Simplicity, Engagement and Letting Go

Simplicity.What with all the time (not to mention money) that I'm commiting to getting an advanced business education, some of the things Andy Sernovitz says is almost a slap in the face. Which is not to say that he's wrong, simply that, as complicated as marketing can be (there wouldn't be so many classes about it if it weren't complicated) Word of Mouth Marketing is founded in simplicity. The more complicated and convoluted a WOM campaign is, the less effective it will be. It's pretty contradictory to the way an MBA student thinks of business, but makes perfect sense. WOM is predicated on speed of transfer. Make it stand out and make it simply to relay.

Engagement. Old-school marketing models are about blasting your message at consumers. Force your jingle onto the radio or TV enough and people start humming it and looking for a Safelite when they need to "repair" or "replace." But a bad customer experience can inspire pretty negative associations with your jingle if you don't do something about it. The engagement part of WOM means addressing the commentary of your customers, good and bad. No longer does the business just throw advertising at people and cross their fingers (if they want to be successful at least) but must be actively engaged with customers, being proactive in providing buzzworthy topics, but more importantly, but listening and responding to customers. That need for engagement is intimately tied to my final take away, Letting Go.

Letting Go. This is a frightening prospect for any business, but it is the new reality. Businesses want to control their marketing message and that is still possible, to a point. But the internet is out there, bloggers are out there and they will write what they want to write. The control that the business does have is the ability to address customers concerns. If someone had a bad customer experience and wrote about it, it's a chance to transform that into a positive experience. The marketing professional has less ability to control the message, but she now has more ability to address the perceptions. She can't control the ship, but she can certainly nudge it this way or that i an effort to keep things pointed in the right direction. Ironically, this gives the marketer more control because she has more up-to-date information on how the business or products are being perceived and thus a better opportunity to correct problems and address concerns.