Reverse Psychology Marketing Online

In the previous post we discussed what reverse psychology marketing is all about. The question that it poses is how does reverse psychology marketing affect the cyber branding scenario.

The online medium is ideal for effectively adapting reverse psychology marketing strategies. Remember that the core of reverse psychology marketing is cost efficiencies and using a hub system to dissipate the brand. Promoting a brand by an online presence if done right can be more cost effective in the long run.
Online social networking sites and blogs are the key tools to start this snowballing effect. If people start talking about a product on these sites it is likely that public curiosity will be aroused and a chain reaction will ensue.

The entire concept of Web 2.0 is a manifestation of reverse psychology marketing online. Sites that rely on user generated content act as online hubs similar to the opinion leaders in the real world. Having customer post positive experiences with a brand on sites like Digg and Stumble Upon will naturally lead to more hits on the brands main website.

The brands official website replaces the real world store in such a strategy. The focus on such brand sites should be usability and practicality and not necessarily bells and whistles, this will ensure more return visitors. The ability for the user to interact with the site is another hook that draws return visitors. The fact that reverse psychology marketing plays down heavy traditional ad spends means an online reverse psychology branding exercise should do likewise eliminating spending on banner ad placements by affiliate linking and SEM strategies.

Some brands seek to engineer such visits by writing general interest articles on a number of free article hosting sites like Ezine articles. The article usually has a link to a specific site at the end for further information. This however can not be considered to be an active reverse psychology strategy due to the time and effort it takes and the fact it is more push than pull.

This is merely the tip of the iceberg as to how the online medium can be used for reverse psychology marketing activities. The possibilities that the medium poses is endless.

Reverse Psychology Marketing

The face of marketing is changing. Brands have to work harder and harder to ensure that they retain their customers. We have seen the dawn of hybrid shopping patterns where people purchase exclusive brands only to mix them with products of lesser everyday brands. There are now no fixed demographic or psychographic segments that a brand can target alone without losing potential of other segments. Customers are exhibiting the ‘good enough’ effect where they are willing to try out a new brand because they feel existing brands are charging premiums without enough differentiation. This in turn has lead to the rise of flourishing in-store brands.

Reverse psychology marketing is the new buzz on the street. Unlike traditional marketing models that primarily focus on a push strategy, reverse psychology marketing is all about pull marketing and customer discovery. Why people are talking about reverse psychology marketing is the fact that it is not only more cost efficient than traditional marketing but seen to be more effective in the long run as well.

Like traditional marketing reverse psychology marketing focuses on the product. However the emphasis here is the need for a more cost efficient product. Instead a focus is on creating better buyer networks and buyer chains ensue the product is distributed successfully.

Products no longer require large marketing budgets to be sold; instead the brand relies on a hub model where it seeds the brands amongst key influencers in society. These people or publics endorse the product which in turn has a massive trickle down effect chain reaction. These hubs are opinion leaders, often of iconic status in society constantly in the limelight such as Ophrah Winfrey.

A classic example of how reverse psychology marketing is energy drink Red Bull. Red Bull was promoted by having the product seeded amongst disc jockeys, bartenders, college students and formula one. The effectiveness of such a strategy lies in the fact that you don’t run after customers, you let them come to you – to discover what your brand has to offer. The strategy is potent because customers are growing weary of constant marketing spiel being thrown at them from every angle.

What Sites May Come - When Death Means Business

Few years back, a movie, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani, was released. Though a flop at the time, due to the competition it faced from Hrithik Roshan’s Kaho Naa…Pyaar Hai; which was also released at the same time, the movie tried to convey a concept that was way ahead of its time. The movie brought to light a unique side of marketing and the role of media. It was ahead of its time in portraying how the TV channels and media use everything for commercial purposes. The film actually depicts live coverage of an execution ceremony, complete with interviews of the hangman. The media company is even seen to ensure the prisoner, endorse some brands. Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani created a lot of confusion and anger amongst its audience and eventually, this novell concept was not appreciated by many people.

