What about Word of Mouth?
Michael Pollock
more important by the Internet where so many people can talk to so
many more people than they ever could around the water cooler. So
many more. Here are some notes on what WOM is
* The voice of your donor or your client or your staff - your
stakeholders
* A natural, genuine, honest process
* People seeking advice from each other
* People speaking about how they have experienced you and your
organization
WOM Marketing is:
1. Recognizing that a happy stakeholder is the greatest endorsement -
therefore
* Work to create happiness instead of pushing marketing messages
2. Giving stakeholders a voice
* Providing something worth talking about
* Providing tools that make it easier for them to share their
opinions
3. Listening to your stakeholders
* Engaging them in open, unfiltered conversation
* Promptly and honestly responding to their concerns
* Valuing their opinion, whether it is positive, negative, or
neutral
Engaging the community around your organization
* Finding the right people and connecting them to each other
* Helping new communities to form
* Participating in and supporting existing communities and
conversations
I will follow up with another post of some buzz words and some ideas
about you can take advantage of this
Michael Pollock
Here are some buzz terms and ways of mobilizing WOM - does anyone have
examples of things that have worked for your organization or brand
* Buzz Marketing: Using high-profile entertainment or news to get
people to talk about your organization or issue.
* Viral Marketing: Creating entertaining or informative messages
that are designed to be passed along in an exponential fashion, often
electronically or by email.
* Community Marketing: Forming or supporting niche communities
that are likely to share interests about the organization (such as
supporter groups and discussion forums); providing tools, content, and
information to support those communities.
* Grassroots Marketing: Organizing and motivating volunteers to
engage in personal or local outreach.
* Evangelist Marketing: Cultivating evangelists, advocates, or
volunteers who are encouraged to take a leadership role in actively
spreading the word on your behalf.
* Influencer Marketing: Identifying key communities and opinion
leaders who are likely to talk about your organization or issue and
have the ability to influence the opinions of others.
* Conversation Creation: Interesting or fun advertising, emails,
catch phrases, entertainment, or promotions designed to start word of
mouth activity.
* Blogging: Creating blogs and participating in the blogosphere,
in the spirit of open, transparent communications; sharing information
of value that the blog community may talk about.
* Referral Programs: Creating tools that enable satisfied
supporters or clients to refer their friends.