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WOMM-U Miami: Stellar Day One -- Next Up, Day Two!

Today's WOMMA Word is a special Word of Mouth Marketing University edition. Yesterday we kicked off WOMMA's educational, information-packed WOMM-U event. We heard from Joseph Jaffe, author of "Join the Conversation," Jeffrey Graham of The New York Times, Judy Stonefield from OPI Cosmetics, and Carla Hendra of Ogilvy (see the stories below for a taste of what they had to say to WOMM-U attendees).

Even if you didn't have the opportunity join us in Miami for this fantastic word of mouth marketing industry event, you can still sample the content. Here's how:

>> Take a look at the WOMM-U Live Blog: WOMMA's live blogger, Josh Hallett, has been covering the WOMM-U event in real time, posting his insights and perspectives about the discussions, keynotes, case study presentations and more. Check out the WOMM-U live blog and see what's going on in Miami, visit:
http://www.womma.org/wommu

>> Catch the WOMM-U general session presentations via our live video feed: The WOMM-U general sessions will be broadcast via webcam. To check the broadcast schedule or to tune in now, visit:
http://womma.org/wommu/livevideo/

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WOMM-U: Day One Keynote: Carla Hendra

The afternoon keynote on day one featured Carla Hendra, Co-Ceo Ogilvy North America. The title of Carla's talk was Brand Marketing: It's All Word of Mouth Now! Carla wanted to focus on how agencies are changing and adapting to WOM and online communities.

Customers are looking for facts, by this she means raw information that hasn't been spun, they're looking for a trusted source. In cases this might come from brand loyalists, and not the brands.

Authenticity is key.

Carla moved into a quick review of the recent Dove Real Beauty campaign. The goal was to get women involved. The content was contributed by the fans, and they helped spread the word. The movement spread beyond discussions about health and beauty.

Oprah also became an advocate, and as we know, her WOM is rather powerful.

Carla thinks this campaign could not have happened without the digital and community aspect.

The evolution of the program was the the Dove Self-Esteem Fund. The initial commercial ran on the Super Bowl, but it was quickly reposted on YouTube and other Oprah did a show specifically about the self-esteem and young girls.

To read the full post, visit: http://www.womma.org/wommu.

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WOMM-U: Day One Case Study: OPI Cosmetics

WOMM-U: Day One Case Study: OPI Cosmetics

Day one of WOMM-U continued with a case study from OPI Cosmetics. Judy Stonefield, Senior Marketing Manager, OPI Cosmetics and Fiona Pietruski, CMO, SheSpeaks discussed how OPI has leveraged the SheSpeaks network to directly engage with their target customers.

First up was Judy from OPI. Judy started by questioning the norm of marketing. What if we are basing our marketing programs on truths that are false? Sometimes our truths are based upon skewed information. We have standard marketing research tools, but are they telling us what the customer really wants, and who that customer is?

OPI is the number one nail lacquer brand, but IRI reports don't include OPI. IRI only measures food, drug & mass sales, they were looking at a flat world. One in every four bottles purchased is actually OPI. How to get that word out?

With new products, they looked to partner with SheSpeaks. OPI soon saw that the advocacy and sales generated by SheSpeaks dwarfed millions of dollars of traditional media.

SheSpeaks is a network of 50,000+ women who become advocates for brands. Who are the women? 75% are moms, 50% are employed full-time, 30% are connected, i.e. they blog/comment.

To read the full post, visit: http://www.womma.org/wommu.

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WOMM-U: Day One Case Study: New York Times: Return on Influence

WOMM-U: Day One Case Study: New York Times: Return on Influence

Immediately after the opening keynote, Jeffrey Graham from the New York Times presented a case study on how the NYTimes is researching how word of mouth impacts advertising.

Jeffrey disagreed with Joesph, he thinks that WOM and traditional marketing can co-exist, that is that traditional advertising is not going away.

Jeffrey has a new title for his presentation: WOM: Marketing's Butt Crack. Good laugh.

Next up was a quick game to get things started.

First question: What are the more commonly used marketing objectives? A: Branding/Awareness B: Direct Response C: Trial Response

Second question: What variables are used most commonly in planning marketing? A: Demographics B: Contextual Relevance C: Cost

Third question: What are the most common measures of marketing effectiveness? A: Direct B: Response Branding

Fourth question: What is the most influential contact point? A: Word of Mouth

To read the full post, visit: http://www.womma.org/wommu.

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WOMM-U: Day One Keynote: Joseph Jaffe

WOMM-U kicked off in Miami, FL this morning with an opening keynote by Joseph Jaffe, author of Join the Conversation.

One of Joe's basic premises is that everything can be a conversation starter. If a book or a business card can be a conversation starter, why can't a brand? However, conversation and community are much bigger than a series of tactical strategies.

What's more important impressions or relationships? What brands realize now is that a single bad relationship can have a dramatic impact, i.e. Dell Hell.

The Cluetrain said that markets are conversation, Joe thinks that marketing can be a conversation. If we as an industry don't participate, we'll be left behind.

Joe jokingly said, "God gave us two ears and one mouth, use it"

Step 1, listen. It's unacceptable that often a marketing department doesn't know what's going on. Of course part of listening is hearing and understanding.

Step 2 is response, once you listen and hear you need be responsive. People expect a response.

Step 3 is join, but more importantly, be invited to join. Brands aren't as cool and sexy as they think they are. When brands built islands on Second Life the realized that nobody wanted to come. Brands have to earn their place in the party.

Step 4, catalyze. Brands have the budget, staff and resources to help things along. Find the influencers and help them.

To read the full post, visit http://www.womma.org/wommu.

