FUD as a Marketing Strategy
This past week in a meeting with a client, they mentioned that some competitors are using FUD as a marketing strategy.
Fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) is a sales or marketing strategy of disseminating negative (and vague) information on a competitor's product. The term originated to describe disinformation tactics in the computer hardware industry and has since been used more broadly. FUD is a manifestation of the appeal to fear.
I'd never heard of that acronym before.
What do you think about the concept of SCARING your customers into a purchase or making a change from one provider to another?
Have you used fear tactics to gain customer favor? Did it work?
Marketing | Deborah Brown | 29 January 2007 |
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By Tim King, January 29, 2007 @ 3:54 pm
As my roots are in the high-tech industries, I’ve heard of FUD (and continue to hear of it) many times. I’ve never tried using it myself, and I’m not likely to… because of how it makes me feel as a customer. If FUD works, it only works once.
If you have something to say about alternatives that don’t work, say it. That’s constructive, as it helps the customer make a decision. Stirring up FUD means you don’t have anything constructive to say. And IMO it results in a lousy buying experience, as well as a lot of hateful feelings.
-TimK
By Chris Brown, January 30, 2007 @ 4:52 am
Anyone who has ever bought insurance, a burglar alarm or even a back up hard drive for their computer is responding to fud.
By Deborah, January 30, 2007 @ 5:26 am
I’m curious. What would you call the advertising drug companies are currently engaged in: they speak to the benefits of the drug with a voice over listing the side effects which appear to be an attempt to scare you from the very thing they are advertising.
By Tim King, February 6, 2007 @ 5:13 am
Usually, FUD is mud-slinging at a competitor’s product. So buying insurance would not be responding to FUD. But even if we include natural risk as “FUD,” buying security is not the same as fearing uncertainty. It is possible to buy the right amount of insurance, for example, for your particular situation. Of course, there are also instances where the government forces us to buy insurance, so it’s possible to buy insurance without even wanting to hedge risk. Now, the drug ads, I always assumed all those disclaimers were there just because the government is making the advertiser put them there. I always ignore them and pretend they say something like, “Remember that this is a powerful drug, so listen carefully to everything your doctor has to say.” However, even if that weren’t true, talking about the side effects builds trust (at the right point in the sales process). Customers are willing to accept almost anything if they know what to expect. And isn’t it better to have a prospect leave because he would be dissatisfied, than to let him become a dissatisfied customer? -TimK