WOM10 - Word of Mouth on Steroids

Why Blog?

Written on January 21, 2012 by Blaine Millet in "Pull" marketing, "Push" marketing, Blogging, Engagement, Interaction, Market Differentiation, Passion, Relationships, Social Media, Storytelling

There are very few meetings I have where I don’t get asked this question when we start to talk about Social Media and developing a Word-of-Mouth Strategy. And I really appreciate people asking rather than just formulating their own ideas of why they should or shouldn’t. I was just asked this again yesterday so it motivated me to share some thoughts on the topic…

If you have hung around me much or read my blog/site you probably realize by now that I view blogging as the center piece of Social Media. But rather than dive into the myriad of reasons why this is a good idea (lots of topics for future blog posts on blogging), let me just share an example that might bring it all home for you.

Picture yourself at a cocktail party or some other gathering where you know some of the people but not all of them and you strike up a conversation. The mood is fun and relaxed and people are talking about lots of topics. One of your friends spots someone you don’t know and says, “I would like to introduce you to Sally,” and they motion for her to come over. After some small talk about how they know her, they say, “This is my friend Bob and I thought you two should meet since I think it would be helpful for the two of you to know each other based on what each of you do.” Then Sally says, “That’s great, thanks for the introduction, Bob tell me more about what you do?” The time has come…

Let me give you the two scenarios. First scenario is you start spouting off “feature, function, and benefit” about your business – you are essentially trying to remember all the things your marketing department wrote in your latest brochure, thinking this would adequately answer the question. At this point you see Sally’s eyes wandering the room looking for anyone else she wants to talk to and is thinking of a great excuse to leave this conversation and get away from you. Even the bad bean dip is starting to look more attractive at this point.

In the second scenario, you say, I am the CEO of XYZ company. But that is just my official title. If you don’t mind, I would love to share a little story with you that that might help you better understand my passion and real role in the company. Now you proceed to tell her more about the “why” than the “what or how” and share your emotional connection to your role. If you truly share this as a story, such as, “My passion actually started 5 years ago when something happened that changed my life…” you not only have her attention, she is begging to hear more and more. Her eyes aren’t wandering, in fact they are piercing through your skull as you share your passion and emotion about why you are doing what you do. Usually at this point, others are stopping by to listen in on the story as well…

Scenario One – traditional marketing and communication. Scenario Two – blogging.

Put yourself in your prospect and customers shoes for just a minute. Which scenario differentiates you more? Which scenario is something you would feel like sharing with others back at the office? Which scenario creates a connection to the person? Which scenario caused you to skip the bad bean dip at the party? Yesterday you didn’t have a choice, today you do…

0 Comments - 0 Comments - Tags: Blogging, Captivating, Connection, Emotion, Engaging, Passion, Sharing, Storytelling

Word-of-Mouth is the new Judge

Written on December 19, 2011 by Blaine Millet in Advocacy, Advocates, Authenticity, Customer Experience, Expectations, Social Media, Social Networking, Tools, Traditional Media, Transparency, Word-of-Mouth

Take a look at this list of companies ragan.com shared on their blog, “Report: The 5 Brands that could perish in 2012“, that might not make it through 2012 – very interesting list. It doesn’t really matter whether we all agree or not at this point, that is not the point of this post. The point is that it doesn’t really matter in some cases what the facts are as much as the opinions of your audience.

The interesting part to point out is what is really going on here. It isn’t about their operations, it isn’t about their employees, it isn’t about the traditional reasons why companies used to fail in the ‘old days’ (before social media). It is about “what people are saying about them” that is causing this potential demise. Someone didn’t handle this right so because there are “tools” (like facebook, twitter, blogs, Digg, etc.) easily available to the general (voting) public, they are getting trashed.

You might say this isn’t fair – and I can’t speak to whether it is or isn’t. But what I can speak to is that it is happening, with our without their participation. If they get brought down it won’t be because they all of a sudden started making a crappy product. It will because their audience of consumers aren’t happy with certain aspects of their company and they are “talking” about it (loudly) on the social networks and others are joining in. The people have a (very powerful) voice today because of social media and are happy to share their thoughts and opinions freely.

All companies have issues and problems – everything doesn’t always run smoothly (despite what they tell you). The key for the future will be how well you handle this in the “new airwaves” of social media – not the older traditional airwaves. If you get behind an issue and become more transparent and authentic and invite your audience to participate rather than try to control them you will ultimately win. People are looking to be on your “team” not just be your adversaries. Companies are good at creating adversaries – but the future lies in their ability to create “advocates” and positive word-of-mouth.

0 Comments - 0 Comments - Tags: Advocates, Opinions, Perspectives, PR, Public Relations, The NEW Judge, Word-of-Mouth

When should you “blog”?

