Wanna hear a really interesting statistic? Seventy-three percent of #millenials (aka Gen Y -- people born between 1983 and 1997) feel it is their responsibility to help others make smart buying decisions. We are entering the Age of #Advocacy. Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) see customer loyalty and advocacy as their top priority in the digital era. Why? Because advocacy -- word of mouth advertising -- is driving purchasing decisions. Plain and simple. In fact, according to Branderati, consumer-to-consumer word of mouth generates more than TWICE the sales of paid advertising. Brand advocates, in fact, are 70% more likely to be seen as a good source of information by the people around them. Seriously. So lets think about that. (We do. A lot! and we LOVE it.) Talk value, or word of mouth, in building a #brand is Significant. With a capital S. As in Supersize That One, Babe. The Internet and every device with an app put the power of #branding into the hands of anyone with a digital connection. Remember that campaign Got Milk? Well, this is like Got WiFi? If the answer is yes, the fate of a brand may well rest in your hands. And if youre a member of the millenial #tribe, chances are you are VERY connected, FULLY wired and MORALLY committed to sharing your views about products and services. You are there, as we now know, to help others make smart buying decisions. How you feel about a brand is going to directly influence whether you advocate. Or not. (And keep this one in mind, too. Over 50% of consumers who write about brand online do so to criticize or complain...Whoa!) So here are the three things we believe are critical to keep in mind: 1. New reality: Word of mouth is going to happen with or without us. So why not make it with us? Be social. Find out what people are saying about our brands. Lets not get defensive. Lets listen. And lets learn from the feedback -- the good, the bad and the ugly! 2. Brands are emotional. Communicating at the emotional level -- rather than the cerebral or overly corporate level -- will make the message meaningful. TALK to customers. With full respect for their intelligence and their humanity. And for gods sake, lose the jargon and gobbledygook. 3. Be proactive in making it easy for consumers to share information and talk about your brand and share your brand #story. Give them a platform or a destination for doing so. And stop worrying about controlling the conversation. Someone might say something negative. Okay. You just saved a bundle on market research! Take the feedback and USE IT! (And for that person who uses your page or your forum to promote his agenda or to slag off Beyonce or to find a date for Valentines Day, ignore it until its aggravating to other readers and then block him. You know why we point this out? Because it means you have to be active in keeping up with your page! Launch is not enough. Remember -- NASA had to launch the space craft...and guide it home. And not everybody is lucky enough to have Tom Hanks at the helm, right?)
Posted on: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 13:22:36 +0000
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