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?