Word of Mouth - Democratising Marketing
April 1st, 2006I read this post from a Kerry Stranman, a contributor to the Word Of Mouth Marketing Organization (WOMMA) about Democratizing Marketing…that title put me off a bit (it has that “advertising agency” flavour to it), but the gist is interesting; marketers are losing control over “the message” they wish to deliver because customers can now directly communicate with massive audiences of other customers via the Internet. If it’s great, they’ll spread the word, if it’s bad they will too…
Right now, you may think that this doesn’t relate to your business. That your customers don’t look online for information about your type of services or your company.
I don’t care what anyone says; within the next couple of years what you do online will be just as important as what you do offline; it’s only a matter of time. Why? Because when people buy stuff there are two things they will always want to know: am I getting the best value for money? Can I trust this product/brand?
People’s networks are the first place where they look for this information, and the growth in online networks or communities are phenomenal. Maybe no one is talking about your product or service yet. But how long before they will?
April 12th, 2006 at 9:44 am
Stranman expressed concern that “marketers are losing control over ‘the message’ they wish to deliver because customers can now directly communicate with massive audiences of other customers via the Internet.”
I find this amusing because the trend-grabbing segment of ad agencies and marketers in part brought this on themselves by pushing the “buzz” and “word-of-mouth” campaign concepts. I saw it firsthand in the new business segment of a corporation where I spent the past nine months on a long-term assignment. The mums and daughters these firms thought they were using as marketing tools will indeed pick up on and use these same tools in faster, smarter and more innovative ways–you leave it to the kids. Fortunately, the product[s] in question were terrific, fun, high-quality stationery items designed to allow girls to express their individual creativity and be together at the same time. But if in other cases they don’t like what the product was, or later come to feel that they were used, watch out for the backlash…
April 12th, 2006 at 2:39 pm
Good point. Thinking along those lines, it is even more important than before to make sure that you deliver on your promise. More marketing power will have to go into real customer value and less into trying to “sell” the products and services. A bit like treating your customers with the same respect you would like to be treated with.