Doubt the value of WOM? CK shares a great analysis of a relatively recent McKinsey study of just HOW important WOM (word of mouth) is in the B2B buying process"Indeed, word of mouth is the primary factor behind 20 to 50 percent of all purchasing decisions. Its influence is greatest when consumers are buying a product for the first time or when products are relatively expensive, factors that tend to make people conduct more research, seek more opinions, and deliberate longer than they otherwise would."
4 "survival strategies"You need to do all of these, but you don't need to do all of these today. Instead, listen to the 4 of them and think about what makes the most sense for you today and focus on that. Then, you'll come back and tackle the rest.
1. Be Remarkable i. No one shares boring stuff with their friends or forwards boring emails to their networkThe best part? It's really easy to measure. If someone make a remark about it...it's remarkable. ii. Let's start off with a great example from EA Sports. They recognized an opportunity in what some would have considered an embarrasment.VIDEO-Tiger Woods video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ1st1Vw2kY&feature=related iii. So, you don't have a superstar under contract, you say?Fine...let's look at some other examples and, keep in mind, this is not just about what you can do online...it's about doing something remarkable every where and all the time.
. A Dandelion Marketing Culture i. One of the other benefits of the advent of the tools of social media is the fact that we can quickly and cheaply test a lot of things. Plus, we can get feedback on success or failure extremely quickly as well. What this means is that your marketing campaigns, which used to be 1 or 2 big ones per year, now become smaller, shorter, and faster. ii. Introduce idea of Dandelion...spread a lot of seeds so that some will thrive, knowing that most will die.
Monique Rogers - ARRC
. A Dandelion Marketing Culture i. One of the other benefits of the advent of the tools of social media is the fact that we can quickly and cheaply test a lot of things. Plus, we can get feedback on success or failure extremely quickly as well. What this means is that your marketing campaigns, which used to be 1 or 2 big ones per year, now become smaller, shorter, and faster. ii. Introduce idea of Dandelion...spread a lot of seeds so that some will thrive, knowing that most will die.
Welcome to Community Driven Marketing (identify, cultivate, activate)
. Rethink Targeting-the greatest influence on individuals is other people, aka Influencer Security Blanket"The word-of-mouth receiver must trust the sender and believe that he or she really knows the product or service in question. Typically, messages passed within tight, trusted networks have less reach but greater impact than those circulated through dispersed communities—in part, because there’s usually a high correlation between people whose opinions we trust and the members of networks we most value." Pasted from <http://www.ck-blog.com/cks_blog/2010/06/b2b-meet-buzz.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ck-Blog+%28CK%27s+Blog%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher> Duncan Watts says:“you're just as likely to spread a message or product by targeting a random group of consumers as you would by going after so-called influencers” i. The ROI on your efforts to engage influencersIn fact, this is what Watts and Dodds themselves say: ‘Whether or not the additional impact of influentials justifies paying special attention to them-versus, for example, focusing on some other groups, or even recruiting individuals at random-is therefore a matter that will depend, possibly delicately, on the various costs associated with different strategies, and the particular details of the influence network.” He continues that: “influentials-consist of about 15 percent of the population and are responsible for 30 percent of buzz, an acknowledgement that 70 percent of buzz is generated by non-hubs. This is important. It means that marketers should work on all fronts and that they can do a lot without first locating hubs.”http://jer979.com/igniting-the-revolution/influencers2/
Connect Like-Minded People to solidify the network1. Mike Spence1. Reed's Law2. Social Proof-Cialdini3. Like-minded people sell like-minded people
Activation1. "even a penny"...small gestures today lead to big gestures tomorrow (think the mailing labels that you get from charities)2. People are more likely to complete a task, if you’ve given them evidence that they have already started…3. NuryPlumley Story 1. 2. 99 Nury's