What Can YAPPY HOUR Teach Us About Branding?

"When you're first-of-your-kind, you have no competition." - Sam Horn

Quick. How are you different or better than your competitors?

Why should customers, employers, investors choose YOU you vs. the other guys?

If you want to stand out from the crowd (vs. get lost in the crowd), you've got to have a crystal clear competitive edge.

If you don't, you'll blend in.

And blending in is for Cuisinarts, not for companies, careers, consultants or campaigns.

Simply said, when you're one of a kind, you go to the head of the class.

You become THE top choice of your decision-makers.

Here's a quick example of how a unique positioning can help you pop out of your pack.

A restaurant was losing money because no one was coming to their happy hour.

Why? Well, there were dozens of other restaurants in the area all offering happy hours.

No wonder they were losing money. They were like everyone else. And being common is a prescription for getting overlooked and undervalued.

The restaurant manager kept looking for something customers wanted and needed but couldn’t find anywhere else.

He finally had a lightbulb moment one evening when a customer tied his dog up outside while he came in for a cold one.

Aha! Why not offer a special for pet-owners who were out walking Fido and Fifi after their pooches had been cooped up all day while their owners were at work?

The restaurant manager proposed they put out water bowls, give out dog treats and offer discounts on dog-inspired beer. (Don't laugh, it's a thing. Double Dog, Ugly Pug, Doggie Style, Hair of the Dog, The Dog Ate My Homework.)

This was a good idea but what could they call this petworking opportunity?

Well, run happy hour through the alphabet and see what you come up with.

Appy Hour, Bappy Hour, Cappy Hour, Dappy Hour. Eventually you get to Yappy Hour!

Bada boom. What a fun name.

You may be thinking, “Big deal, so it’s a clever name.”

You bet it’s a big deal. The Washington Post wrote an article about the Alexandria, VA Holiday Inn's wildly popular (and profitable) Yappy Hour.

That article was picked up by dozens of newspapers across the country which generated FREE nationwide publicity that drove year-round traffic and generated impressive revenue.

All for a few minutes of brainstorming.

If your priority project isn't making as much money as it could or should, chances are it's getting overlooked because it doesn't POP!

Your goal is to come up with your own YAPPY HOUR - something intriguing and unique people want and need and can't find - so people are intrigued and curious.

One way to do that is to use this Alphabetizing technique from my POP! book.

1. Write down ten words you use to describe your priority project.

2. Now, run each of those words through the alphabet, changing the sound of the first syllable to match the corresponding letter.

3. Look/listen for a NERD (New Word) that gets your eyebrows up or makes you laugh. If it elicits a visceral reaction from you, it's likely to elicit a visceral reaction from others.

4. Next, go to a domain registrar site (like GoDaddy) to see if the .com is available for the "normal" fee of $12-18 a year. If so, GRAB IT to protect it, then start using your NERD in your marketing, ads, website copy, blog headlines, etc. to capture people's attention.

If we want to stand out in today's sea of INFObesity, we need to use our creativity to come up with something people haven't heard/seen before.

The goal is for people to want to know more which means we just got what we cared about in their mental door.

Let the word play begin. And remember, giving your priority a first-of-its-kind name/tagline that helps it break out instead of blend in isn't just word play, it's word profits.

Do you have favorite business names, book titles or marketing taglines that caught your attention? Please share them. It's time for our 2021 POP! Hall of Fame and any winning entry of a nomination that makes our TOP 10 List gets an autographed book of their choice.