Last year, Marketing Week claimed that just 14% of regular (print, radio, television) advertising campaigns had any effect on consumers who are now too savvy to fall for the sales pitch. Whilst many household names have immersed themselves in high-profile web and mobile-based campaigns, it's no surprise that some have gone back to good old human verbal interaction.
Global brands such as Sony, Nestle and Volkswagen have all focussed on generating a buzz from the bottom up in recent years, sending samples of their latest products to 'agents', ordinary citizens who have signed up as guinea pigs through services such as BzzAgent. This particular matchmaking organisation is becoming an emerging force in modern day advertising, boasting just under 500,000 agents participating in 430 product programmes both here and in North America.
The theory behind BzzAgent is straightforward. Agents are randomly assigned samples to road test (usually theirs to keep) on the condition that they provide feedback to the manufacturer, and more importantly, discuss the product with friends, family, and anyone else who will listen. It's a fairly transparent form of marketing; agents are asked to make it clear that they are participating in a campaign, and no money changes hands. The aim is to put the fledging product into social circulation, and while the manufacturers anticipate glowing reports from their guinea pigs, agents are more than welcome to speak negatively if the product was less than impressive.
Cynics would say that standard human conversation is not the place for commercial gain, but a study amongst BzzAgent's users showed that 75% of people spoken to by an agent didn't mind the association with big business, as they trusted the agent's opinion. Theoretically, once the product has hit the stores, a buzz will have already spread among consumers, complimenting the simultaneous print/television/web-based campaigns.
Baffled small business owners around the Sussex region are probably wondering how any of this conglomerate talk applies to their modest marketing budgets. Admittedly, few local firms are likely to branch outside of their immediate environment and give away their precious stock all the time that maximising income is the main priority, and this is something that BzzAgent themselves recognise.
However, what the scheme does demonstrate to the small business world is the benefit of applying the growing word of mouth marketing (WOMM) movement to your firm, arming your existing and potential customers with something exciting to talk about.
At a time when our minds are a mush of slogans and jingles, interesting messages from reliable sources that rise above the average daily bombardment of rubbish do travel on a word of mouth level – and shaping those messages to contain all of your key information can be the difference between merely existing, and expanding your customer reach. Done correctly, WOMM offers small businesses a cheap, effective and generally more fun and fulfilling version of advertising.
So how does it work? Fortunately, WOMM has something of a guru in Andy Sernovitz, who has even written a book all about it. According to Sernovitz, successful WOMM boils down to a two-part philosophy: giving the people a reason to talk about you, and making that conversation easy to take place.
Are you remarkable?
'Giving the people a reason to talk about you' can be translated as 'showing customers why your business is a cut above the rest'. In today's world, people are conditioned to expect professional and efficient customer service, regardless of whether you are a national name or a local enterprise. As a result, it's natural for consumers to vocalise their frustrations when their experience wasn't so enjoyable, but the more positive dealings tend to be forgotten because they are simply expected. So the challenge for small business owners is to create a customer experience that moves from mere satisfaction to something remarkable, which ultimately stays in the brain and is worthy of being passed on to others.
Andy Sernovitz goes on to describe WOMM as "great customer service that earns customer respect… and fantastic products that get customers talking about you". I experienced WOMM first-hand a year or so back when a friend recommended Firebox to me. My friend was impressed with their distinctive product range of goofy toys and gadgets, how that range was presented on their web site, and the considerate nature of an e-mail exchange that she had with their customer service team. Her experiences with Firebox had placed them as the leader of their niche field in her mind, and in turn, she was inspired to pass on their name to me.
Firebox have made it easy for their customers (existing and new) to enjoy shopping with them by creating a memorable identity. They stand out because of the quirky tone used consistently on their web site and printed promotional material – a tone which is the perfect extension of their playful product range and personal touch in customer service. If people love the identity, they will spread the word – for free. Small businesses should look at how their services come across to prospective clients, and how putting some individuality in the sales pitch can get carried from one person to another.
Get the ball rolling
So with the identity in place, how do you generate the platform for discussion? The second part of Andy Sernovitz's philosophy involves making conversations easy to take place. The word 'making' can be read as 'forcing' or 'creating' – be aware that WOMM is potentially damaging if it doesn't appear to be organic, a key point made by Womma, the trade association for word of mouth marketers.
