Media Clutter ? Try building a word of mouth program instead !

With evolving consumer preferences and media habits – and consumers spending an ever increasing  time on their smartphones and on the internet, gaining their attention and building brand propositions and equity had made life only tougher for marketers. It’s a given therefore, that the inclusion and integration of new mediums in marketing plans can’t be ignored. However, merely having a spend plan that integrates all new mediums to reach out your core message to prospective customers isn’t enough; especially when there is a need to differentiate and gain consumer traction rapidly.

To supplement conventional communication efforts in building a positive association and context for the brand, it becomes imperative for brands to also invest in building word of mouth for the brand. This is especially important for businesses and brands that seek to challenge the status quo or wish to influence deeply ingrained consumer habits; though it’s proven to be as useful for brands that simply seek to up their shares in highly competitive contexts.

Building word of mouth is not as easy or as simple as having a great product or service that your consumers like and then spontaneously talk about. In an increasingly cluttered and noisy world, it requires a dedicated and structured program with multiple interventions, initiatives and a sound understanding of the cascading network effects that could be achieved.

Research indicates that consumers especially millennials, are in active ad avoidance mode. They switch channels on TV and radio, block ads on the internet and on their smartphones or get into similar ad avoidance behaviour across other mediums. Most see ads as an unwanted disruption and headache that they can live without. Their preference is increasingly moving to content that they can download and consume ad free at their convenience. Conventional ad heavy media options are increasingly out of sync with this changing reality. On the other hand is growing evidence of the staggering growth of personalised feedback and recommendations shared by friends, family, colleagues esp on social media platforms. Whether you intend to try a new restaurant, or buy a new washing machine or a food brand to makes you lose weight, a word from a friend or acquaintance can make a big difference.  At the core of this phenomenon is the broad understanding that – we as human beings are social creatures who love to share; boast; display; project etc . What is undeniable is that we do tend to trust and believe the personalised feedback and comments so shared as objective, non-partisan and without the associated commercial trappings of paid advertising.  

It is in this context that service businesses (retail, hospitality etc ) and new product businesses can benefit immensely by operating programs that systematically channel the writer, photographer and critic that social media has made us all. After all, we as consumers do get tickled by knowledge and by whats’ new and interesting - more than by forms of paid advertising. Additionally, there is implicit trust in the information so shared. The crux of a word of mouth program therefore rests on credible consumer generated content.

The guiding principle behind building a word of mouth or advocacy program is to turn your consumers into influencers by channelling their individual energy and interest in your brand and providing platforms for them to share the same with other like-minded consumers. As the owner of the program, the business or brand needs to continuously provide relevant insights, inputs and in general the fuel to inspire, educate, excite and intrigue customers in equal measure. Customers have a way to imbibe what the brand shares & layer this with their own experiences. They generate it as their own content and share it with their extended families on social platforms as well as in one on one interactions.

The role of the brand is to manage and facilitate this process.

How to go about creating Positive Word of Mouth

1.      Identify target segments that are most likely to share experiences and generate  content

Lets say, your brand targets a chosen demographic - of (say) urban women, 25 -50 years old belonging to upper socio economic segments. From this – basis your brand needs, you could identify specific psychographic segments that are more likely to benefit and share your brand with others. For instance, you could chose women who are in their mid-thirties and are highly health and fitness conscious and lead an active lifestyle as well as those who are in their mid-forties but more affluent and prefer brands that showcase their status as TG.

2. Put a Structure in Place

To avoid making appear your content and program as adhoc and inconsistent, it is important to put in place a structure to generate continuous content that is relevant to your target customers. This structure should encompass

(a)  Activities and events that are staged offline in the real world. This diverse blend of activities can include performances, lectures, talks, demonstrations, one on ones with celebrities, celebrity appearances, wine & cheese evenings, fun events for kids or whatever that’s relevant to the brand & the business.

(b) A list of influencers – A list should be drawn up and could include celebrities, experts and everyday people who resonate with your customers and who you could work with. These could be journalists, public figures, bloggers, social media stars, chefs, nutritionists, doctors, fitness experts, fashionistas or even fans of the brand with a large following on social platforms.

