WhipperSnaPR

I’ll admit that I am known in some circles as “Boston’s foremost expert in internet and word-of-mouth marketing.” I try to be modest, but my doting fans can make it very difficult. I think this little comic says it all

This morning, I was at a BIMA roundtable event spearheaded by Dave Balter, founder of BzzAgent. It was titled, “Bringing Word of Mouth into your Marketing Mix.” Most of the content of Dave’s presentation and the succeeding discussion was a nice review for me, but it also sparked a few thoughts that dug a little deeper.

Finding a balance between traditional marketing and the new forms of “grassroots” marketing can be difficult. But, before that can be accomplished, I think the industry must first find a balance between the many segments of this new avenue of communication.

(Maybe, even before that, we should decide on an umbrella name for grassroots, word of mouth, collaborative marketing, viral marketing, etc. I like customer,constituent or audience engagement)

Dave summed up his presentation into 5 key points of word of mouth marketing:

1. Don’t use entertainment as a substitute for the brand
2. Consumers will do what they want with your brand
3. Buzz does not always equal word of mouth
4. Don’t lie, cheat, steal or deceive
5. The only for successful word of mouth marketing is a great product

Dave caught my attention right off the bat. He began by explaining that viral and word of mouth are not the same. He explained that viral marketing substitutes the brand for entertainment and, therefore, breaks the number one rule of word of mouth marketing.

He used the Paris Hilton commercial for Carl’s Jr. as an example:

It was extremely viral and it is easy to see why. I counted 333,702 views on YouTube from the first search page alone. I’m sure the clip was viewed just as many times on any number of websites, communities and blogs. But, as Dave pointed out, there was a problem: during the time this ad aired, sales dropped 3%. Why? The Carl’s Jr. Brand was compromised. They focused all of their energy on creating a viral campaign rather than a word of mouth campaign.

I’m not going to dispute Dave’s claim here. In fact, I’ll support him. The commercial, although eye catching, does not include any call to action. If their goal was increased brand exposure, they got it; but, this ad may be giving the brand a new identity. If they were aiming to build a stronger brand or increase sales, they failed.I have to ask, though: can’t word of mouth and viral marketing function successfully together? In fact, if executed successfully, wouldn’t they compliment each other? Wouldn’t one serve as an accelerator for the other, and visa versa? Shouldn’t the two be symbiotic?

If you compromise your brand in order to create a viral conversation, then chances are you won’t reach any goals tied to that brand. And, to many companies, the brand is everything. But, not all viral campaigns have to substitute brand for entertainment. A great viral campaign would find a way to make the brand entertaining in a way that the audience will be laughing with you… not at you. Once you’ve found a way to creatively develop the right balance between brand and entertainment, you will need word of mouth conversations before your campaign will ever go viral.

I’m not quite sure how to conclude this drivel. It reality, I may never reach a conclusion. I have a feeling that by the time we as an industry find the right balance, the medium du jour will have morphed into something even more exciting, confusing and frustrating.

Last Tuesday, my boss, Steve Curran, and I visited Professor Walter Carl’s word of mouth, buzz and viral marketing class at Northeastern University. You can read Walter’s run down of the day here.

First, I have to say the fact that Northeastern University even offers this class is very encouraging. I was always very discouraged at BU as they were not as open to studying new forms of communication. Not only am I really happy to see a well-respected academic community give deserved attention to this area of communication, but I was so happy to find that the students in the class took the subject very seriously. They were all engaged in the conversation and asked some well-thought, in-depth and critical questions. Both Steve and I were impressed with the quality of students in the class and would be happy to consider any of them for an internship position at Pod Design. (send me your resumes!)

I was equally impressed with Dr. Carl. I had been following his blogs for about 6 months, but had never had the honor of meeting him in person. We were able to grab lunch after class and discuss everything from research to metrics to business models. Very educational. I find that some days it is far too easy to slip into a mirrored box at work, hanging out with great academics always helps to keep perspective. They remind me to think outside of my current spot and start asking some critical questions.

Preparing for this visit was also very healthy for me from a work perspective; It forced me to boil down what I do into a quick, 10 minute, synopsis. I was able to outline my priorities, justify my work and develop insight in the areas that are very important to my work but can often feel tedious or dull from day-to-day. It was also a great reminder of why I was motivated to take this job in the first place.

So, thank you to Dr. Carl and his class for a great experience!

I’ve run across several articles on this over the past view weeks, so I thought I would post some thoughts:

flogs

You Tube can be very attractive to any marketer. I can’t blame them for wanting to jump on the band wagon. I probably get an average of 30 emails and IMs a week containing links to the newest and coolest you tube clip, many of them branded for one product or another. But, nothing is hated more than a fake video that is meant to look “grassroots” or “user-generated.” I recently had to tackle this topic with a client; the conversation alone was painful. Their intent was fine, but their execution was all wrong. Eventually, they won; but I’m pretty sure there shaking in their boots after the sony debacle.

seeding

In a pretty generic Adotas article about WOM marketing, Brent Hill writes, “WOM marketers usually begin by identifying the people that are most likely to talk about a product or service - the influencers - and making them aware of new features, benefits, or selling points. If successful, this “seeding” effort initiates a viral marketing phase, in which the influencers share their opinions and experiences with others.”

That’s my job in a nutshell… my job description doesn’t get any more basic. But there is more to it. When seeding, we also have to remember that most of the influencers know they are influencers; they expect some respect, and rightfully so. As pointed out at DHADM in this sobering open letter to viral marketers, bloggers and site editors don’t enjoy being told how or what to post. They’re also smart enough to easily spot fakes, so don’t insult their intelligence: “We’re not autistics that someone planted in front of a computer to post stuff. We’re obviously interested and engaged in the online world, so treating us like rubes won’t do you any favors. Unless negative mentions are what you’re looking for, that is.”

And you really don’t want to piss these guys off. According to this article in PROMO, a recent study released by the Keller Fay Group claims there are 4.5 billion brand mentions a day. “In fact, a mere 15% of the population makes 1.5 billion brand mentions to friends each day…” Intuitively, these are the same people you are seeding, and not all of those brand mentions are positive.
The lesson here, as I see it, is to remember that your audience is more than pageviews and pass-alongs. They’re smart and they’ll see right through any attempt marketers make to pull the wool over their eyes. If your influencers aren’t happy, you’ll never reach your full target market.

Update: The inverview went really well last week, but I didn’t make it into the actual article, which can be read here. It is actually very well written with a great sense of “humour.” Oh well… there’s always next time. Anyone else want to chat about Zipcar?
I’ve often thought that I am Zipcar’s biggest word of mouth marketer. I love their service and I will tell anybody and everybody about it! I talk about zipcar nonstop! I’ve even blogged about it.

Well, that blogpost has come in handy! A reporter for the Toronto Star has found me and wants to chat! How exciting and how lucky for zipcar! They should give me free stuff. I want a t-shirt!