In 2005, Seth Godin wrote the FREE PRIZE INSIDE. It's essentially a guidebook for creating remarkable products and services. As marketers we know when remarkable things get remarked about ... word of mouth happens.
This 2-minute video ditty I posted on the All Things WOM blog shares two word-of-mouth worthy free prizes I experienced while staying at the Hotel Burnham in Chicago. (Yes, I mispronounce the hotel’s name in the video. My bad.) Enjoy.
RSS Readers … click here to watch the video.
UPDATED (June 10): Thanks everyone for the thoughtful comments. To avoid any question ... going forward, I will disclose how I receive business books reviewed on the blog.
Lots of great conversation is happening about the ethics of compensating bloggers with cash, in-kind gifts, and special access privileges in exchange for writing a post about the product/service a business provides them.
This conversation has me thinking about how I’ve been compensated for some posts on this blog.
Because I frequently write business book reviews, publishers and publicity firms send me free business books. I’m under no obligation to write anything (be it positive, negative, or nothing at all) in exchange. While not cash, this in-kind gift has a monetary value of about $25 per book.
I’ve probably written over 100 business book reviews on this blog. Some reviews have slammed the book as worthless and others have praised the book as worthwhile. In every case, my authentic opinion has been expressed.
However, I’ve never disclosed when a review is from a business book I received as a gift or from a book I purchased. (By the way, the vast majority of my book reviews are from books I've purchased.)
I’m curious … Do you expect me to disclose whether or not I was gifted the book or paid for the book? Would you trust my review more with this type of disclosure?
Thanks for sharing your feedback.
On May 13 & 14, WOMMA held its Word-of-Mouth Marketing University conference. Below is a video recap of a presentation from the conference.
The world’s two largest social networks, MySpace and Facebook, attract over 130-million users monthly. Thus the question has changed from IF you should use MySpace or Facebook to reach your customers to HOW. How can attention, affinity, and action happen best on each site? How do marketing messages spread differently between the two? How best to monitor and measure a brand’s performance on each site?
Those questions and more were answered by Heidi Browning from MySpace and Chris Pan from Facebook during the kick-off keynote to Day 2 of WOMM-U.
For smart recaps, I recommend reading posts from Josh Hallet, John Bell, and Ian Sohn. The moderator of the panel, David Berkowitz, also posted a good summary of the session.
I plopped my rinky-dink camera atop the banquet table in the dimly lit ballroom and captured much of the session on video. Because this session was so informative, written summaries fail to cover all the content. So, you should watch it for yourself and jot down your key takeaways.
On May 13 & 14, WOMMA held its Word-of-Mouth Marketing University conference. Below is a recap of a presentation from the conference.
Presentation:
Maximizing Online Video for Marketing Success
Jeben Berg, creative director of Cross Platforms Solutions at YouTube & Google, threw out some startling stats about YouTube during his presentation ... it’s 81-million unique monthly visitors makes YouTube one of the most trafficked websites in the world ... each minute, another new 15-minutes of video is uploaded to YouTube.
Obviously, YouTube is a media and marketing channel to be reckoned with and smart companies are finding ways to integrate YouTube into their marketing mix. Jeben explained there is “no single formula" for online video success. There are, however, lots of best practice tips on how to improve the effectiveness of online videos.
First, focus on great ideas rather than production values. Companies like BlendTec and its “Will it Blend” series begin with a singular idea — such as, will an iPhone blend? — to create simple yet interesting videos. According to Jeben, following the BlendTec approach of “high concept with low fidelity” is a recipe for creating compelling online video.
Second, think quantity more than quality. Jeben explained brands that post lots of videos gain the most viewers and receive the most must-see recommendations from friends.
Third, make the most out of your Title, Description, and Tags. Don’t get too cute with your video title names. Use key words and commonly searched terms in the Description of your videos. And, spend extra time making sure you Tag your videos with the most appropriate terms. Something simple as a good title, robust description, and relevant tags will help online videos get better visibility through search engines.
Jeben jokingly talked about how many CEOs of big brands have called YouTube requesting certain videos be taken down. As long as a copyright isn’t infringed upon, YouTube leaves such videos alone.
In response to Jeben talking about the recent Domino’s video incident, @spikejones tweeted, “CEO of Domino’s called called YouTube and tried to play the ‘pull down the video b/c I pump so much $$ into Google card.’ It didn’t work.”
Jeben continued the Domino’s story about the company’s video response. @TravelPRPro responded, “Money Talks. Advertising does have influence. Domino’s response to employee hoax got prime placement on YouTube bc they advertise.”
Presentation:
Yelp: Empowering Consumers with Local Knowledge
In kicking-off the Word of Mouth Marketing Association’s WOMM-U Conference, Geoff Donaker, chief operating officer at Yelp, said, "The Genie is out of the bottle. You’re better off joining the conversation, than not." Conversations about local restaurants and businesses fuel Yelp’s business. Donaker described Yelp as, "local search powered by community."