Written on December 12, 2011 by Blaine Millet in Best Practices, Blogging, CEO, Passion, Social Media, Storytelling

Getting to work with lots of CEOs, Business Owners, and Top Executives gives me an “inside view” of what they talk about and think about when they are using social media. One area more and more are getting into is “blogging” – yes blogging.

As you have heard me talk about over and over, I firmly believe blogging is the “cornerstone” to social media – if for no other reason than it is the only place you can still write in paragraphs instead of 140 characters. It is also the only way I have found where people (our audience) really get to know you – from a transparent and inside perspective so they can see what you are passionate about. The two key elements required for blogging are PASSION and STORIES. You can be mediocre as a writer but if the audience feels your passion and you have some good stories from your experiences, you will be great as a blogger.

This leads me to the point of this blog post – when should someone blog? Maybe the real question should be “when shouldn’t you blog”? If you approach blogging correctly, there isn’t a day that goes by that you don’t see or experience something you can blog about. When you are out with customers, talking to employees, hearing about new ways to approach an issue, hearing about the successes of other companies not in your industry, hearing from your industry experts, attending a speech, and the list goes on and on. We are exposed to these every day so the opportunity is certainly there.

But you can’t just drop everything and blog whenever you want – doesn’t work that way. But what you can do is “capture the idea” at the moment you have it and save it for when you do have more time to blog about it. I use Microsoft OneNote. It is probably the best product Microsoft ever created because it works the way I work – bits and pieces at a time. But whatever your system, capture the thought when you have it and then come back to it when you can. Give yourself some time. Block out 30 – 60 minutes when you can engage fully without interruptions. When you do, you won’t just write one post, you will write several because you will be “in the blogging zone” for a while.

Don’t beat yourself up for not blogging every day. Decide how many posts you can write a week, generally that is one or maybe two, and then capture content along the way and give yourself a small block of time to finish. If you try to do parts of a post every day you will fail. To not be frustrated, capture ideas and blog when you have some time – put it on the calendar. But if you didn’t capture your ideas ahead of time, you will be like most of the other bloggers (65% of blogs fail in first 6 months) and sit there looking at your computer screen asking, “What am I going to blog about this week?” At that point, you are most likely going to be part of the 65% that fail. CAPTURE, SCHEDULE, BLOG, ENJOY!

0 Comments - 0 Comments - Tags: Advocacy, Blogging, Engaging, Execution, Scheduling time, Stories

Word-of-Mouth is part of your DNA – not a “campaign”

Written on December 6, 2011 by Blaine Millet in "Pull" marketing, Advocacy, Advocates, Best Practices, Brand, Business Strategy, Leadership, Market Differentiation, Marketing, Passion, Results, Strategy, Word-of-Mouth, Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Sales are down, the product isn’t moving, we need more customers/clients, we have a new product/service to launch, and a host of other issues face business leaders every day. When these happen, many decide it is time to do something about it and will say, “We need to get some “Word-of-Mouth” going out there to make this happen.” Sound familiar?

Why Word-of-Mouth instead of another ad campaign or more radio spots or direct mail or some other type of campaign. Because while a business might not have a “Word-of-Mouth Strategy” in place, they do know that it is the lowest cost and highest return marketing anyone can deploy. And today, with the advent of New Media (social media) it has the potential to go “viral” and really create some nice exposure and returns.

But what everyone seems to miss and doesn’t understand is that Word-of-Mouth is not a “campaign” to get started, it is what you build over time because of who you are and what you are about – the DNA of your business.

Having people talk about you consistently, proactively, and regularly is a STRATEGY, not a CAMPAIGN. It’s doing things like demonstrating how much you really care and take care of your customers and employees. It’s “arming” your audience with really helpful, relevant, and insightful content they can freely share through either new media or just by talking to people. It’s creating a foundation of trusted relationships that cause more of your audience (customers and non-customers) to become your Advocates. This is what Word-of-Mouth is all about – the harder stuff that becomes the most valuable asset you can own.

Because at the end of the day, if you have more advocates than your competitors, more people in your audience “proactively” talking more about you than anyone else, deliver on your promises better than anyone else, and create a truly memorable experience – YOU WIN. It’s really that simple. But this becomes your DNA, not your next marketing campaign…

0 Comments - 0 Comments - Tags: Business DNA, Leadership, Marketing Campaigns, Strategic, Word-of-Mouth

WOM is leveraged through ADVOCATES

Written on December 5, 2011 by Blaine Millet in Advocacy, Advocates, Best Practices, Customer Experience, Customer Focused, Customer Loyalty, Customer Satisfaction, Market Differentiation, Marketing, Passion, WOM10, Word-of-Mouth, Word-of-Mouth Marketing

I wrote a blog post on one of my other blogs called, “Have you “THANKED” your ADVOCATES today?” because I am so passionate about Advocacy. Then it struck me, this would be worth talking about on our WOM10 site as well. Because at the end of the day, the greatest Word-of-Mouth you can get is from your ADVOCATES…

Think about this simple formula and see if it doesn’t make sense to you as you think about creating more Word-of-Mouth.

