When a business or corporation finds itself in financial challenges, it must be creative in finding ways to dig themselves out of it. Whether that’s increasing prices, offering give-aways or reducing their workforce, they must find some sort of avenue to save money and stay in the black.
Being creative? Is that just a way to avoid good old-fashioned hard work? Can anything take the place of solid, applicable, good business principles when it comes to growing and sustaining a company?
One thing that many businesses do in an effort to increase sales is to lend a name to their product or service. As in the recent case with KFC (YUM Products Brand), the company decided to ask Oprah to lend her name to them as they launched a new product line of grilled chicken. Yes, that’s right, GRILLED chicken. The fried-foods powers are dabbling in the healthy eating approach. And, they may have Oprah to thank for it.
How effective will this be for the chain? It’s hard to say right now. They are experiencing growing pains and still working out some of the kinks. It’s simply overwhelming for sales when a celebrity, any effective celebrity, endorses the product and says, “I, too, like it!”. Can your company benefit from such a boost?
When I first began my speaking and communications consulting business, I enlisted the help of a well-known public speaker in my niche audience. I had them to write articles for my newsletter and asked them to put their name on some of my marketing material. The result? People loved my work and wanted my services too. Only thing was, was that they wanted to get to the name-endorser MORE than they wanted my services. I was a victim of celebrity overload!
How can your business effectively use the name or services of a celebrity or well-known person in your market? Should corporations rely on the celebrity to boost sales, or do they risk getting swamped under all of the attention the celebrity brings and NOT in the product or service that they’re offering? What do you think?
I am a freelance writer, blogger and professional motivational speaker. I primarily focus on business content, offering my clients strategic marketing strategies for their businesses. I have been an entrepreneur for over 13 years, after having worked extensively in corporate America.