It is the online community that provides Yelp with over 6-million reviews of local restaurants and businesses. 21-million people last month used Yelp to decide which restaurant to visit, car mechanic to use, and spa to be pampered at. With its broad reach and deep reviews, Yelp is changing the game of small business marketing.
Donaker told the story of a local carpet cleaner who used to spend $100K on yellow page advertising. Thanks to all the new business generated by positive reviews on Yelp, this carpet cleaner no longer spends money on yellow page advertising. Instead, this business is spending much of its advertising budget on improving it’s customer service, resulting in more positive reviews on Yelp.
Donaker also discussed how businesses have a love/hate relationship with customer-driven reviews. Businesses love how great customer service is rewarded with positive reviews. However, they hate the loss of message control. That said, the positive to negative review ratio at Yelp stands at 6:1.
@ErikNYC mentioned the beauty of Yelp’s customer-driven model is that "when the customer wins, the business wins." Echoing sentiments from the presentation, @gamedayjreau tweeted, "It’s always about customer service at the end of the day."
In response to a case study example of how negative reviews can become positive for businesses, @leslieforde commented, "It’s worth engaging vocal customers gently. Reaching out to angry customers can change negative perception."
The love/hate relationship with customer-driven conversations is real. Word-of-mouth offline and online can not be controlled, only sparked. A business cannot ethically control what customers say about them. One of the best ways to spark word-of-mouth conversations is through delivering outstanding customer service and providing remarkable products.
For any business wanting to spark word-of-mouth conversations, it must first spend time and money to gain utmost confidence in their services and products. This confidence will give a business thick enough skin to withstand negative reviews as well as a solid foundation from which a virtuous cycle of positive reviews will fuel business growth.
NOTE: crossposted on the ALL THINGS WOM blog
Suzy’s 10-10-10 model is a simple (and smart) way to analyze immediate, short-term, and long-term consequences of a decision. Plus, it’s so applicable to making important marketing decisions, especially in today’s online social world.
Except, we need to amp up Suzy’s 10-10-10 thinking to account for how quickly information spreads online. 10 minutes. 10 hours. 10 days. That’s a more workable 10-10-10 consequences model for marketers dealing with issues worthy of explosive online conversation, such as the marketing disaster recently faced by Dominos Pizza.
Because it took Dominos more than 24-hours to respond, the company was singled-out as being uncommunicative and unresponsive to the groundswell of online commentary on twitter and various blogs. Similar slow-reacting critiques have been hurled at Motrin (#motrinmoms) and Amazon (#amazonfail).
Dominos, Motrin, and Amazon all suffered immediate consequences of not making a decision on how to respond within 10 hours of the incidents they faced. The online chatter spiked and to an extent, took on a life of its own. However, these three brands did ultimately respond and the twitter storm receded within 10 days. For Motrin and Amazon, sales haven’t suffered from these missteps. Time will tell if the gross-out video will hurt Dominos sales this quarter.
We are still learning that responding quickly to marketing matters discussed online is vital. Using the10-10-10 rule should be helpful for companies in similar situations faced by Dominos, Motrin, and Amazon.
For example, within the first 10-minutes, a company should acknowledge what is happening. No answers. No explanations. Just an immediate acknowledgement using whatever social media tool a company feels most comfortable using will work. However, within 10-hours, a company should go beyond acknowledging to responding by explaining what happened and what specific actions the company is taking to address the issue in order to reassure people they can trust the company again. If done right and timely, negative consequences will be minimized 10-days after the initial flare up.
Is responding within 10-minutes realistic? Probably not. However, a response within 10-hours is realistic and expected in today’s always-on information cycle.
We keep learning the faster the response, the less damage done. If a company fails to respond quickly to these flare-ups, the consequences can last 10-years and not 10-days.
In January, Hyundai did a major ZAG. Other car companies decided to play the “Zero Down. Zero % Financing.” card as well as the “Employee Discount for Everyone” card to rescue drowning sales. Hyundai didn’t. Hyundai zagged while others zigged.
Hyundai introduced an alternative marketing program that didn’t rely on the same easy credit, wallet-stretching gimmickry that got us in this current dismal economic mess.
Understanding the lack of confidence consumers have with their job stability, Hyundai created a marketing program to reduce the risk in buying a car. The program was called the Hyundai Assurance plan. Its mechanics were simple: if you lost your job after buying a new Hyundai, you could walk away from your loan or lease and return the car to Hyundai.
In marketing, salience occurs when a business designs a marketing program that connects emotionally and rationally with consumers. In business, sales occur when people buy stuff.
The beauty of the Hyundai Assurance marketing plan is in its salience and its sales. With a 10.0% unemployment rate on the horizon, it’s no secret people lack confidence about when their next paycheck is coming. Sales results of the Hyundai Assurance marketing plan are astounding.
Overall car sales in the United States have declined about 40% from the same time last year. (Yikes!) Hyundai car sales aren’t in decline. Nope. So far this year, Hyundai has recorded an increase of nearly 5.0% from the year prior.
As marketers, we must applaud Hyundai for designing an effective marketing program that drives both salience and sales.
