Trouble Selling? Controversy Sells...

by Manny Fernandez

Having a little difficulty grabbing some attention for your products or website? Well, have you considered that you may be playing it too cautious to be noticeable. Let's face it, people who attract attention aren't typically the shy reserved and unadorned kind, they are the more extroverted and rambunctious crowd.

So, is your product too staid to really go after the traffic on the web, and generate genuine interest and enthusiasm? Well, then you might want to think about trying The "Madonna Effect".

The "Madonna Effect"
Well known singer Madonna, a marketing genius in my point of view, sold millions of videos, music CD's and books based on controversy. When MTV refused to show a highly anticipated video from Madonna, millions of people could not wait to get their hands on that video, the sales were unheard of. Was this by chance? I think not.

If you find yourself shying away from controversy, this is one area you genuinely need to explore it could bring you swarms of free Traffic. It doesn't even have to be your own created controversy, it can be someone else's controversy, and all you're doing is contributing to the conversation.

For instance, another example, when eBay first introduced it's policy to not allow infoproducts on their auction listings unless vendors delivered a physical product, like a CD or DVD, it created a huge controversy around the Internet.

While others where screaming about the collapse of their business models, there were more astute business people who took advantage of the opportunity to get some free advertiseing by offering products to assist sellers in transforming their business model so they could continue to sell on eBay.

No matter what side you were on, whether it was a negative or a possitive policy, the fact is that the amount of controversy that it produced, provided a perfect opportunity to ride a wave of free publicity just by helping people overcome some issues.

If you Join the Circus be sure to stay in the Center Ring
So, yes, you do want to constantly look out for opportunities that come with issues of great controversy. They uaually have a short window, but during that window, you can get instant product and name recognition, if you play your cards right.

What you don't want to do is pick a side and alienate half your customers. There is a tight rope you must walk if you dare to chase the lion that escaped from it's cage. You want to engage the controversy, but you don't want your name associated with negatives of the entire thing too.

And, certainly there are some controversies that are simply "too hot to handle", even though you may think you are that hot.

Don't Light A Match In The Wind
Unless you are Planned Parenthood, the odds of an Online business wanting to engage in an abortion controversy is almost un-heard of. It's just a controversy that is extremely volatile and can end up burning people out instead of creating enthusiasm and genuine interest in the subject topic. So, engage controversies that are interesting, have some cha cha cha, but avoid the ones that are going to create problems for your public image or alienate too many of your customers.

If you do find that you've done that by accident, retract your support immediately, submit an apology to all your customers, regardless of the circumstances, and move on.

So, it does take a bit of "Ba.. (wait perhaps that word would not be appropriate here, but you know what I mean) to engage in controversy, but the strategy can wake up your business overnight, if you do it properly. If you do that, you can try the "Madonna effect", and learn how to position your products to make money with a wave of free Targeted website Traffic.

© Manny Fernandez, All rights reserved.
President of Easy Biz Central. Dedicated in making your home business easier. Offering Tools, Services, Products, web design/development, hosting and much more. Join for Free and receive 50,000 visitors to a site of your choice. http://easybizcentral.com

Submitted on Sep 26, 2009