As I suggested in a recent PPCHero.com interview (“Targeting Google Only Reminds the Consumer That Google is Number 1”), Ask.com made some bad promotional decisions with their “algorithm” campaign.

Even though they have dropped the algorithm message recently, they still need another basic marketing lesson. Telling the consumer you are not number 1, only reminds them they should use #1. Not you.

Clearly Ask.com is targeting Google in their latest ad. Ask.com needs to stop trying to be Google.

However, this is not to say that Ask.com can not be bigger then Google. They most certainly can, but not by trying to be Google. Google is Google, so Ask.com can not be Google. You can not go back and change the past. Currently, you have nothing to offer that they do not have already.

Consumers don’t remember #2 or # 3. Only #1.

A great marketing book is "Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind". Authors Al Ries and Jack Trout ask some interesting questions:

“What’s the largest-selling book ever published? – The Bible” What’s the second largest-selling book ever published? … Who Knows? … If you didn’t get into the mind of your prospects first, then you have a positioning problem.”

Ask.com has a positioning problem. They have to find something to be first in. Otherwise, there is first place … and everyone else.

** Find more articles from John W Ellis at http://www.johnwellis.com/

Labels: ASK, john ellis