SOURCE: New York Times Magazine article (Rob Walker) | March 22, 2009
Recently Ben McConnell (Church of the Customer) shared his perspective on the distinction between Word-of-Mouth (WOM) and Buzz. (It’s a good read.)
His post rekindled some of my thoughts on Creationist WOM vs. Evolutionist WOM (video clip). The Creationist WOM marketing mindset is about making the marketing activity something to talk about as in attention-grabbing stunts and gimmicks. The Evolutionist WOM mindset is about making a company’s products, services, and or experiences worth talking about.
Creationist WOM marketers believe Word-of-Mouth just a marketing issue. While, Evolutionist WOM marketers believe Word-of-Mouth is an everyday business issue.
We’ve seen Creationist WOM theory at work recently with Denny’s stunt of giving away 2-million Grand Slam breakfasts for free and all the gimmicky commercials shown during the Super Bowl.
Specific instances of Evolutionist WOM theory at work are more difficult to notice. That’s because these marketing activities are not supposed to be easily noticed by customers. These activities are simply how a business does business. It’s less about marketing and more about how an interesting business operates everyday.
There’s a burger joint in Austin, TX that brilliantly practices Evolutionist WOM thinking — Mighty Fine Hamburgers.
No stunts. No gimmicks. No one-off marketing ploys. All Mighty Fine does is earn opinions by serving up remarkable burgers in remarkable ways.
Let me count some of these remarkable ways.
#2 – Fun Language
If you want Mustard, you gotta say, “Yeller.” “Red” gets you Ketchup and “White” gets you Mayonnaise. Mighty Fine could have gone the common, boring route with Mustard, Ketchup, and Mayonnaise. They didn’t. They decided to make the common uncommon. So uncommon that it’s worth talking about.
#3 – Service
Ask a Mighty Fine employee behind the counter how they’re doing and you’ll likely hear, “Mighty Fine.” They smile. They laugh. They look like they are having fun. Which all benefits the customer experience. Mighty Fine prides itself on hiring only “A Players” who are positive, supportive, and cooperative. To attract “A Players,” they pay above-average wages and offer much better than expected benefits. Mighty Fine knows by astonishing employees, they in turn, will astonish customers.
#4 – Assurance
When placing your order, the Mighty Fine employee writes all your requests directly on the bag. To close the order, the employee again goes over everything with you to best ensure you get exactly the burger you ordered. This process takes time but I’m sure it cuts down on mistakes. As a customer, I appreciate the thoroughness because it brings about assurance.
#5 – Picnic Tables
Old-school family-style picnic tables. Nothing fancy. Nothing fancy needed at a burger joint. This family-style seating makes it comfortable for all ages and helps to encourage conversations between customers from different parties.
#6 – Theater
Taking a page from Krispy Kreme's doughnut theater, Mighty Fine lifts the veil on some of their prep work. The window is wide open for everyone to see the ground chuck getting hand-formed into patties. The krinkle-cut fry cutter is always-on with an employee shooting whole potatoes down the cutting chute. The hamburger cooking and shake-making stations are just behind the counter for everyone to see. Mighty Fine has nothing to hide. It’s operations are in full view of every customer. (Unlike most burger joints.)
#7 – Quality
100% natural beef. Ground in-store. Hand-formed in-store. Fresh cut crinkle-cut fries. Sea Salt is the only salt used. Custom-made beef franks. Hand-dipped and hand-spun milkshakes. Quality is everything to Mighty Fine because they believe quality ingredients produce the tastiest food. (Hard to argue with Mighty Fine here.)
#8 – Smiles
Everywhere you look customers are having a good time. I’m a touch cynical; however, my cynicism subsides when inside Mighty Fine. A good hamburger in a family-friendly setting appeals to young, old, and everyone in-between. (Including this hardened marketer.)
#9 – Mighty Tasty
My Dad is a burger aficionado. In his nearly 75 years, Al Moore has cooked and eaten a lot of burgers. He’s burger expert if there could be one. After visiting Mighty Fine in January, he’s been talking about it with his circle of friends. I asked him what he tells people about Mighty Fine and this is what he says, “The place is awesome. Lots of production people, each knowing their job. The product is even more awesome — a top-notch hamburger. To my surprise, the family-style works. I’ll be back.” That’s one helluva endorsement.
#10 – Job Recruitment
Instead of a pamphlet by the soda machine to attract new hires, Mighty Fine uses a classic grocery store number dispenser like we used to use at the butcher counter. This dispenser is prominently located in the entry/exit way area for potential new hires to see going in and going out. A sign above the dispenser says, “Apply Now.” You pull the ticket and it directs you to a website to learn more information and to apply online. Again, Mighty Fine is simply making the common uncommon. Nice touch.
#11 – Clean Hands
It’s a “jacuzzi for your hands.” That’s what the hand washer says used at Mighty Fine. It’s the same hand washer employees use, so you know it is more sanitary than the common hand sink washer. Kids clamor to use this hand jacuzzi. Parents are always seen lifting up their kids in order for their hands to fit inside the washer. Of course, parents use it too because it’s just so unique you have to use it. Yet again … another way Mighty Fine takes something common and makes it so uncommon it's worth talking about.