Experts should ideally be those who are seen as objective, trustworthy and as thought leaders by customers; not those who are seen to be making recommendations due to monetary considerations. So film and sports celebrities must be used judiciously and sporadically. Also, they should be from fields that are relevant to customers and to your business. To be able to work with them over time, its important that we understand their area of expertise as much as we expect them to understand our business.

A diverse set of influencers – say a mix of celebrities, social media experts, and domain experts can be a potent combination to build strong network effects.

(c) A consistent tonality and defined zone for content – As brand owners we should define the broad contours in which content must operate and make all effort to keep it relevant & unique. Brands willing to walk this path must look at themselves as thought leaders and be honest in their tonality and in ensuring authenticity of content being shared.

3. Grow your fans and Social Media Community over time with consistent and Relatable content

Don’t be in a hurry to accumulate fans and followers overnight. Cultivate them over time.

The easiest way to directly communicate with your audience and get them talking as well is via social platforms. But for this to happen, just having a page on the social networks is not enough. The trick is to use a consistent approach to dish out relevant content regularly, in a manner that is friendly, not preachy and humanises the brand, and makes it more relatable. It should get your fans talking.

For content that is non-activity based, it is best to focus it around different themes so that different pieces over the next week or fortnight don’t start looking disjointed , making customers wonder what your brand stands for.

While you are engaged in growing your base of followers, one area you should be wary of is acquiring customers through excessive paid promotions. My own experience is that for sharply positioned brands, paid acquisitions end up targeting and acquiring large sets of customers who don’t necessarily relate to the brand and thus serve no real in getting influenced or influencing others.  However, it’s a great option for brands targeting the large mass of consumers.

4. VARM your customers, fans and followers

a)      Value them - Show your customers that you value them and their contribution by acknowledging and viraling good content generated by them.

b)      Acknowledge their achievements as much as you would like them to acknowledge your special achievements and milestones. This has to go beyond wishing them on their birthdays and anniversaries. Integrate with their lives. Build stronger one-to-one relationships with your customers; and buzz will follow naturally.

c)      Responsive - Make your platforms as aggressively responsive as possible. Nothing irks customers more than delayed responses. A well-handled complaint, irrespective of the issue is more likely to keep customers happy and engaged and talking positively about your brand or service.

d)      Make them feel privileged - Invite select few to preview your new content before it becomes public or invite them to your events and programs or get them to try your new products or services before they are out in the public domain. The feeling of being part of an exclusive set and being recognised is something that gets their creative juices flowing and gets them to actively engage in generating positive content and sharing it happily on their walls online and with their friends offline.

Word of mouth marketing can be highly effective and relatively inexpensive if it’s part of a larger integrated content strategy.

5. Create and maximise Network Effects

To be able to maximise the impact, you could plan a mix of offline events and social media activities running sequentially and sometimes concurrently. The target is to have different sets of your target consumers and fans talk about your brand and help build its equity distinctly.

For instance, for say an apparel retail business, or for a cosmetic retail store or an upmarket furniture or gourmet retail business, you could

(a) Content themes - have your regular social media content themes centred around your specific product lines, new launches, your sourcing approach or the refined nature of your products or about how to choose fine products from the rest etc etc. Run contests regularly to keep customers interested and your brand on top of their mind

(b) Experts - you can intersperse this social platform activity by getting domain experts (say every month) to conduct live demos in your stores and one on ones with customers. These demos themselves need not be drab. These could be exciting sessions where keen customers  actually learn a trick or two.  But the trick here lies in milking every event – before, during and post the event both offline (through leaflets, newspaper listings etc) as well as online.

c) Events / Evenings - In some months you may wish to either skip these demos or just add onto them say a wine and cheese evening for your social media stars and keen customers or a super celeb to visit your stores or endorse a product line or two.

d) Surprise Events - Keep the interest alive by surprise events and news of sightings of stars (from films, sports, Tv world etc) at your stores.

e) Needless to say, whatever you do offline, take the pain to viral the same online.

f) Changes in your policies and promotions must be actively disseminated on your platforms to allow customers to both know about it as well as discuss it if need be.

A consistent, transparent and exciting approach to building word of mouth helps create multiple ripples across diverse consumer segments and generates for the brand a wave of support sooner than later.