Word of Mouth Marketing -- 3 Most Important Things

The three most important things I learned from Word of Mouth Marketing by Andy Sernovitz are:

1. The power is back with the customer. I know that customers have always had some power; however, in the past, we haven't had a way to vocalize our thoughts/feelings about a company that other customers could see and use as a reference. In the past (before the internet), the only way to communicate our displeasure was to either purchase or not purchase their "stuff." WOM did exist pre-internet as people would tell friends about products/services they loved/hated; but we could only reach our friends. Now we can reach everyone which is quite empowering.

2. Word of Mouth Marketing is cheap with huge rewards. It's also undervalued. It's hard to show and measure WOM marketing and it is often missed in marketing budgets so the ROI is also missed. A lot of companies undervalue WOM marketing and seem to view it as a fringe benefit. The book made it very clear that the companies that embrace WOM marketing have a clear and distinct advantage over other companies that discount it's impact on their bottom line.

3. Negative feedback can be turned into positive feedback with the right response. I've viewed this personally on Alaska Airlines Facebook page where a customer had a bad customer experience. The response from AA was almost instant (within minutes) and offered a personal e-mail address and direct phone number to address the problem. I've never had a bad experience with Alaska but was immediately impressed with how active they are with their Facebook fans and customers. They even offered to address the problem of another customer who missed a plane because they did not show up to the airport with adequate time to get through security. The customer was upset and Alaska offered the same thing (personal contact information to address the issue). What was interesting about that post was other customers (Facebook fans) started responding standing up for AA and informing the customer that it was probably their fault they missed the plane, not Alaska's. Even the most negative review can be turned into a positive experience with a prompt and helpful response. This ties back into the overall emphasis that good customer service will give "talkers" something to talk about even if there is nothing else to talk about. Good customer service is quite refreshing in this day and age.

Overall, I thought the book was a great and easy read. Any person can use this book to help their business and the practicality of all the exercises was impressive. It's not another book that offers lots of theories with no practical advice on how to use them.