Mighty Fine doesn’t need gimmicks to get customers talking. It just does business every day in such a way that people gladly talk about it.
Mighty Fine understands the importance of Word of Mouth. How do I know? This sign displayed in the exit way tells me...
This blog has received lots of links from progressive-minded churches wanting to improve their marketing. It's my turn to reciprocate.
Just as churches can learn something from business marketers, business marketers can learn something from churches. Churches do things to turn off potential Christ-followers. And businesses do things to turn off potential customers.
In this video parable, the Beyond Relevance blog shares how churches subtly construct barriers to making new attendees feel welcome. Enjoy and learn ...
RSS Readers ... click here to watch the video.
I just read one of the more compelling definitions of what a “Good Idea” is. This definition is remarkable in its brevity and clarity. You might also agree …
Nadja Schnetzler
co-founder, BrainStore
source: THE IDEA MACHINE (Wiley, 2005, pg. 56)
Kathy Sierra brilliantly (and succinctly) sums up the difference between "Buzz" and "Sustainable" Word-of-Mouth.
As part of the Post2Post Book Tour, we’re pimping Tom Fishburne’s newest collection of cartoons illustrating the funny side of business life in the trenches of brand management.
BRAND CAMP is basically Dilbert for Marketers. With Dilbert, Scott Adams focuses on finding humor in every department of a big business. On the other hand, Tom, with super-strong CPG marketing chops, focuses his humor on every day happenings within a company’s marketing department. Nothing marketing-related is out-of-bounds for Tom’s sharp and sometimes painful wit…
He mocks the belief of Brand Loyalty (image)...
He makes light of Psychographic Profiling...
He pokes fun at Buzz Marketing...
He ridicules Consensus Decision-Making...
He shows the derailment in developing Brand Promises...
He shoots straight about Concept Testing...
He lampoons Co-Branded Partnerships...
He redefines the meaning of earning Street Cred…
He shares what really happens when we Take it Offline…
He explains why too many marketers spoil the Attribute Soup…
He sounds the alarm for Brainstorming Sessions…
Tom says his dedication to churning out one Brand Camp cartoon a week has made him a better marketer.
Now, I can’t say reading THIS ONE TIME AT BRAND CAMP will make you a better marketer. However, I am confident doing so will make you a smarter marketer. Why? Because you will find yourself questioning the many long-held branding practices and marketing philosophies you’ve been trained to accept.
Get on the Brand Camp bandwagon by reading his blog. You can also subscribe to his weekly emailed cartoons. Or, BUY THE BOOK. (Heck, buy 10 books and pass'em around your marketing department.) Oh yeah … Tom also licenses the use of his cartoons, read here for details.
Jonathan Salem Baskin (from the Dim Bulb blog) goes Seuss on us with his strong take on JCPenny’s advergame venture to market its DORM LIFE product line to college gals.
Sample this snippet …
Instead of putting its branding just about anywhere,
why not focus it where consumers might care?C'mon now, it's not such a horrible bore
to come up with reasons to visit a store?Relevance is a quality that can't be avoided,
No matter in what ways new media's exploited.
Starbucks offers afternoon drink deal nationwideLooking to bring more value-seeking consumers through its doors for a late afternoon caffeine fix, Starbucks Corp. said it will now offer its morning customers any iced grande beverage for $2 after 2 p.m.
The price is a big cut from the normal price of most grande-sized iced drinks. A grande iced latte, for example, costs about $4. To get the discount, customers must present a receipt from their morning Starbucks visit.
"I think we've kind of hit the nail on the head," said Brad Stevens, vice president of customer relationship management. "It's easy for baristas to implement and it's easy for customers to understand."
As marketers, we know PRICING TELLS A STORY. All high-priced products must deliver an interesting story to justify its higher price. On the other end, low-priced products settle for telling an uninteresting story, beyond simply getting goods on the cheap.
Reading in-between the lines I’m picking up on something even more alarming than the company’s decision to become a priced-to-sell retailer. I’m picking up on a cataclysmic shift in company culture.
Re-read the quote from Brad Stevens. He says the Two Buck ‘Bucks promotion “is easy” for employees to implement and for customers to understand. True. HOWEVER, the Starbucks we’ve come to appreciate developing a relationship with never did anything “easy.”
The Starbucks company culture has never been about doing things the easy way.
The easy way is to size drinks Small, Medium, Large, and Extra-Large.
The easy way is to roast coffee less for a mass appeal taste profile.
The easy way is to have lucy-goosey espresso making standards.
The easy way is to not offer part-time employees full benefits.
The easy way is to treat customers as just a transaction.
The easy way is to compete on low prices.
If we wanted “easy,” we would have never interrupted our old daily ritual to make Starbucks part of our new daily ritual. If Starbucks had always done things the EASY WAY, they wouldn’t have changed the game for how to build an endearing and enduring brand.
