Chasing Goodness

Recently, the husband of one of my best friends (CEO at his company) asked me: “what is the value of word of mouth, and why should I care?” He explained that he was asking because his marketing team continues to ‘pester’ him about adding it as part of their communications mix.

Rather than review the stats that 90% of people will make purchase decisions because of the recommendations of friends or family – or even more powerful, that 70% of people will trust a stranger or online reviews over the brand message (Source: The Nielsen Company)  - I decided to turn the tables and ask him some questions.

As someone who is passionate about the goodness of word of mouth for any organization, I could not help feeling like this question was served to me on a ‘silver platter’! I simply asked him: what led you to purchase your new car? Of course he asked what that had to do with the conversation – but I asked him to stick with me. His response was: ‘One of the guys at work had one – he loves it and talks about constantly. So I decided to check it out.’ (Of course I wanted to say…..ta dah, that’s word of mouth!)  I followed that up with:  ‘after the test drive did you do any research?’ He responded:  ‘of course! I wasn’t going to buy the car just based on my employee’s experience. I went online to consumer reports to do a little research.’ (At this point, I am tempted to say ‘ah ha’ case closed, however I feel compelled to press on).

So I asked him one final question:  ‘how did you choose the new accounting software for your business?’  At this point he’s a little irritated with me and slowly responds:  ‘I don’t know why you need to know this.’ Nevertheless he responded:  ‘I was not fond of the sales rep or his pitch. However, I knew some colleagues in the industry who had upgraded to this software and were very happy with it. We are in a niche business so I wanted to make sure the package we chose was right for our business.  Oh, and I did a Google search to see what the consensus was from other businesses and CFOs actually using the system to get their feedback and reviews.  All of the info I could find was positive so we moved forward with the software.

At this point he said to: ‘are you ever going to answer my question or are we going to catalog my major purchases over the last few months?’ (Can you say cranky?) I smiled and responded:  ‘I think we have enough data to move on.’ With a puzzled look he leaned in to see where we were going next.

Now, having his attention, I responded:  ‘you have made two very large purchases over the last six weeks, personal and for business. And in both cases word of mouth has played a significant role.  And in both situations, you relied and trusted the experiences/reviews of friends, colleagues and strangers. In the instance of the new software package, you heavily relied on the reviews of strangers and colleagues.’

At this point – I fought the urge to pause for effect…. So I continued:  ‘John, this is the power of word of mouth. It is Word of Mouth that not only influenced your purchases but also gave you the confidence to move forward.

‘This is why you need to embrace word of mouth and why your marketing team wants to incorporate word of mouth into your marketing mix. As you are in a service industry, this approach could be very powerful. I am absolutely sure that you have customers that are very pleased with your services – this is why your marketing staff so wants to build a strategy that equips your customers to become evangelists for your business. And as you relied on strangers and friends to make your purchases, so is your target market.”

Word of mouth is one of the most powerful communications tools (especially in this age of social networking – the average Facebook user has 260 friends) and should be considered an integral part of any brand’s marketing/communications strategy. It can extend your reach, spread quickly, and provide real results. Are you equipping your employees, customers and friends to be your evangelists? If not you could be missing out on a real opportunity to extend your influence and grow your business!

It is a story that is played out in many little leagues across the country weekly. There is a young boy (let’s call him Jack) who despite his best efforts is just unable to get a hit. He has certainly made it on base, he’s drawn several walks and even been hit a few times. In spite of his meager batting average, he remains enthusiastic and enjoys the team and the game. On this particular Saturday, there’s nothing remarkable – it’s not the last game of the season, it’s not two out and bases loaded – it’s just Jack’s turn to bat.

Jack steps into the batter’s box and the first pitch comes in….swing and a miss.  The next pitch comes in and it’s low and outside. The third pitch sails in:  Jack swings and thump - it’s a hit! At this point, no one is more in shock than Jack. His dad and his coach begin yelling, “Run, run, run!” It takes a couple of seconds but Jack begins to run, rounds first and makes it to second.  Everyone on the team and in the stands is cheering. It doesn’t really matter at this point if they win or lose; everyone is excited that Jack got a hit and made it on base.

As they are leaving the field, Jack’s dad proudly says: “Great hit son, great hit!”

The he asks: “What did you do differently today?” Jack’s answer was quite a surprise; “Dad I did what I always do – step into the batter’s box, take my practice swing, watch the pitcher carefully and as the ball leaves his glove, I close my eyes and swing as hard as I can.” At this point the dad asks in a puzzled tone, “Son why do you close your eyes?” And Jack confidently responds, “Isn’t that what everyone does?”

This is a scenario played out in various companies as well every day. They decide they need to get in the game: social media. And they in essence close their eyes and hope for the best. They set up a Facebook page or a Twitter account and start broadcasting without any rhyme or reason. And then they wonder why their community/audience is not growing. They do not have a plan or strategy; they just start posting, hoping that, if they build it, the audience will come.

Simply put, this will not work. The companies who are succeeding today are moving beyond social media; they are moving toward a social business model and their social strategy is what the experts would refer to as ‘social by design’. They have more than a plan – they have a strategy.  They have a cadence of communications designed to inform, engage and drive word of mouth.

Over the next few posts, we will discuss what are the key the elements of a successful strategy, and what it is meant by social business. We will discuss what drives word of mouth and why it is important. Or how do you make your social brand architecture irresistible?