Re: Negative Word-of-Mouth

Next week at the Word-of-Mouth BASIC TRAINING Conference in New Orleans, I’m hosting a lunch networking session addressing pertinent and prevalent word-of-mouth marketing issues. (BTW, there is still time to register for this can't-miss conference.) One of the five issues we will address is negative word-of-mouth produced by the “venom of crowds.” I’ll be framing up the conversation for the negative word-of-mouth issue this way …

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WHAT’S THE DEAL
“The most common managerial objection I hear about word of mouth marketing is ‘What if someone says something bad?’” (SOURCE: WORD OF MOUTH MARKETING: How Smart Companies Get People Talking [Kaplan, 2006])

“Negative word-of-mouth is also an invaluable source of feedback for the product, brand, and company. It is very possible to run focus groups, do test marketing and in-home consumer interviews, and still not discover how consumers are going to communicate about the product as they use it and integrate it into their lives.” (SOURCE: GRAPEVINE : The New Art of Word-of-Mouth Marketing [Portfolio, 2006])

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REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
Dell Computer has taken many punches online from blogging pundits. The punches have ranged from bloggers ripping Dell for poor customer service (“Dell Hell” incident), for introducing a boring company blog (Direct2Dell), and for the "laptop on fire” incident at conference in Japan. All three topics have produced considerable negative word-of-mouth for Dell.

However, Dell listened and despite receiving a river of criticism, the company forged ahead with its online social media marketing activities. Dell listened so well to bloggers criticizing the company for not being authentic and transparent that in February 2007, it launched IdeaStorm, a website designed to solicit ideas from customers on ways Dell can improve its offerings.

The Dell IdeaStorm website “… represents a new way to listen to customers on how to build the best products and services. It is an online community where customers can post their ideas on technology and Dell products, services and operations. The community will vote for the best ideas and discuss the ideas with other users. Dell will share the ideas throughout its organization to trigger new thoughts and evolve everything that is done at the company.” (SOURCE: DELL Press Release, Feb. 16, 2007)

Dell is actively monitoring this website and has already put a few of the submitted ideas into action. For example, Dell received requests to blog in different languages and as of March 19, Dell is blogging in Chinese. The most popular idea Dell has received is offering better support to Linux users. In response, Dell posted a survey about Linux offerings and based upon the findings, Dell is now pursuing specific ways to better support Linux users. (SOURCE: DELL online update, March 28, 2007)

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REAL WORLD LEARNINGS
Companies can convert critics by giving up some control and giving in to participating in the conversation. It seems Dell is turning the corner with regards to its online reputation. Is Dell’s reputation pristine now? No. But Dell is showing other businesses that if you listen to detractors and show detractors that you are listening, then negative word-of-mouth can negated.

Because of Dell’s actions, we have a four-point blueprint for reversing negative word of mouth:

1. Listen to the conversation.
If you’ve done your job as a marketer, someone somewhere is talking about your company. Dell listened to both the conversation online and offline.

2. Participate in the conversation.
As author and blog consultant Debbie Weil says, “Blog or be blogged.” Conversation is already happening about your company online and offline, you might as well join in. Dell created the Direct2Dell blog and the IdeaStorm to participate in the conversation.

3. Don’t try to win the debate.
When you join the conversation, tell your side of the story. Write for the record. But don’t try to win every point in the online debate. That’s futile and will only amplify the heckling. Dell is doing its part to be more transparent and address issues directly and honestly.

4. Show you are listening.
By addressing hot-button ideas head-on, companies can show customers they are listening. Dell is showing its customers they are listening by acting upon the ideas to blog in other languages and to offer more support for Linux users. (SOURCE: adapted from WORD OF MOUTH MARKETING : How Smart Companies Get People Talking [Kaplan, 2006])

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WHY THIS MATTERS
"One determined detractor can do as much damage as 100,000 positive mentions can do good. In the same way that we need to understand who the positive influencers are, it is becoming even more critical to identify and manage determined detractors."
(SOURCE: Paul Rand, Ketchum managing director, NY Times article, Dec. 27, 2004)

"The blogosphere is new and unproven in the marketing mix, but its influence is growing quickly. There are several hundred million highly opinionated, wired people around the world who want to share their thoughts. Now, they can. Some very confident marketers will embrace blogs as a way of engaging in, or enabling, a direct (and public) dialogue with customers and between customers. For many, this is too risky a proposition.”
(SOURCE: Mark Kingdom, CEO at Organic, ClickZ online article, Feb. 1, 2005)

"Citizen marketers are to corporate marketers as chiropractors are to medical doctors. The two often seem to be in competition but could accomplish great things if they worked together. What would happen if citizen marketers and corporate marketers worked together? Some corporate marketers see citizen marketers as people who topple carefully made plans for messaging and positioning, but I don’t believe the opposite is true. What many citizen marketers would like is a greater level of openness and pathways to participation from the company in question.”
(SOURCE: Ben McConnell, TalentZoo online article, Feb. 21, 2007)

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GROUP EXERCISE
(Based off this setup, a networking exercise will be given to WOMMA Conference attendees during a lunch session. Come play along by attending this marketing shindig.)

Comments

[Sarah]

Great Article! Thank you for the information.

[KMF Kamal]

Great article - companies seem to have a problem distinguishing between the brand image they try to portray and the actual brand - what consumers think of them.

If I were a brand manager, I would relish a forum of criticism in order to better understand my brand.