That man Andy provides a useful five-point plan for 'putting out the feelers' to let your message spread. It starts with identifying the people who are most likely to spread the word of your business, and providing your service was up to scratch, this is going to be your happy customers! These people then need something to talk about – simple messages that are quick and easy to transmit. It's more important that your area of business and location (physically or online) are spread – the best messages need impact.
Sernovitz also suggests that the best way to keep these conversations going is to take part in them yourself. It seems that everyone and their dog has a 'blog' these days, but they are still a useful tool for creating that identity I mentioned earlier. Blogs are time consuming and need constant care and attention, but they can be an excellent way of assessing both positive and negative customer feedback which shapes how you use word of mouth in the future, not to mention being a fun, individual place to demonstrate your latest products.
Whether you are ready to plunge into a world of web communication tools, or prefer to keep things offline, Andy Sernovitz's final point is to ensure that you always ask for referrals. Blogs allow your customers to leave comments at a click of a button, but in the offline world it's important to ask your customers for success stories along with their permission to share them.
If you have employees, they will play a vital role in building your company identity, receiving and acting on customer feedback, and ultimately distribute those messages. This article features some of the benefits of employee interaction, whilst this article suggests some incentives to promote genuine enthusiasm for WOMM amongst your staff. If you're interested in digging deeper into online networking tools, then this article is worth a read too.
The verdict
It's important to remember that word of mouth is not a wholesale alternative to traditional marketing techniques, especially for aspiring firms. However this piece on WOMM should hopefully highlight some of the advantages of having a strong, individual image that travels. Good resources worth looking at include the previously mentioned Womma, as well as the Society For Word Of Mouth.
As ever with our postings, we really want to hear from local business owners. Do you regularly attract new custom through word of mouth recommendations? How have you reacted to customer criticism? Have you used any online tools such as blogs, and if so, how successful have they been? If you'd like to get involved, please leave us a comment, or drop us an e-mail to businessblog@friday-ad.co.uk, and we will hopefully re-visit this topic later on.
Global brands such as Sony, Nestle and Volkswagen have all focussed on generating a buzz from the bottom up in recent years, sending samples of their latest products to 'agents', ordinary citizens who have signed up as guinea pigs through services such as BzzAgent. This particular matchmaking organisation is becoming an emerging force in modern day advertising, boasting just under 500,000 agents participating in 430 product programmes both here and in North America.
The theory behind BzzAgent is straightforward. Agents are randomly assigned samples to road test (usually theirs to keep) on the condition that they provide feedback to the manufacturer, and more importantly, discuss the product with friends, family, and anyone else who will listen. It's a fairly transparent form of marketing; agents are asked to make it clear that they are participating in a campaign, and no money changes hands. The aim is to put the fledging product into social circulation, and while the manufacturers anticipate glowing reports from their guinea pigs, agents are more than welcome to speak negatively if the product was less than impressive.
Cynics would say that standard human conversation is not the place for commercial gain, but a study amongst BzzAgent's users showed that 75% of people spoken to by an agent didn't mind the association with big business, as they trusted the agent's opinion. Theoretically, once the product has hit the stores, a buzz will have already spread among consumers, complimenting the simultaneous print/television/web-based campaigns.
Baffled small business owners around the Sussex region are probably wondering how any of this conglomerate talk applies to their modest marketing budgets. Admittedly, few local firms are likely to branch outside of their immediate environment and give away their precious stock all the time that maximising income is the main priority, and this is something that BzzAgent themselves recognise.
However, what the scheme does demonstrate to the small business world is the benefit of applying the growing word of mouth marketing (WOMM) movement to your firm, arming your existing and potential customers with something exciting to talk about.
At a time when our minds are a mush of slogans and jingles, interesting messages from reliable sources that rise above the average daily bombardment of rubbish do travel on a word of mouth level – and shaping those messages to contain all of your key information can be the difference between merely existing, and expanding your customer reach. Done correctly, WOMM offers small businesses a cheap, effective and generally more fun and fulfilling version of advertising.
