Here’s an example of a good billboard, which was picked because off the top of my head I didn’t know this logo but the message still came cross loud and clear!

Best, Curmmie