Jeanne Bliss opened day 2 of School of WOM. Her presentation was focused on the customer, their love and how a brand can earn it. All brands want their customers to love them yet few truly focus on building that love. Like any other relationship, brands need to communicate, respond to problems and, perhaps most importantly, apologize when expectations are not met. These actions create an emotional bond, leading not only to purchases but also advocacy. To do this, you need a customer focused mentality. Don’t hire employees. Hire partners. Don’t give excuses. Offer an apology coupled with a solution. The customer isn’t a resource, asset or number. They are a human, just like the people running your company. Be human and they will love you. More info on Jeanne’s latest book, I Love You More Than My Dog, here: http://ww2.customerbliss.com/beloved.html
And social Media has the least influence! Mike Sachoff has just written a post that shows "among gamers, 41 percent report that they rely on word of mouth to get information on video games, according to a new report from the NPD Group. "
He goes on to say, "While this varies from one platform to another, all current platforms, including portables, rely on word of mouth above all other information sources. Followed by hands on play at friends or relatives friends homes at 31 percent. Magazines and online ads, along with incentives/coupons and social networking sites have the least influence on gamers at five percent."
If you want to find out more, click on the image to read Mikes full post.
Watch the video to see what Jeremy asks HaveYouHeard, and how we respond to his probing questions on the need and application of Word-of-Mouth Marketing in South Africa.
(Please excuse the disheveled hair - I have no idea how they let me on looking like that!)
Episode 6 and 7 of 7: A Double whammy. Two videos focusing on how you should connect with the Township and the relationship that Word-of-Mouth and Advertising has with building your brand. Enjoy the Insights.
And...
HaveYouHeard recently presented at the Kid and Teen Republic Conference in JHB. We focused on how brands should speak to Mothers and why it is so important to understand the effects Word-of-Mouth has on their purchase decisions.
Social Media is very much more progressed abroad, than it is here in South Africa - but you can bet your salary that in the next few years, we will catch up - as well as lead the pack in terms of mobile. Which means, the way you interact, speak, and sell to your target market will need to change. Not only that - these 'revolutionary principles' of marketing aren't actually that revolutionary and show more commen sense of how great marketers should be engaging with their consumers. Apart from all the stats shown - enjoy this thought-provoking insight: Successful companies in social media act more like Dale Carnegie and less like David Ogilvy Listening first, selling second (but every great salesman knows you need to listen first before you sell - otherwise you don't know what you are selling...)
Jason Cohen has provided great insights into the secret to generating a viral message:
It’s not enough for the message to be interesting to your direct followers (children), it needs to be something your followers would be interested in repeating (grandchildren).
He goes on to say, that we should explicitly ask for the message to be passed on, but also make it easy to do so, using the principle of the chain-letter as an example – requiring you to send it on to 10 friends.
He sums up by saying that the #1 best rule is: Have overwhelmingly awesome content. So good that people intrinsically want to spread the word. But then of course you might as well also be smart about how you help them spread the message.
My biggest learning however, is the first point – the propensity for a message to be passed on is increased by the value and meaning of passing the message on for a person, as much as the value and meaning of the message itself.
As always – click on the image to read the full article.
Following on from our post on the Guardian Influencer research done, here is a look at the importance of Weak Ties, in spreading WoM. Click on the image to read the full article on Neoco's blog.
This means that Weak Ties are essential for word of mouth and influence. They are the channels through which people access information and resources beyond those available in their own social circle. It follows, therefore, that people with a greater number of Weak Ties are more exposed to new ideas and are in a stronger position to inject those ideas into otherwise unconnected networks.
Information flows more easily, traverses a greater social distance and reaches a greater number of people through Weak Ties. Weak Ties are a key component of word of mouth.
The future of Influence Summit website has some great content on the role Influence plays in marketing/ advertising and I will be posting a few of them over the next few days. I thought I would share this with you as a quick teaser, however.
More specifically, consumers shop quite a bit like their friends and are more likely to respond to marketing messages from a brand a friend uses. How likely? Five times more likely.
Wow - that just reveals how important it is to generate Word-of-Mouth and to leverage recommendations. By doing so, you ensure your current communication plan will potentially be 5 times for impactful and gain 5 times more reach. You can click on the image to read the full article.