Word of Mouth marketing is a new art in marketing and PR, they have their own association (WOMMA), there are new businesses that have grown around it BzzAgent, and Nielson’s BuzzMetrics are two well known ones. What is it?
At its foundation it is leveraging customers as the ideal influencers. Customers as influencers and purveyors of word of mouth advertising has been around for decades if not centuries, now it is being actively leveraged. The credibility branding model offers a way to examine this phenomenon; it is called “the customer acquisition value chain.” The idea is that there are different kinds of customers at different times in a corporate or product lifecycle (the lifecycle is outlined as the “trend,” “reality” “success” and “habit” stages, and can be found in the book, The Credibility Factor). The “promoting customer” is the evangelist in the group and embraces the product early, telling everyone around them who will listen about it. “The motivated customer” is motivated by what is starting to be the new cool hip thing and they in turn evangelize from that perspective. Following is a graphic that outlines the model.
In the final analysis, your brand is in part established by word of mouth, and that word of mouth can be managed in a number of ways. The best way is through listening to them and part of that is through customer service. Customer service is one of your best brand ambassadors.
Following is an article written by Peter Shankman, CEO of The Geek Factory. He outlines the importance of customer service and its impact on word of mouth marketing.
Company Beware – You Mess Up, It Is On The Internet In 30 Minutes!
Ever been denied a flight somewhere, even though you had a ticket with your name on it, and a seat assignment for you and your matching luggage? What’s the first thing you do? (After complaining and getting rebooked, obviously?)
You call someone and tell them about it. I don’t care if it’s your boyfriend, Grandma, or everyone under “M” in your mobile phone. The fact is, when we get screwed, we love nothing more than to tell the entire world just how badly screwed we got.
Keep in mind, though, it works the other way, too. When I get to the airport and find that my frequent flier status has gotten me a free upgrade, you can bet that I’m sending out text messages galore, describing every inch of my first class seat.
We’re a species of talkers. And if we can complain about something, (or more infrequently, be thrilled about something) it doesn’t mean anything unless there’s someone (or a multitude of people) to hear about it, and how cool Continental was for getting me into it.
Yet for some reason, very few companies think about this when planning their marketing or customer service guidelines. They don’t think how easy it would be to go online and register “thiscompanysucks.com” and blog about their awful experience. And this will usually nail them to the wall, over and over again.
Customer service begins at the lowest levels. Who’s dealing with the customer on a daily basis? The Director of Marketing? Doubtful they even know how to SPELL “customer.” It’s the customer service rep, the kid behind the sales counter, the cook frying up the burger. They’re the ones the customer sees. How many people can name where McDonald’s is headquartered? But how many can name exactly which McDonald’s, on exactly which corner, screwed up their order and didn’t put cheese on their burger?
Viral campaigns start this way, too, you know. When two business travelers were denied a guaranteed room at a DoubleTree hotel, they created a PowerPoint called “Yours is a very bad hotel.” By the time it’d wound up on the front page of USA Today, DoubleTree was humiliated, their PR department were downing Tums like they were candy, and reputations had been sullied. One smarter front-desk clerk would have avoided all of this.
When it comes down to it, customer service should always be a part of your marketing strategy, and we should assume that every customer has a camera/video phone, every client has a blog, and every user has a legion of fans waiting to hear the latest. Companies need to mesh together and be one on this commandment, from the CEO on down to the guy who chops the lettuce. In the end, the mantra has to be for the customer.
Do this, and customers will perform your marketing FOR you. You think I wear a shirt that says “Skydive The Ranch” because they pay me? No! I wear it because that’s where I learned to skydive. They took care of me, and I have an allegiance. If it was a bad time, you can bet that not only would I not be wearing their shirt, but I’d also have www.shydivetheranchsucks.com and would be linking the hell out of it. Fortunately for Skydive The Ranch, that didn’t happen, because they took care of me, and made me want to tell my friends.
Good or bad, companies have to assume that anything that happens is going to be on the Internet, or even worse, on TV, within 30 minutes of it happening.
Because 9 out of 10 times, it will be. And when it is, don’t you want it to be good news?
Peter Shankman is CEO of The Geek Factory, Inc., and author of "Can We Do That?!: Outrageous PR Stunts That Work- And Why Your Company Needs Them." For more information, please visit: http://www.geekfactory.com you can also check out his blog at http://www.prdifferently.com/
Recent Comments