As for the decision to compete on low prices to drive traffic in the afternoon daypart with Treat Receipts … I’m troubled by this. Just as I was troubled when the company experimented earlier this year with selling a One-Dollar Cup o’ Joe.
Lucas Conley’s OBSESSIVE BRANDING DISORDER book is receiving some nice media attention. And for good reason … it’s well-written and provocative.
Conley’s book began as a Fast Company essay from Oct. 2005. He’s since beefed up the premise and added in lots of relevant and unique case study examples.
For the cynical marketing crowd, which includes me, this book will be right in your wheelhouse as it delves deep into the superficial side of the arts and sciences of modern branding.
To give you a taste of Conley’s take, below is my trademark pending WHAT ? — SO WHAT? — WHAT NOW? summary of OBSESSIVE BRANDING DISORDER. (Just kiddin' on the trademark-pending quip. Tom Ehrenfeld is the rightful owner of this idea.)
“More than marketing, advertising, or positioning, branding is an all-in-one ideology—a facile reduction malleable enough to govern all facets of modern business.” (p. 5)
“By abandoning the trusty, dusty principles of business—innovative products, good service, solid management—for the idealism of branding, companies reveal the true escapist appeal of their new religion.” (p. 10)
“But the effect of … [obsessive] branding has been a steady erosion in the public’s trust.” (p. 110)
“The world is cheapened when everyone sees it with a marketer’s eye. We lose trust for each other and grow skeptical of one another as we try to determine what we’re being sold. We become more isolated and more self-conscious, more prone to rely on brands for status and to ally ourselves with other brand loyalists for company.” (p. 199)
“But if we acknowledge that we must rely on brands to some degree, and if we keep our focus on the products rather than the promotions, we can begin to extricate ourselves from a world of brand churches, tribes, and religion.” (p. 202)
“Run a good business and your brand will follow.” (from Lucas’ Oct. 2005 Fast Company essay)
Yep, you read that header right — Advertising Age recommends NOT ADVERTISING. A recent editorial in Ad Age shared HMOs (hot marketing opinions) about JetBlue’s current advertising campaign. The gist is this …
“JetBlue is missing the point with its recent ad push. What it needs is to get back to what made it a media and consumer darling: customer service and good internal and external communication.”“… convincing more people to fly doesn't seem like a smart move for an airline that has trouble handling the passengers it already has. It won't fool new passengers, and it will only upset current passengers. JetBlue achieved its success by being unlike the other airlines. Its good name spread -- via word-of-mouth and smart marketing -- because great customer service gave it a compelling story to tell.”
“Priority No. 1 should be getting back to a place where consumers want to share good stories. Take the money being wasted on that campaign and plow it into customer service.”
Let’s take this a step further. BEFORE any company spends gobs of money on an advertising campaign, it should first spend money on improving the performance of a product/service and on ratcheting up the customer experience. ‘Nuff said! Errrahh!
I love the premise from Steve Yastrow’s recently-published book, WE: The Ideal Customer Relationship. In the opening chapter, Yastrow writes …
Relationships have become powerful differentiators. Customers can’t tell if your product is better than your competitor’s product, but they can tell if they have a better relationship with you than with your competitor.If relationships are such powerful differentiators, what is the most productive, profitable, and sustainable relationship?
The We relationship.
In a We relationship, you think less about what separates you and more about what intertwines you.
In contrast, if your customer’s view of your relationship is not “We” but “Us & Them,” he will focus more on what he can get from you—and on what he believes you get from him—and less on how you can collaborate to reach your goals together.
[Steve Yastrow, SOURCE]
David Bowman riffs smartly on how some brands have gravitational pull while others don't ... all reasoned in the context of Newton's Law of Gravity.
Good stuff ... READ MORE.
Looking for crafty marketing ideas? Consider riffling through Sam Decker's list of 193 Creative Marketing Ideas. You're sure to find some worthwhile guerrilla-ish ideas in Sam's lengthy list.
And, while you're in the guerrilla marketing mindset ... read Sam's snappy answers to nine marketing questions. Smart stuff.
“Right now, your customers are writing about your products on blogs and recutting your commercials on YouTube. They’re defining you on Wikipedia and ganging up on you in social networking sites like Facebook. These are all elements of a social phenomenon — the groundswell — that has created a permanent, long-lasting shift in the way the world works.”
GROUNDSWELL is the definitive guide to what is happening now in the citizen marketer online world we live, work, and frolic in. You’ll learn about the online tools people use and the motivations for why people participate in the Groundswell. You’ll also gain access to previously super-spendy analysis reserved for Forrester clients … such as … ROI of an Executive Blog, ROI of Online Ratings/Reviews, and ROI of Online Community Forums.
Charlene & Josh refresh some of their smartest blog posts in GROUNDSWELL. They’ve written about the Social Technographics ladder before, but the updated analysis in the book will help you better understand the motivations and activities of consumers today. And, their easy-to-understand P.O.S.T strategy to participating in the Groundswell will help many in demystifying how to get started using online media to connect with customers.