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5 Ways to Make WOM Matter to Skeptical CEOs

by Lois Kelly

"Stop on that slide. Go back to the first point. That's the big issue," said a CEO during a recent talk I was giving about conversational marketing to a group of C-level executives from major companies like Disney, Motorola, and AT&T.

The slide was about obstacles to adopting conversational marketing and the first point was this: CEOs have a "command and control" mindset, but there is a lack of control in our talk world. Customers control our brands, and customers dictate how they want to engage with us and talk about our products and services. This CEO mindset gets in the way of how customers want to get to know their companies. Big time.

The room was quiet for a few minutes.

"Okay, okay, I get what you're saying," said another executive. "But I'm NOT going to abandon control. That would be irresponsible, and maybe even dangerous. How do we let go of some control and evolve into conversational and word of mouth marketing?"

The other executives fiercely agreed. Show us how to wade into this new talk business world with some degree of control, or at least proactiveness. And show us the business value. The last thing we need is another marketing fad that sounds like dot-com mania all over again, said the executives.

So to continue that conversation, here are five ideas from our conversation that day -- the very same ideas that helped turn around some very skeptical CEOs.

#1. Make meaning, not buzz
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"Talk" marketing isn't about superficial buzz that sizzles fast and fades fast. The goal is to help people make sense of information through conversations. The more meaningful the conversations, the faster people are able to connect to your organization, product, or service. This shortens sales cycles and helps employees buy into change more quickly. For companies selling a considered product or service -- which includes most business-to-business companies, professional service firms, and pharmaceutical, health care, and educational organizations -- the goal is making meaning, not making buzz.

#2. Listening leads to innovation
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Conversations are at least 50% listening -- and perhaps much more. Marketing's purpose today isn't just pushing out information and producing things; it's listening and bringing ideas back into a company. Ideas that can spark innovation, influence product development, and pinpoint ways to get access to and attention from decision makers. Listening is a new strategy, and it happens through conversations, whether those conversations are face-to-face or in online communities and social networks.

#3. Points of view are more interesting than your products
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Unless you're Steve Jobs talking about the iPhone, people don't want to talk about your products or capabilities; they can look that up on the web. What they do want to talk about are your points of view about the industry or category. What common mistakes do you see? What are one or two emerging trends you believe may upset business as usual? In what area are most people wasting money and don't even realize it? What "best practice" do you think is a waste of time? Points of view jumpstart meaningful conversations and distinguish your organization on more than products. And every CEO has those points of view to share with their organization, with customers, with media, and with employees. So share those interesting views. They'll get talked about.

#4. Nothing to talk about is why people don't talk
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The reason everyone in a company is often telling a different story -- or not saying much at all -- is that they don't have anything interesting to talk about. Elevator statements, product messages, and mission statements are -- let's face it -- pretty boring and not something that makes you want to get together with a prospect or an analyst. Nor are they something employees want to talk about when they get together with company partners and agencies. Take your points of view and set them free. Share them with everyone in the company and encourage everyone to talk about the ideas, as well as what they hear from the resulting conversations. People will remember and will talk about fresh point of views that get people to say, "Gee, that's interesting. Tell me more." But they're not going to talk about messages and value propositions.

#5. Measure involvement vs. awareness
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The new measure of marketing effectiveness is involvement. The more involved people become with your ideas or your sales reps, the more vested they become in those ideas and people. More importantly, involvement is the prerequisite to action, whether that action is changing your mind, asking for an RFP, or making a decision to buy. The objective is to engage people in conversations that get them involved with you and you with them.

One last point that resonated at that skeptical CEO meeting: I played the new Paul McCartney song,"Fine Line," which includes the lyrics, "There's a fine line between recklessness and courage." Not embracing conversational marketing and letting go of some control is reckless because it puts a barrier up between you and your customers, I reminded the execs. Change that makes a big difference, however, requires just a small bit of courage.

And what CEO wants to be seen as lacking courage?

About the Author

Lois Kelly is author of "Beyond Buzz: The Next Generation of Word-of-Mouth Marketing" and a partner in WOMMA member company Foghound. She also blogs at http://blog.foghound.com.

For more information about the book, visit http://foghound.com/BeyondBuzz.
For more information about Foghound, visit http://foghound.com.

Permalink to the entry July 19, 2007 | |

CGM Gone Wild

[Originally posted by Mike Spataro on VisInsights]

I’m as big a fan as there is of consumer-generated media and the implications that social media has on brand building and corporate reputation, but it seems to me that some companies and organizations are starting to lose their minds in this new era of open communications.

Nowadays, immediate consumer reactions and thoughts are readily available on any topic and issue under the sun and that’s a good thing, especially if you’re in the business we’re in here at VT. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that every random thought published on the Web needs to be rebroadcast by the media and brands just so they can appear to be hip and contemporary.

You have to wonder if any serious thought is being given to some of these decisions. Did the NFL and ESPN really think that displaying wacky comments from fans along with each draft selection would draw more viewers? Is there anyone who thinks the addition of five embarrassing questions from viewers now included on American Idol really makes the show any better? Talk about your ‘jump the shark’ milestone moment. There are right ways and wrong ways to wrap your arms around your biggest supporters and get closer to the consumer.

The same can be said for many brands these days.I’m sure the good folks at IKEA can point to the overwhelming success of allowing comedian and filmmaker Mark Malkoff to live in one of their stores for a week and broadcast his experience in 24 short videos on MarkLivesInIkea.com, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it was a smart idea. There is more to brand building than just video hits and impressions.

Brands have to evaluate the potential risks to such ideas, as I’m sure IKEA did. That said, there should be growing concern in the media and corporate America about a potential backlash from what I believe is CGM gone wild.

Permalink to the entry April 29, 2008 | |