So how does it work? Fortunately, WOMM has something of a guru in Andy Sernovitz, who has even written a book all about it. According to Sernovitz, successful WOMM boils down to a two-part philosophy: giving the people a reason to talk about you, and making that conversation easy to take place.
Are you remarkable?
'Giving the people a reason to talk about you' can be translated as 'showing customers why your business is a cut above the rest'. In today's world, people are conditioned to expect professional and efficient customer service, regardless of whether you are a national name or a local enterprise. As a result, it's natural for consumers to vocalise their frustrations when their experience wasn't so enjoyable, but the more positive dealings tend to be forgotten because they are simply expected. So the challenge for small business owners is to create a customer experience that moves from mere satisfaction to something remarkable, which ultimately stays in the brain and is worthy of being passed on to others.
Andy Sernovitz goes on to describe WOMM as "great customer service that earns customer respect… and fantastic products that get customers talking about you". I experienced WOMM first-hand a year or so back when a friend recommended Firebox to me. My friend was impressed with their distinctive product range of goofy toys and gadgets, how that range was presented on their web site, and the considerate nature of an e-mail exchange that she had with their customer service team. Her experiences with Firebox had placed them as the leader of their niche field in her mind, and in turn, she was inspired to pass on their name to me.
Firebox have made it easy for their customers (existing and new) to enjoy shopping with them by creating a memorable identity. They stand out because of the quirky tone used consistently on their web site and printed promotional material – a tone which is the perfect extension of their playful product range and personal touch in customer service. If people love the identity, they will spread the word – for free. Small businesses should look at how their services come across to prospective clients, and how putting some individuality in the sales pitch can get carried from one person to another.
Get the ball rolling
So with the identity in place, how do you generate the platform for discussion? The second part of Andy Sernovitz's philosophy involves making conversations easy to take place. The word 'making' can be read as 'forcing' or 'creating' – be aware that WOMM is potentially damaging if it doesn't appear to be organic, a key point made by Womma, the trade association for word of mouth marketers.
That man Andy provides a useful five-point plan for 'putting out the feelers' to let your message spread. It starts with identifying the people who are most likely to spread the word of your business, and providing your service was up to scratch, this is going to be your happy customers! These people then need something to talk about – simple messages that are quick and easy to transmit. It's more important that your area of business and location (physically or online) are spread – the best messages need impact.
Sernovitz also suggests that the best way to keep these conversations going is to take part in them yourself. It seems that everyone and their dog has a 'blog' these days, but they are still a useful tool for creating that identity I mentioned earlier. Blogs are time consuming and need constant care and attention, but they can be an excellent way of assessing both positive and negative customer feedback which shapes how you use word of mouth in the future, not to mention being a fun, individual place to demonstrate your latest products.
Whether you are ready to plunge into a world of web communication tools, or prefer to keep things offline, Andy Sernovitz's final point is to ensure that you always ask for referrals. Blogs allow your customers to leave comments at a click of a button, but in the offline world it's important to ask your customers for success stories along with their permission to share them.
If you have employees, they will play a vital role in building your company identity, receiving and acting on customer feedback, and ultimately distribute those messages. This article features some of the benefits of employee interaction, whilst this article suggests some incentives to promote genuine enthusiasm for WOMM amongst your staff. If you're interested in digging deeper into online networking tools, then this article is worth a read too.
The verdict
It's important to remember that word of mouth is not a wholesale alternative to traditional marketing techniques, especially for aspiring firms. However this piece on WOMM should hopefully highlight some of the advantages of having a strong, individual image that travels. Good resources worth looking at include the previously mentioned Womma, as well as the Society For Word Of Mouth.
As ever with our postings, we really want to hear from local business owners. Do you regularly attract new custom through word of mouth recommendations? How have you reacted to customer criticism? Have you used any online tools such as blogs, and if so, how successful have they been? If you'd like to get involved, please leave us a comment, or drop us an e-mail to businessblog@friday-ad.co.uk, and we will hopefully re-visit this topic later on.
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1 comment:
Yeh i think WOMM is good and works well. My favorite is viral or ambush marketing though. Both are very funny!
Jason from Dog Beds
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