If people feel good about who you are as a professional and the service you have delivered to them, they will be satisfied. Satisfied people don’t proactively to out of their way to tell others about you. They are satisfied, that’s it.

If someone thinks about you and what you do as memorable or exceptional or incredibly insightful (bordering on being a thought leader) then they want to tell others about you. This is regardless of whether it is a current customer – Advocates DON’T have to be a customer. An advocate is simply someone that is passionate and trusting about who you are and what you do and they want to tell others about you…proactively.

They do this because, for selfish reasons, it makes them look good to associate with this type of individual. Putting the selfish reasons aside, they also want to talk about you because they feel you can be helpful to their colleagues, customers, or friends. This “DESIRE” coupled with “ACTION” to share information about you turns them into an advocate. On their own, and without prompting, they will literally share this information with others. This is POWERFUL and what makes an Advocate.

To really reach the pinnacle of Word-of-Mouth, you simply need advocates. So take the time, as I talked about in my post on The New Advocate during this time of year to thank those special few who trust you and feel you are worth talking about. You can’t buy this kind of marketing – because it is the only type that is about YOU, not about the DEAL.

0 Comments - 0 Comments - Tags: Advocacy, Advocate, Helping, Sharing, The New Advocate, Word-of-Mouth

Thanksgiving is a great teacher for social…

Written on November 25, 2011 by Blaine Millet in "Pull" marketing, "Push" marketing, Blogging, Helping, Passion, Social Media, Storytelling, Word-of-Mouth

When we think about Thanksgiving, what thoughts are the ones that immediately come to mind? Is it the big dinner, the eating ALL day, the football games, seeing family you might not have seen for a while, planning for your Black Friday shopping trip, or just another day off from work? While it can be all of these, let me offer up a different “serving” of something to consider…

One thing I know for certain is regardless of which item(s) you picked from the list above, stories will be told. Stories about what went on last week, last month, during the year, and even beyond. They will be told by young and old, single and married. Stories upon stories about everything imaginable. This is what makes us “social” and what people want to hear.

When you get up tomorrow and think about your involvement in social media, is it about the stories you heard yesterday at the dinner table or is it about “broadcasting” something about yourself or your company…again? I would challenge you to think about what people “enjoy” hearing about and will take time to listen and read. They want your stories, not your “commercials”. They want to learn and be entertained and be better off for reading what you just wrote rather than feeling they wasted their time.

Think about Thanksgiving every day of the year and what happened during that day…stories. People telling others interesting, thoughtful, helpful, insightful, compelling stories that you were attentive to and enthralled by as you listened. This is what gets “shared” and “talked about”…this is what gets spread via “word-of-mouth”. This is the gold behind what makes social media so powerful and so engaging…the stories that people normally don’t get to hear unless they were at your house for Thanksgiving (or anywhere else where you might be telling these stories).

When people ask me why their content, regardless of social channel, isn’t shared – the answer is usually pretty easy. Because what you wrote about wasn’t like the Thanksgiving story, it was another “commercial” about you. This doesn’t get shared…Thanksgiving dinner stories do.

0 Comments - 0 Comments - Tags: Helping, Sharing, Stories, Thanksgiving, Word-of-Mouth

HAPPY THANKSGIVING…

Written on November 24, 2011 by Blaine Millet in Uncategorized

It’s Thanksgiving morning and the house is perfectly quiet, other than the dogs wandering around in anticipation of all the food falling on the floor during the day. My den is my quiet place, my place to think and create. And today, it is my place of reflection…reflection on just how blessed I am with…

0 Comments - 0 Comments -

Leveraging the most powerful sales tool you have…

Written on November 10, 2011 by Blaine Millet in "Pull" marketing, Advocates, Best Practices, Word-of-Mouth, Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Have you ever gotten a new client or new sale because of Word-of-Mouth? Of course you have, we all have. It is, without question, the best way to get a we client or customer. Not only is it your “lowest cost of sale” when you calculate how much it costs you to get a new…

0 Comments - 0 Comments - Tags: Advocacy, Best Practices, Word-of-Mouth

Is your audience “sharing” or “deleting” your content?

Written on September 27, 2011 by Blaine Millet in "Pull" marketing, "Push" marketing, Best Practices, Engagement, Marketing, Mind Shift, Social Media, Storytelling, Viral Marketing, WOM on Steroids

I was meeting with a prospective client today who is in a “laggard” industry in regard to social media adoption, but wants to try and “lead the pack” and venture into the use of social media – good for them! This isn’t a story about that – much bigger topic for a future post. Nope,…

0 Comments - 0 Comments - Tags: "Pull" Marketing, "Push" Marketing, Best Practices, Engage, Helping, Insights, marketing, Perspective, Pimping, Sharing