GROUNDSWELL is must-read material for all Marketing Managers and Marketing Directors who want to use the power of the Internet as an extension of their marketing department.
[Prerequisite reading includes: THE CORPORATE BLOGGING BOOK (Debbie Weil) and CITIZEN MARKETERS (McConnell & Huba).]
At the GOT SOCIAL MEDIA conference in Houston last week, Kelsey Ruger, from Pop Labs, infused his presentation with elements from The Matrix. Brilliant.
As the above image depicts, companies today can take the Blue Pill and pretend that nothing has changed in the marketplace. Or, companies can take the Red Pill and begin to experience a deeper connection with customers through using Social Media. I hope Kelsey sees how deep the rabbit-hole goes with THE Social Media MATRIX. He is onto something potentially big in helping more people understand why it is important for companies to swallow the Red Pill of Social Media.
For those who missed the GOT SOCIAL MEDIA conference, you can riffle through some of the presentations on SlideShare. (Video of the presentations will also be uploaded somewhere online soon.)
The one-day event was co-organized by Erica O’ Grady, a social media dynamo. She is doing big things and will do bigger things with all this social media stuff. Get to know Erica on her blog and follow her on Twitter.
The line-up of presenters hand-picked for the event were outstanding.
Besides Kelsey, Giovanni Gallucci (aka Digg the Link Hunter) shared his take on how to maximize links and views. Steve Latham outlined a few methods to measure the ROI of social media marketing campaigns. Stephen Anderson delivered a thought-provoking presentation on how design matters in social media. Ed Schipul entertained and informed us about how tapping into the 3 Motivations of People can help non-profits (and for-profits) make a difference. And, Laura Mayes sprinkled smart tid-bits throughout the day. (Unfortunately, I missed Chris Bernard and his presentation.)
The Simpsons movie tie-in with 7-11 got lots of digital ink last summer. Marketers, like Jake McKee, raved about it and shared photos galore. Evangelists created a blog about it. Even Advertising Age critic Bob Garfield cooed about it.
No doubt ... 3 out of 4 marketers would agree this movie promotion was a creative success. What about a sales success? After all, sales is the true measure of a marketing campaign.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the promotion was a sales success.
"The 7-Eleven chain ... saw major sales lifts at the 11 U.S. stores that were converted for the month of the promotion. The company says total merchandise sales doubled; fresh bakery sales increased sevenfold and customer count went up almost 50%.Moreover, 7-Eleven says the promotion garnered about $7 million in free publicity. The 7-Eleven Web site on July 11 received 10,420,730 hits. The site typically gets an average of about 400,000 hits a day."
In STICK TO DRAWING COMICS MONKEY BRAIN, Dilbert creator, Scott Adams, shared the above sharp and snappy business advice on how to predict success. He continues by saying, "The only thing that predicts success is passion, even if only 10 percent of the consumers have it."
When the Dilbert comic strip first started in late 80s, Adams remembers most people didn't love it. However, about 10 percent of its readers did love it and many of them clipped-out the comic from the newspaper and shared it with their friends. These people were passionate about the humorous look at dysfunctional office life portrayed in Dilbert. They decorated their cubicles with Dilbert cartoons. Some even put together homemade books of Dilbert cartoons long before the first Dilbert book was sold. They loved Dilbert.
Scott Adams didn't worry about trying to make the Dilbert cartoon successful by making the indifferent reader passionate about Dilbert. Instead, he relied on Dilbert succeeding by fueling the passions of those most passionate about all things Dilbert.
A greater predictor of successful product introductions is to gain a passionate and loyal customer base, no matter how small in numbers they are.
This isn't an absolute predictor as the abandoned product graveyard is littered with products that failed despite attracting a small, passionate customer base. However, if your product only attracts indifferent customers and fails to attract passionate customers ... chances are, that product will not succeed.
It’s common practice for retailers to discourage and or outright prohibit photography inside their stores. Doesn’t make it a best practice though. As Seth Godin says, “In an experience economy, where a bear workshop or furniture superstore is a form of tourism, photography is part of the deal.”
Seth smartly points out a paradox of pictures exists with retailers that deliver remarkable in-store experiences. Retailers want you to remark about your shopping experiences but not with actual pictures, only with words written and/or spoken.
My friend Conrad Hametner is a foodie. He has a passion for seeking out exotic foods with exotic names. The names get so exotic he likes to use his cellphone camera to snap photos of the foods he would never be able to remember. But recently, HE GOT CAUGHT.
While perusing the cheese section at Whole Foods Market, Conrad sampled a few cheeses and found a new favorite—Gabietou. To help him remember this cheese, he snapped a photo. But a Whole Foods Team Member (employee) sternly told him company policy says absolutely no photos are allowed to be taken in the store.
Conrad went online to find Whole Foods “No Photos” policy. Couldn’t find one. He rightfully argues that this “No Photos Allowed” policy is outdated in today’s networked world.
As a former marketer for two retailers that have helped to popularize the “experience economy,” I understand the irony that exists with creating a store experience customers want to photograph but then, prohibiting it.
Why do retailers prohibit/discourage customers from taking photos? Two major reasons: Competitive Intent and Criminal Intent.
Competitive Intent
When Starbucks began its hyper-growth spurt in the early 90s, they had more than just customers in their stores—they also had curious businesspeople. The businesspeople would come huddled in small groups and everyone in the group would be clutching a pen and a pad. They would stay for hours noting everything from the store décor to menu boards to employee uniforms to operational procedures to customer counts to everything. They also took photos.
Starbucks policy prohibited photos because they didn’t want competitors mimicking their style. (As if a “no photos policy” was really going to stop competitors from learning how to replicate the Starbucks experience.) Today places like Whole Foods Market, Chipotle, Urban Outfitters, Cereality, Which Wich, and American Apparel are attracting curious businesspeople wanting to learn what they do that makes them worth mimicking.
This “No Photos Allowed” policy is still in place at Starbucks but not for the original reasons of dissuading copycat competitors.
Criminal Intent
Another major reason why Starbucks and other retailers prohibit customers from taking pictures is to protect them from the unsavory types casing the joint. Theft for any retail business is a big issue and having front-line employees on the lookout for people snapping photos could help to reduce theft.
However, it can get silly and seemingly ridiculous when retailers confront well-meaning customers (like Conrad) from taking photos. It happens a lot … like here, here, and here. I especially love the irony of the Apple store that told an in-store customer he wasn’t allowed to take a photo using his iPhone.
As Seth said … customers taking photos is part of the deal when you deliver remarkable customer experiences. So its about time for retailers to learn this lesson and solve for dissuading potential thieves with policies and activities other than prohibiting customers from taking photos.
Did you see the Brandweek story about Visual Vampires?
Visual vampires are images shown in advertising that divert attention away from the advertised product. Think … Wendy’s Red Wig … Robert Goulet/Emerald Nuts … Paris Hilton/Carl's Jr.. (Think 100% Creationist WOM where companies engage in outrageously gimmicky attention-grabbing antics to capture our attention.)
The study Brandweek cites is from The PreTesting Company. Here’s further explanation:
Wendy’s red wig-clad ads are hard to miss. However, new research shows that the characters in pony-tailed toupees greatly overshadow the products featured in the same ads.“It is a visual vampire. There is high engagement, but when they show the food it drops like a rock,” said Lee Weinblatt, CEO of PreTesting, Tenafly, N.J.
The majority (68%) of viewers of the Wendy’s ad were riveted when the wig was on screen, but when hamburgers were shown it fell to 24%. The baseline for fast food commercials is 50% as consumers expect to be entertained. Other TV ads dominated by visual vampires: Subway (Jon Lovitz), Chrysler (Dr. Z) and Burger King (Coq Roq).”
READ MORE
Hmm ... so is there a marketing garlic we can use to ward off these Visual Vampires? Could be. It's something I refer to as the WHAT YOU DO vs. WHAT YOU DID test.
When people talk about your brand, do they talk about the products/services the company does or do they talk about the advertising it did? If people are talking about the products/services you do, then you've successful repelled the Visual Vampire. However, if all people can talk about is the offbeat creativity in your ads, then the Visual Vampire has probably been allowed to run amock.
For example, I know no one talking about the food Wendy's does. Instead, its all about the edgy red wig advertising the company did. Same goes for the Emerald Nuts spots we saw at the Super Bowl this year. No one was talking about how great Emerald Nuts taste, they were only talking about how creepy it was to have Robert Goulet acting a fool in the spot.
As a marketer, I much prefer people talking about what a company does and not what it did. Reckon the only way to truly repel Visual Vampires is to follow the Sethology of spending marketing dollars to make products/services more remarkable and not to make kookier commercials.
Does anyone else cringe when they hear someone say Cyber Monday? We are hearing "Cyber Monday" tossed around a lot because online shopping traffic spikes today with office workers using their Internet connections at work to whittle down their Holiday shopping lists.
But the name Cyber Monday feels so 1996 to me. Cyber Monday was hip lexicon in the online world eons ago—back when HotBot and Lycos were hip. But HotBot and Lycos have long lost their naming relevance, shouldn't Cyber Monday?
Let's tap into our collective wisdom and come up with a better, more appropriate, and more up-to-date name to signify the first workday online buying opportunity of the Holiday shopping season.
Share your best name(s) to replace the bygone era "Cyber Monday" term in the comments section.
What?
Whole Foods Market has barred executive-titled employees, directors on its board, global vice presidents, regional presidents, and regional vice presidents from participating in any online conversation not sponsored by the company. This change in company policy is the direct result of kinky business behavior from its CEO, John Mackey.
In July, Mackey was outed by the FCC for having posted over 1,300 messages from 1999 to mid-2006 on the Yahoo! Financial boards. In these postings, Mackey hid behind an alias (“rahodeb”) and trumpeted Whole Foods while trashing Wild Oats. About eight-months after rahodeb’s last posting on Yahoo!, Whole Foods initiated a merger with Wild Oats.
