From the marketing trenches...

Word of mouth: Who are they anyway?

Olivier Blanchard hit it between the eyes today on his blog (brand builder) when commenting on Word of Mouth:

"It starts with the great product though. Always. No exceptions. That product can be a piece of software, a car, a bike helmet, a customer service department, a window display, a story, a photograph, an ad, whatever.

I can't tell you how many times I've bought stuff based on recommendations from people I trust. As a matter of fact, I hardly ever buy anything now without asking someone what they think of it. A new triathlon bike. A pair of running shoes. A digital camera. A movie ticket. A video game. A cell phone."

Brilliant! While most of us occasionally swim against the current, we typically rely on input from those we trust.

But, here's the thing. A lot of times we rely on input from those we don't know, much less trust. Or, we rely on dubious sources. Here's what I mean...When is the last time someone told you "...they say it's supposed to be good". Or "...they say it really works". I'm willing to bet you've not only heard and acted on such advice, you've passed it on yourself (I know I have). So, who is THEY? Why do THEY know so much and why do we listen to THEY if we don't even know who THEY are?

We are by nature social creatures. We want to fit in, get along, be a part of the crowd. Test this theory by watching any playground. Spot the inevitable kid being teased relentlessly by his playmates. He stays and takes it because it is better to be a part of something (even if painful) than to be alone and a part of nothing. That's where THEY come in.

Who is THEY? The answers are numerous...the press, bloggers, the kids at the local high school, marketers. THEY come in many forms. But it doesn't really matter where it started. We all still listen to them.

Think of the industry in which you market. Who is the THEY in your industry? An analyst, a certain magazine, or, god forbid, your competitor? Think about it and act before it's too late. Become the THEY in your industry. Or at least die trying.

P.S. In addition to Olivier, check out John Moore's blog Brand Autopsy for more brilliant commentary  on the Word of Mouth topic.

Pictures sell.

Kathy Sierra, coauthor of the Head First  book series totally hit the mark on her recent blog posting: Words + Pictures > Words. To whit:

And even seemingly simple ideas can take a lot more time to convey if you don't use pictures. We value our reader's time tremendously, and that's a big part of why we are so graphic-heavy.

How many boring, text heavy powerpoint presentations have you endured? Countless, I'm sure. I think most people inherently understand that pictures get the point across faster and more effectively than just words. So why the endless powerpoint copy? Simplicity scares people. Simple connotes unsophistication or simple-mindedness. After all, we read books with pictures when we were kids, right?

But nothing could be further from the truth. Simplicity creates an easier sell. It creates an instant "I get it" from your prospect and from there a dialog begins.

My company used simplistic imagery like the one at the top of this posting to build a "how we do it" poster. It was the most successful trade show we've ever experienced. People were intrigued by the illustration and had fun while tracing the life cycle of our product. And most of all, they got it. Quickly. And once they got it, they wanted to know more.

We oft hear of the pen and sword analogy. But nothing cuts through the clutter of the prospect's mind like a picture.

Ask your customers. Adjust. Repeat.

I've written several posts lately about my company's recent successful customer advisory group. We  learned some valuable lessons (some of them painful) and, as a result, our product roadmap looks much different today than it did the week before the customer meeting. In short, we're glad we asked. Not to mention the advice was free.

Here's another "listen to your customers" success story. This one is courtesy of Chiefmarketer.com. Profiled in this article is the online retailer, