“There is only one thing worse than being talked about, that is not being talked about”
-Oscar Wilde

Yesterday I heard Andy Sernovitz speak about word of mouth marketing – one of the most imaginative ways to attract customers. Just like we want to be friends with and around people we like, we buy from companies we like.

How do you practice Word of Mouth Marketing? Give people a reason to talk about you and make it easy for them to talk about you. After all, good marketing is starting and continuing a conversation.

How many blogs does Google maintain about their products? Over 90! They keep pinging us with messages about updates, features, innovative ways to use their products, new products, and partnerships. The media and bloggers keep writing about them, even small things that would otherwise be boring – like that one more city has been added to Street View.

Many times the companies I provide blogging services for want to stop at some point. When things are going well they wonder why they are spending the money. That’s like saying to someone, our relationship is going so well I don’t think we need to continue talking. If you stop talking you effectively end the relationship. Andy referred to your company blog as “your private pipeline to your best fans.”

Here are some other points to help your Word of Mouth Marketing efforts:

Boring Costs More
My favorite message is that you pay more if you’re boring. You pay for advertising; you pay people to write about you. If you’re interesting and/or unique people will sell your product for you. They will talk if you make it easier for them to share information about you (blogs and email are made to share).

I read some more advice about this from the 37 Signals blog (via Seth Godin): “Provide something of value. The first step is recognizing that marketing is asking for someone else’s time and attention. You need to provide something worthy…when you educate or entertain other people, they’ll pay attention. If you bore them, they won’t.

How to Come up with Good Ideas – Ask
I asked Andy after the presentation how you get the best ideas on Word of Mouth Marketing and he said – just ask. That means asking your customers: on blogs, suggestion boards, by email, on forums, etc. Ask what you can do to help them feel appreciated.

Accuquote asked their life insurance customers what they could do to keep them happy. Customers responded saying they wanted a phone call once a year to review their coverage. They felt like they were forgotten about and that they were paying for something that seemed like a black hole. The company assumed people wouldn’t want to be contacted but they did. When the company responded they got another bonus – people often wanted to upgrade their policies. That’s what they learned by asking.

Assign a Web Ambassador

To keep the conversation going you need to join in and participate. He suggested assigning someone in your company to be an ambassador. Have them search the web and respond to questions, introduce themselves, thank people for their comments, and address issues.

Bloggers especially love to write about a company and get a response from them (I still remember my Fat Wallet post and their immediate response and care. I followed up my criticism with a post about the goodwill Fatwallet created with me by responding). Since blogs show the most recent posts first the positive post will show up higher in the search engines and on the blog itself.

Hope to get your feedback on how you have benefited from Word of Mouth Marketing in your business. What are you talking about lately? What companies stand out to you?

Comments

Moderator:

• Brett Tabke

Speakers:

• Louise Rijk, Co-founder and Vice-President of Marketing and Sales, Advanced Media Productions, Inc.
• Greg Hartnett, President, Best of The Web

Louise Rijk, the co-founder and VP of Marketing and Sales, Advanced Media Productions, Inc is speaking first.

Definition of WOM Marketing definition:

• Oldest form of marketing
• WOM is when consumers provide honest information to other consumers
• WOM is driven by large social networks.
• Organic WOM is when people are naturally happy about the product/service
• Satisfied customers will praise you
• Good customer feedback benefits WOM

Amplified WOM. This is when marketers launch campaigns in order to spread word of mouth. With social media, it’s easier to build communities around your brand. If you motivate the right group, you can become an evangelist. Advertising helps in creating buzz.

How does WOM marketing work?

• People need to be given a reason to talk about certain products or services
• Driven by customer satisfaction, two-way dialog and transparency
• Online discussions incorporate tools that aid in spreading ideas via social networks

The success of WOM is based on how many people you reach and not how many you can convert.

Recruiting Influencers:

• 10% of them are those who can reach a lot of people
• 90% of them are moderate influencers. They reach a smaller number but there’s more

Four steps that infuencers go through:

• Awareness
• Research
• Personal experience
• Recommendations

1. Begin by listening to what people are saying about your products online. This gives unfiltered experiences. Available are listening services such as BuzzLogic, who return actionable items for you
2. Remember to tap into your in-house customer service. This way you find your loyal customers and reach out to them
3. Build something that makes people talk. Focus on authority influencers first and each of their communities. Be honest to the community and engage it
4. Differences in Social Media Marketing:

   Aspect of WOM marketing

   Unlike WOM marketing, this is online. It can spread by itself without the use of influencers. Perhaps sometimes it is not brand relevant. Message must be outrageous and not just have a great product that inspires excitement.

The latest trend shows big brand marketers shifting from testing WOM marketing to incorporating it into fully integrated marketing campaigns.

Success of WOM campaign depends on:

• Supported of traditional paid media buys
• Greater paid media spend equals greater online buzz
• 64 percent of moderate influencers perform online research after seeing offline promotions, however, only 30 percent will transition in the reverse
• TV is still a good way to reach influencers albeit being fragmented

If you plan to combine WOM marketing and traditional advertising, it needs massive planning, integrated execution and comprehensive effectiveness measurement. This has to be long term and you have to stick with it.

Reaching the Influencers:

• Identify
• Motivate
• Sustain motivation
• Track and Measure

Case Study: One time her company created a campaign for a client. It began as a free offer then moved in to social media sites like Flickr and YouTube. They looked out for other influencers as well, bloggers in the space, etc. The company then picked 50 influencers and then asked them to complete some other step in order to pass the buzz along–blogs, photo projects in Flickr and videos to YouTube.

In order to send ripples you have to carry through the whole process.

Next up is Greg Hartnett, President of Best of The Web who says his company succedded thanks to WOMM. Hence, he’ll use his company as a case study.

Suggested Reading: Word of Mouth Marketing by Andy Sernovitz and Creating Customer Evangelists by Ben McConnell.

Know your influencers. Are they happy/ eager employees, fans, part-timers, pros or online talkers etc.

What will influencers talk about?

• Create a Great Product or Service. Eg: Google, they grew entirely by WOM
• Add Specials or Discounts
• Extraordinary Customer Service
• Partner with a Charity

How do you get influencers to start talking?

• Ask for referrals
• Send Newsletters/Email
• Social Network effect
• Blogs
• The power of swag

Final thoughts:

• Be cool and edgy and avoid trampling on things people are sensitive about
• Greg suggests Google Blog Search and Technorati to find out what people are talking about him
• Engage in the conversation
• Honesty and transparency are key
• While in a thread, help around
• If you only sell, noone will cares
• Start your own blog. Ask someone established to comment about you in other industry blogs
• Be part of the conversation

Important pointers:

• Foremost, it’s about satisfied customers
• Work with respect and ethics
• Thank people who are helpful
• Under promise and over deliver
• Raise the bar every single time

Comments

“One-to-one communications make the difference in the B2B industry,” says eMarketer Senior Analyst Lisa Phillips. “Word-of-mouth can be generated from trade events such as shows and conferences. The Internet helps to sustain marketing momentum.”

Internet channels also look like they’re playing a strong part in influence business buying decisions. Who’s influenced by what they see on the web?

• Online magazines influence 36.5%
• Search engine natural listing 24.1%
• Technology blogs 19.6%
• Media/analyst blogs 10%
• Paid search ads 6.8%
• Vendor blogs 4.6%
• Unsolicited email 4%
• RSS feeds 3.6%
• Podcasts 2.7%

Seems to demonstrate that you can’t buy influence, it has to be earned from a third-party.

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