Tuesday, June 28, 2011

WOM- thoughts

The first four chapters of the book were at the same time enlightening and common sense. I felt as if the content was very intuitive, yet at the same time, spelled out in a way that I haven't heard before. As someone who very heavily relies on customer reviews when buying just about ANYTHING now (even a $7 tube of mascara warranted a 30 min long review hunt), the principles presented by Sernovitz really resonated with me. It really is interesting how our generation is bearing witness to in some ways, the death of copy writing and traditional advertising. (I can't say that I think it's a bad thing).

What really helped put some of the ideas introduced in the book into perspective was the ample use of examples. Stories I will remember for a long time include the Jones Soda (my group's company) crazy flavor campaign, and the Freshbooks method of engaging and forming relationships with customers. As I finished the first part of the book, I couldn't help but wonder if the only method to initiate word of mouth was excellent customer service or a vastly superior product that would generate buzz on its own. After reading chapter 5 and the methods one can use to at least start (but not necessarily sustain) WOM, I felt like I had a clearer picture about the principles of WOM marketing. I appreciated that Sernovitz pointed out that not all customers are "talkers", and highlighted several ways to identify and encourage these "talkers".

As I was reading, I began thinking about my own "talker" characteristics. At first reflection, I wouldn't consider myself to be a quintessential "talker, but as I began to consider my facebook activity, I began to recognize some of my regular fb activities such as checking in to restaurants and commenting on if I liked the food or not served as a pretty powerful WOM tool. Most of the times I check into a location, I get at least a few comments or questions about the restaurant or business. Seems like fb is proving to be a powerful WOM tool in more ways than I had previously thought....


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