Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Andy Murray reveals Internet marketing strategy
Andy Murray appears to have split the nation; in spite of winning his Wimbledon match against Richard Gasquet to get closer to the Wimbledon title than any Brit in years, there are still people who don't want him to win. Take a look at one of his videos on YouTube for instance and you'll find plenty of negative comment about him.
This morning on BBC Radio Five Live, Nikky Campbell said that the station had received several text messages from people who just don't want Murray to win. So, here we have someone who is clearly an accomplished tennis player - currently 11th out of 1,856 ranked players worldwide - who people don't want to be a winner. Why?
The answer comes from Simon Cowell, the TV personality and leading music producer. He often says in shows like American Idol or The X Factor that an individual has "the likeability factor". Sometimes, even experts like Mr Cowell cannot explain what makes someone outstanding at their job - it's just that we like them.
And guess what, Andy Murray does not have the likeability factor. He is grumpy, has negative body language, constantly uses negative words and his tone of voice is always downbeat. He just exudes negativity - except on the Centre Court on Monday when his excitement at winning every point turned to expressions that seemed like vitriolic anger. Perhaps another reason not to like him.
What does this mean for running an Internet business? It means you have to find that magic that Simon Cowell talks about - likeability. It is well known that we tend to do business with people we like; sales staff in car dealers, for instance, spend most of their time attempting to be liked rather than trying to sell a car - the result is they sell the car.
Online that's difficult; you don't have long to engage or build up a relationship with your customers. That's especially true if your web site is not likeable. So how does your web site gain the likeability factor and avoid the "Murray factor"? Easy - inject real personality into it. Make it personal - people will engage with YOU rather than with an anonymous web site. Having a real person to connect with rather than links like "contact us" will boost your business; include photos of staff - give your web site a human face and your online business will improve. Otherwise, you will not have the likeability factor and no matter how successful your business is in terms of market share or offline sales, that will not so easily translate online. You'll be like Andy Murray with people knowing about you, but not that interested in your success.
Labels: internet, internet marketing, internet psychology
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Readers' Comments:
At
July 03, 2008 4:32 PM 
Kevin said…
At
July 03, 2008 4:48 PM 
Graham Jones said…
Thanks for your comment Kevin. I agree, he has been given a bit of a harsh time, but even though he might not be mature enough to understand the impact of his comments a few years ago - he is surrounded by a management team who ought to know.
Also, Tim Henman also suffered to some extent from the "boring" tag. The press also didn't like him at times because of that.
Whether your name is Tim or Andy though, what they demonstrate is that likeability is important. You'll find it hard to see much negative coverage about people who are likeable. The press may try to stir up something negative, but it rarely sticks because of the public likeability factor. It's the same with web sites - make your web site likeable - by having a personality - and you are halfway there.
I'm not a huge tennis fan and I'm not a big fan of tennis however most of the negative press he got was from one comment he made a few years ago about how he would support any team which were playing England. Clearly that put him in a very bad light down in England as up in Scotland his press is very positive.
If you look at the comments on youtube you will see most of them are calling him a 'Scottish W**ker' etc so I assume a lot of this is because of that statement.
Don't get me wrong, he is grumpy and isn't as likeable as some other players however Henmen was too. Henman came across as incredibly boring and unexciting yet the press loved him because he was the British Number 1. I say the press, it's the tabloids that start these kind of things.
The english sun will criticize someone like murrary for his offensive comment about england yet the scottish sun will pat him on the back for it. They are simply stirring things up for the sake of a story.
Andy Murrary was incredibly stupid for making those comments but you need to remember he made them when he was about 18. Not making excuses but don't think he was mature enough to realise what would follow. He certainly didn't expect the backlash he has received.