Cops and Robbers

It’d be fair to say we court controversy here at KashFlow when it comes to marketing and this blog. Setting fire to boxed software, implying the over 60’s are over the hill, saying designers are all crap at business, a public dumping letter to Vodafone,  Being evangelical and preachy about business cards - the list goes on.

But it works for us. The marketing challenge for any small business is standing out from the crowd. Our approach has got us huge amounts of coverage in the trade, national and international press and has had a positive impact on our bottom line.

Not Sexy

We sell accounting software – that’s “accounting” and “software” combined. Not exactly the source material for a sexy  action-packed hollywood blockbuster starring Liv Tyler and Daniel Craig. So a little but of fun and humour brightens things up for all concerned and stops us all boring ourselves silly.

Controversy Around Every Corner

But sometimes controversy lurks where you least expect it.

We recently improved our Settings page to make it easier to use and introduced icons for all the different sub pages. The icon we used for “VAT Settings” is the icon used at the top of this blog post – that of a masked robber.

I posted a link to this on Twitter yesterday, just for something to say,  and within minutes it was retweeted (to the uninitiated, that means other people on Twitter reposted the message to everyone that reads their posts) and was seen by tens of thousands of people. Over 5,000 other people saw it just because the Guardian computer Editor, Jack Schofield,  retweeted it.

I Can Hear The Sirens Coming

I thought that was the end of it, but then in came the cop mentioned in the title with a blog post about it. He’s essentially saying it’s a PR faux pas because VAT isn’t robbery. I’ll copy and paste my response:

I totally agree. It’s an inappropriate image for VAT for the reason you state above. The worst that can be said about VAT is that we’re unpaid tax collectors for HMRC.

I guess the reason for the image is tapping into the general feeling that people are being “robbed by the tax man” – not VAT specifically.

Regardless of how apt the image is, it got retweeted to a few tens of thousands of people on Twitter within minutes and got us free advert on AccManPro. So I can’t see it being a Bad Thing.

I only wish I’d linked to a blog post with it rather than just to the image so we could have converted more of that traffic into sales.

Inappropriate image? Yes
Harmful to anyone? No
Controversial? Perhaps
Useful free marketing? Yes!

       

Tags: Accmanpro, Marketing, Twitter

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 at 8:24 am and is filed under Ramblings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

6 Responses to “Cops and Robbers”

1. Matt Chatterley says:

   July 15, 2009 at 10:16 am

   It certainly raised a chuckle here when we saw it.

   I suspect a lot of people DO feel it’s appropriate, as well (not sure I would go as far as to describe tax as daylight robbery, but hey ho).

   Any other comedy icons planned for the future? :)
2. Dennis Howlett says:

   July 15, 2009 at 11:29 am

   Depends how you look at it. Remember that people who make business software decisions do so across a multitude of criteria. Being fun is all goodness but I’m not so sure about this. I don’t say it is a PR faux pas – those are your words – but I’d be concerned *as a professional* in being aligned with an organization that is implying the message I interpreted. Especially as it is based on a factual nonsense.
3. Andy says:

   July 15, 2009 at 11:34 am

   Dear Sir,

   Having given this some serious thought here are some further icon suggestions:

   - A snail to represent stamps and postage costs (snail-mail)
   - A microscope for the accountant fees (as they go through everything)
   - Maybe have another bank robber in a different colour uniform for the bank
   - Pizza icon for office food and drinks entertainment
   - And finally, a glass of white wine spritzer for Public Relations costs
   - Oh yeah, and a black hole for corporate entertainment costs

   We are available for further consultation should it be needed!
4. Phil Richards says:

   July 15, 2009 at 11:51 am

   Well thanks for the post Duane, I must admit to not having seen your Tweet but picking it off AccManPro.
   I do follow what your up to, and am interested in watching your “jouney” in all this, I can see you getting some great publicity from it and I assume some sales.
   I can see ” it works for you”, and admire the way you execute your PR, and enjoy reading it. IMHO, at the moment, this type of marketing does not sit comfortably with me at all for our firm of Chartered Accountants, and I wonder sometime whether the risk out weighs the benefits.
   SAAS suppliers need credibility,trust and faith from their clients, I sometimes wonder whether your marketing damages that ? Who knows Duane, I dont for sure ! Time will surely tell, but in the meantime I am happy on the fence.
   Phil
5. mang says:

   July 15, 2009 at 7:40 pm

   If you truly believed the VAT man was a burglar, and defended your opinion whether rationally or not, and stated that it brings you good PR, then it’s fine – sensible people can respect you regardless of whether they agree with you.

   However, if you admit that the image is inappropriate, it shows that you say things that you don’t believe because the controversy brings you free PR, and well, it just feels disagreable, cynical, calculated.

   I do like the way you use Twitter and forum posts for the PR side-effects, but it’s got to be done with integrity.
6. Michael says:

   July 21, 2009 at 4:22 pm

   Quite appropriate. All tax is armed robbery. If you don’t believe me, try not paying it. Everyone knows this and has done for ever. Tax collectors were despised in the bible. It’s also unavoidable for most people, and essential for most stable societies. But that doesn’t change what it is.