THINKing

With Word of Mouth Marketing, Few Talk. Where are the Others?

January 4, 2008 on 4:55 pm | In Marketing | 2 Comments

Seth Godin, in his blog today, likens the one percent of consumers who speak out about a brand to the few who vote in the Iowa Caucus. They are the ones willing to speak out, for positive or for negative reasons.

What about the other 99 percent who are quiet? Isn’t it our goal as marketers to get them to speak up and speak positively? Wouldn’t they be the greatest growth market for those like us who market products or services?

Seth implores: “Figure out how to get them out there. Cajole them to go to a caucus.”

On the other side of the figurative coin, Adweek offers a long-winded piece on “evangelical citizen marketers” – or college students hired to pretend they like certain stuff. Yep.

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http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com Jason Falls

Nice post, Mark. It’s amazing how advertisers think they know word of mouth marketing and can just wave magic wands and impassioned citizen marketers come about. I happen to work at the agency that helped create the Maker’s Mark Ambassador’s program, one of the long-held gold standards in WOM.

The key isn’t building buzz, positioning people to talk about your brand and pounding viral crap at them until their sick. The key is letting go of your brand, giving it to the consumers, but telling them you expect them to go out and spread the gospel. Yes, you need to give them tools. Yes, there’s plenty of strategy involved. But in the end, it’s all about ownership. Citizen marketers aren’t made. They raise their hand. They do so because you give them a piece of the pie and say, “We’re in this together, you and me. Now how are we going to figure this out?”

Genuine communities of people can’t be made by a wad of copywriters and art directors dreaming up stuff to throw at them. Communities of brand ambassadors are made by giving them a seat at the table.

Great post and observations!
http://www.onequartlow.com/WordPress/ Tommy

Although not one to usually disagree with Seth, I’m not sure the political analogy works quite the same way, though I understand the similarities and it does give some food for thought now doesn’t it? Why did Iowa’s turnout rate increase 80% this year? What makes people stand up and take notice? What propels people to participate? This may in fact be the philosophical heart of business and marketing. Powerful stuff!

T