May 2005
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When deciding the best way to reach men who were most at risk for prostate cancer, advocacy group Prostate Net enlisted the help of someone who knows them best -- their barber. Prostate Net enlisted barbers in more than 800 barbershops to hand out brochures, direct men to free prostate screenings, and dispense good health advice. The program successfully leveraged the barber's role in a typical man's life as a trusted source of good counsel and information.
THE LESSON: A good idea spreads faster when it comes from someone you trust.
THE SECOND LESSON: If you're a man and are at least 40, get your prostate checked.
More info:
http://www.prostate-online.org/barbershop/index.html
Hershey's recently promoted its new Take 5 candy by giving away 5 million chocolate bars to anyone who signed up by midnight on ... you guessed it, 05/05/05. The company spread the word quickly by using a "tell a friend" strategy: when one person signed up to receive a free candy bar, the recipient was prompted to send an invitation for a free candy bar to five friends. This was smart on Hershey's part, as it turned spreading word of mouth into a friendly act of giving a gift.
THE LESSON: To get the best results, make spreading word of
mouth a fun and friendly activity.
More info:
http://www.womma.org/content/hersheys.pdf
How much do a few evangelists contribute to a company's revenue stream? A case study from ComBlu details how only five customer evangelists were responsible for generating $200,000 in sales (35-40% of its total revenue) for one liquor store in Chicago. What's remarkable is that these evangelists were not hired by the store or enrolled in any special loyalty program. Instead, these evangelists educated and helped other customers simply because of their passionate love of wine.
THE LESSON: The best evangelists are the ones who talk about your product because they love it.
More info:
http://www.womma.org/content/comblu_wine.pdf
Emanuel Rosen: 5 Common Buzz Marketing Misconceptions
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Customunity Launches Free Social Networking Platform
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WebProNews: Lead Generation Via Industry Experts
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Job: TheLadders.com (New York, NY) is seeking a Director of
Brand to manage all aspects of brand
positioning and to raise awareness through tactics
including buzz marketing. Send resume to
careers@theladders.com.
Job: Sears (Hoffman Estates, IL) is seeking an Affiliate
Marketing Manager to manage its affiliate marketing
program, online media campaigns and word-of-mouth online
marketing program. Go to Sears.com for hiring info.
Job: Wiredset (New York, NY) is seeking summer marketing
interns to facilitate online grassroots marketing efforts
using viral marketing techniques. Send resume to
grant@wiredset.com.
>> Make a new hire? Have an open WOM, viral, or buzz job
opening? E-mail editor@womma.org and let us know!
The wedding industry has been transformed by TheKnot.com
faster than a runaway bride. Perspective brides and grooms
go to the site's message boards to share tips, post rave
reviews, or vent scathing critiques. The influence this
online community has on wedding-related businesses cannot
be ignored or downplayed. Vendors both small and large are
finding their fortunes made or broken by a single comment.
While they are not allowed to post directly to the site,
vendors can point out erroneous postings to forum
moderators and request they be removed.
THE LESSON: Ignore online communities at your peril. Ask
your customers to spread the word for you.
Learn more...
Reports of unauthorized "leaks" have increased in recent
months, raising suspicions that companies are deceptively
involved in order to create buzz. Photos of the top secret
XBox360 gaming console, for instance, leaked through a
gaming site run by a Microsoft-affiliated marketing firm
and a broadcast-quality version of the pilot episode of the
new "Doctor Who" TV series appeared on file-sharing
networks weeks before its premiere. Both Microsoft and the
BBC denied any wrongdoing, but consumers are suspicious and
will naturally assume the company is behind it anyway.
Credibility is a little hard to come by, since both have
profited with favorable word of mouth and huge ratings.
THE LESSON: It's important to make sure leaking doesn't
cross the line into deception or manipulation.
Gearlive: Microsoft and the XBox360
BBC News: Doctor Who
To promote the cult horror movie Oldboy, FanPimp created a community site called The Hand. More than just a promotional site, fans of the obscure Asian film genre are challenged to become actively involved by supporting topics, respond to polls, and developing their own content. Members also earn points for activities like downloading a flyer for a movie, hanging it up in a public space, and then posting a photo of it. These points then can be redeemed for prizes like DVD's, t-shirts, and posters.
THE LESSON: Community sites can be about much more than just getting together to chat. Figure out ways to inspire your community to become active and involved.
Learn more
Motorcycle manufacturer Vespa hopes to capitalize on its
huge fan base and build an iPod-like following by launching
two lifestyle blogs in June. Four bloggers will be enlisted
to evangelize Vespa and scootering in general. Each of the
bloggers, while unpaid, will receive access to Vespa
promotional products and will be required to write about
the company at least once a week. Vespa has indicated it
will maintain complete transparency on the blogs, which
form the key component of a larger integrated campaign
including PR, lifestyle-oriented search engine keyword
buys, and ads on other blogs.
THE LESSON: Will semi-volunteer bloggers pass the
credibility test?
More info:
http://www.vespablogs.com
Harvard Business School: Listen to your Customers or Go with your Gut?
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Guerilla Marketing: What WOM is and what it isn't
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Job: eHarmony.com (Pasadena, CA) is seeking a Director of
Marketing Programs/Product Marketing to lead the company's
consumer analysis and database segmentation projects and
oversee its viral marketing programs. Send resume to
jobs@eharmony.com.
>> Make a new hire? Have an open WOM, viral, or buzz job
opening? E-mail editor@womma.org and let us know!
Consumers can create near-professional quality and advertising, whether the guardians of a company's brand and messaging like it or not. Thanks to new, relatively simple tools for digital production and distribution, consumers now regularly take corporate content and repurpose it in entirely new ways.
MotiveQuest's Kerry Stranman has compiled a "best of" list of Consumer-Created Media. Check out some examples of what's out there now.
More info:
http://www.womma.org/content/consumercreatedcontent.pdf
Marketing consultant Auren Hoffman invited 100 of the most well-connected names in Silicon Valley to sample free high-tech gear and then communicate about it. Following the successful introduction of the first product (a French bidet), Hoffman began charging manufacturers a fee for putting free products in front of the group. Dubbed the Silicon Valley 100, it has become a regular forum for introducing products to influential consumers. Only 15% are regular bloggers, and most were selected because they meet many people everyday and are more apt to exchange ideas in person.
THE LESSON: Creating a network of influencers is not hard. It's as simple as asking a group of people if they will look at your product.
More info:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6852842/site/newsweek/
Face to face conversation is still the strongest medium for word of mouth. That was the conclusion of a study conducted by NOP World and United Business Media on the source of word of mouth exchanges. 80% of consumers indicated they make recommendations mainly in face to face encounters, followed by 68% over the telephone and 37% via personal e-mail. Surprisingly, the numbers were even higher among those considered most influential: 90% for face to face and 53% for e-mail.
THE LESSON: Technology-based word of mouth gets all the good press, but the majority is still done in personal, face to face encounters.
Learn more
A very quick way to generate more word of mouth is to reward customer loyalty. Photo community site Flickr recently unveiled a new fee structure following its acquisition by Yahoo. Instead of raising prices and dropping its free offering, Flickr announced it would immediately double capacity for its free account and reward current Pro users (paying members) with an extra year of service at no extra charge.
THE LESSON: When you're making a controversial move, find a way to preempt negative word of mouth by taking care of your fans first.
More info:
http://blog.flickr.com/flickrblog/2005/04/new_prices_free.html
Job: Donordigital (Washington, DC) seeks director for
Washington office. Help leading non-profit organizations use e-mail and the Web for fundraising, advocacy, and marketing. Please send resume to jobs@donordigital.com.
Job: BzzAgent (Boston, MA) is seeking a Sales & Program Development Specialist to identify, pitch, and close programs for the company's word of mouth offerings. Interested parties can e-mail resume to jobs10@bzzagent.com.
>> Make a new hire? Have an open WOM, viral, or buzz job
opening? E-mail editor@womma.org and let us know!
Genuosity Launches Testimonial Collection Software to Automate Word of Mouth Marketing
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BusinessWeek: Blogs Will Change Your Business
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Houston Chronicle: Novelists Beg for Return of Oprah's Book Club
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