A Pakistani burial service started an online service, few days back. Through this service, people who are staying outside Pakistan can now bid farewell to their deceased relatives, by logging into this website. Each individual can login by their unique login ID, and the individual can see the burial service, the place of the final resting place of their loved one, from some other country.
How the above two examples are connected? Ironically, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani makes a dig at sponsorships and how television medium has been taken over by multi-crore companies. The film itself was a platform for promoting various brands like Swatch, Hyundai, and VIP etc. Television is yesterdays story; today it is all about internet, online media, social networking. So, when this Pakistan based burial service went online, it is easily understandable, that after few months, after this service gains recognition, other organizations will start propounding and promoting brands and services related to burial services, online. This might be as affiliate links or as separate e-commerce ventures.

For example some entrepreneur may start a flower service using this platform, by promising to deliver the fresh flowers at the burial ground. This need not even be a one off affair. A subscription offer might be provided where for example, each Wednesday, the company will deliver the fresh flowers to the particular grave, for a discounted fee. And people, all around the globe can enjoy this by using YouTube or similar streaming video service. And if some user of this service wanted it to be online, he/she can go to Second Life, and can virtually create it, to show his/her fellow “Residents”, the resting place of the loved one.
“THERE IS NO ESCAPE IN THIS WEIRED WORLD NOT EVEN AFTER DEATH”

Dont Wait for that Computer to Start

Memsistor, the missing link in Basic Electronics. Based on a theory proposed by LEON CHUA (1970) this device can alter the way we use our Computers, Notebooks and similar devices. Chua proposed that, apart from the three basic elements of passive circuit-inductor, capacitor and resistor; there needs to be a fourth one, a MEMORY RESISTOR or MEMSISTOR.

With the help of Memsistor, a computer can boot up instantly, eliminating the need for users to wait at all. The best part is the computer will restart from the same state from where the user turned it off. In today’s computer, the DRAM, or Dynamic random access memory, performs the same task, but only when the system is powered on. Once the system is switched off, the DRAM, loses all the data, registry allocation and address of the programs stored in it. When the user switches on the computer, subsequently the DRAM has to fetch the details of the program from the hard disk. This process can be time consuming, depending on the computers configuration. Memsistor, now allows users to power off their computer any time allowing them to resume their work, without any delay. This is a very interesting application of Memsistor. This technology is still under research and development, and the scientists at HP have shown great interest at the potential it offers.

This technology has numerous practical applications and benefits. First and foremost, users don’t have to wait, for the system to boot up. This means that in third world countries where there is a possibility of power failure, users don’t have to worry about losing data, as everything resides in the Memsistor allowing users to continue where they left off once the power comes back on. For movie lovers who watch movies on their computer can resume watching the movie from the same location, from where they stopped the movie without having to start from the scratch. This mean he no longer has to restart the media player, search for the media file, play and drag the progress bar to the label where he was early. Gamers will benefit, as high system requirement, low virtual memory, or software bugs, can cause the system to automatically turn off as a preventive measure. With the new system the gamer will eliminate the need to have to start the game from the last checkpoint or last save, which otherwise can be very irritating.

On the downside, is the memory size requirement of a Memsistor. According to theory, the Memsistor will remember all the data address and the last location of the program, so that it can restart immediately. If this is the case, unless the user erases the earlier addresses using some command or by some method, the amount of data stored on the Memsistor will be huge.

In conventional computers, the DRAM only remembers those addresses, which are running at a time, so that the program can be accessed faster. However, once the program is closed or the system is turned off, all the addresses and location are erased from the DRAM. Today, the minimum requirement of a conventional computer is around 2 GB Ram to 4 GB of Ram. So what will be the size for a Memsistor? We have to wait three to four years for the answer. In concept it sounds really good and if it proves a success then, then the world of computing will change…again.