The Whole Foods business operates under the belief stores should have the freedom to meet the needs of its unique customers and team members. The only governing rule stores must dogmatically adhere to is all food sold at Whole Foods Market must be free from artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, sweeteners, and hydrogenated oils. The company has a Quality Standards Policy, which lists all unacceptable food ingredients. Products containing ingredients on this list are not allowed to be sold at Whole Foods stores.
Here’s where the company’s Libertarian ways truly come to life ... individual stores have the autonomy to stock whatever products they desire so long as the ingredients in the products adhere to these quality standards. The Whole Foods executive team trusts its stores to qualify and disqualify the products they sale.
Yet, Whole Foods is unable to trust its executives to qualify and disqualify how they can participate in online conversations about the company they work for. Interesting. Seems to me, the Libertarian answer to all of this is to develop a Blogging Standards Policy for every employee to follow. There are examples galore of corporate blogging guidelines for Whole Foods to use as a starting point.
However, I hope this spurs more Whole Foods Market team members (company term for “employees”) to blog on a company website blog or on a blog they create outside of the company. At the least, every Whole Foods Market location should have a company blog on the Whole Foods Website. And at the very, very least … Whole Foods should have a rich internal blog or some other internal online forum where team members can learn from one another and from those higher-up execs who have been barred from such online conversations outside of the company’s blog moat.
Sure, the company has an informative and snazzy cooking video blog called SECRET INGREDIENT as well a handful of podcasts and blogs. But there is so much more opportunity for Whole Foods Market to share their unique point-of-view on food and the natural food difference.
Here’s hoping enthusiastic Whole Foods Market team members start their own blogs and share their passions for changing the way the world eats, shops, and enjoys food.
We all know cough syrup isn’t the best-tasting medicine. That’s why medicine companies have been introducing better-tasting concoctions loaded with sugar to help the medicine go down.
Not Buckley’s.
For years Buckley’s Cough Mixture, available in Canada since 1919, has been highlighting the fact their cough syrup tastes horrible, but it works. Print headlines in the past have been: ** People swear by it. And at it. ** Made with oil of Pine needles. What did you expect it to taste like? ** Your cough won't know what hit it, neither will you. **
Buckley’s is finally entering the US market and they aren’t backing down from their “tastes awful” positioning. TV spots include faux taste tests with blindfolded consumers asking them to tell the taste difference between Buckley’s vs. Used Mouthwash, Buckley’s vs. Trash Bag Leakage, Buckley’s vs. Public Restroom Puddle. Seriously. Click on the above links to watch the short commercials.
Here’s a snippet from one of Buckley’s radio spots:
"If you are inquiring about your cough mixture tasting like expired milk, trash-bag leakage, a postpedicure foot bath, a state fair porta-potty, decomposing meat fat, monkey sweat, used denture soak, New Jersey, or hippie-festival runoff, please hang up. Your cough will be gone shortly."
Buckley’s is also into the Consumer-Generated Media game asking people to submit videos of their first sip of the malicious cough mixture with their Bad Taste Tour contest. Troll YouTube and you’ll also see videos of people trying Buckley’s for the first time.
I applaud Buckley’s for accentuating the hate with their cough syrup. The easier path would have been to reformulate the cough syrup to taste better so as not to turn off customers. But by turning off customers, Buckley’s turns them on. Kudos to Buckley’s.
And Kudos to the Wall Street Journal for the heads-up.
Yeah I know ... lots of chatter about Employee-Generated Media (EGM) on the blog recently. There just happens to be a rash of instances lately. Here's another interesting example from QVC. (Yes, the home shopping channel.)
QVC recently launched an ad campaign centered around trying to own the letter "Q."
QVC is putting a lot of energy behind their customer-facing campaign to own the letter "Q" ... a new, bolder logo ... lots of stylish billboards ... an overhauled website. All this activity is focusing on the QUALITY aspect of hyping the QVC experience of Quality, Value, and Convenience.
Turns out this focus on owning the letter Q began as an internal marketing initiative in June 2006. All 13,000 QVC employees were given a logo t-shirt and given the challenge of getting the most spectacular product placement. The winning employee would get $10,000.
I'm not a fan of doing gimmicky stunts to capture customer attention. As a marketer, I much prefer to garner customer intention more than capture customer attention.
However, this Product Placement employee contest from QVC is a fun idea to tap into the creativity and ingenuity of employees. According to the New York Times, one QVC t-shirt wearing employee had their picture taken with Donovan McNabb, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, and that picture found its way on the Eagle's website.
QVC employee Peter Fey, brother of writer/actress Tina Fey, had his famous sister plug the t-shirt and QVC during an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. (Watch the Tina Fey/QVC video clip here.)
The winning QVC t-shirt product placement came from an employee who organized a belly flop contest for an autism charity. Each contestant wore the QVC t-shirt and a local TV station did a live stand-up from the event.
Fun stuff. I hope more companies entrust and encourage their employees to do similar things.
Tom Fishburne gets it. His marketing-minded comics are piercingly poignant. Especially this one:
