Rolling out a WOM Strategy, Step 3
Step 3: Build a Listening and Pro-Active Mentality
The obvious next question is “ok, we’ve got a story, how do we get it out there?”
The not so obvious answer is that we don’t start telling people. We start by listening.
Listening is the new marketing.
Or, better yet, “Listening and Pro-Active Customer Service Is the New Marketing.”
Listening and pro-actively responding earns us the right to begin a permission-based conversation.
Take, for example, the ComcastCares story. A Comcast exec was “listening” to a leading blogger on Twitter. A simple note from him saying “I hear you, I’d like to help” generated a wealth of (free) WOM.
Was some negative? Yes, but the positive outweighed the negative by far and at no-cost, did more to begin to change many people’s perceptions of Comcast than any series of commercials could.
See, for example, what people are saying about Pepsi on Twitter or Purell in the blogosphere. After all, how many products have people making videos about their love of it?
These people already talking about you (or those like them) may be your ‘raving fans’ or ‘1000 True Fans.’ If we can find them, we can reach out, connect, and ignite their natural interest to help spread the word.
Imagine if, for example, we had a team of people whose job it was to listen to these comments and then, calmly reach out to say:
“Thanks for your video tribute to our product; here's a coupon/free one/invite to event...whatever"
The link takes them to a page where we ask for permission to begin a direct relationship with them. We might ask for the right to send them free samples of our new packaging or something else. It doesn’t matter, so long as it is anticipated, relevant, and personal.
Yes, this takes work and it isn’t easy, but remember…a lone blogger can be a more powerful voice than any Fortune 500 company.
As marketers, we have become so accustomed to shouting at our customers and prospects. Sometimes, we forget how to listen and engage in dialogue with them. Of course, when we get home, we hate to be interrupted and not heard, but somehow, with our “work hats” on, we revert back to the behavior of the pre-Internet era.
Let me be clear. This portion is NOT only an online component; the online tools for listening just facilitate the pro-active nature of our new relationship with customers and prospects. It is a whole product experience. IF our story is going to ring true, it needs to ring true regardless of the channel through which a customer interaction occurs.
We need to learn to ask ourselves: What will happen if this customer has a blog read by 10,000 people? Will it help or hurt our cause?
Growing up, my dad used to say, “Act as if what you are doing or saying will end up on the front page of the New York Times.”
The chances of that happening 20 years ago were slim. Today, they are quite high. As marketers, we need to remember that because it can really hurt us…or REALLY help us!
