Since the beginning of class one week ago I've started to look more closely at the fact that we are all marketers. Every person who has ever clicked "like" on a Facebook page, joined Netflix and added friends to their cache to share movie ratings, or checked in at a restaurant or business via Foursquare with a statement like, "You gotta check out Restaurant X, best food EVAR!" is obviously participating in marketing. I do these things every day, my Twitter page reads like a WoMM campaign for local Seattle businesses. In fact as each member of this class blogs about Andy Sernovitz book, Word of Mouth Marketing we are subsequently contributing to the WoMM campaign for the book. Each person’s entry could be the summary found inside the book sleeve and helps to generate buzz about author Andy Sernovitz and his renowned colleagues Seth Godin and Guy Kawasaki. In addition to noting highlights from the book such as "The Four Rules of Word of Mouth Marketing," "The Three Reasons People Talk About You," "The Five Ts of Word of Mouth Marketing," "The Word of Mouth Marketing Manifesto," and a myriad of other acronyms, steps and sayings; there are three primary lessons learned.
Consumers Are in Control and Your #1 Marketing Asset
Every person who makes a purchase, comments about a business, forwards an email, recommends a new restaurant or shares a link with a friend is a marketer. If your business isn't capitalizing on this free advertising tool you are loosing revenue and potentially killing your brand image and company. As Sernovitz emphasizes, people are already talking about you and your business the challenge exists in leading, joining and continuing the conversation in order to maintain a sustainable competitive advantage. Word of Mouth Marketing is Consumer-to-Consumer marketing (CtoC) and includes everything you can possibly do to get people talking about your brand. Join the conversation!
UR the UE
You are the user experience. The power of advertising and marketing lies within the consumer and their shared opinions. The company brand is no longer defined by clever marketing agencies and ad campaigns. The consumer defines the brand through regular interaction with the products, services and customer experiences. Allocate a portion of the marketing budget toward WoMM in addition to traditional media mixes that are often limited to, “Advertising, Direct Mail, Promotion and Sales.” Although WoMM is essentially “free” a portion of the marketing budget should be allocated toward customer service. By ensuring positive experiences with the company and sales staff, creating good products and treating each customer as special, positive WoMM will result and yield the highest returns. Additionally, listen to what people are saying about your brand and address the negative feedback. Turn a negative into a positive by responding promptly to complaints and striving to improve upon services and product features identified by your customer, not just your R&D department. As Sernovitz states, “UR the UE...marketing is what you do, not what you say.”
Your Job: Make it Easier for the Message to Spread
After identifying your “talkers” and encouraging what they should talk about; how can you help the message travel? The challenge is ensuring the message doesn’t die out or morph into something entirely different, literally “lost in translation.” Identify a simple, fresh, unique and perhaps even quirky talking topic that is easily portable, then ask people to help you spread it around. It’s such a simple idea and concept but sometimes people forget or fear asking for help. If you’ve properly identified your talkers they should be chomping at the opportunity to spread the message. It also helps your talkers feel like they are privy to inside information and part of the brand's family. Some ideas include putting the words "Tell a friend" or "Pass it on" on your website or at the end of every email. Place a similar request on receipts and signs on doors. A reminder email after every online order also helps to engage talkers. Make it easy to forward emails, video links and blog video links while clearly indicating that the talkers privacy is protected.
We all participate in Word of Mouth Marketing as consumers. By following some of the steps and practices outlined in Andy Sernovitz book Word of Mouth Marketing, you can successfully create positive buzz around your brand and lead the conversation.
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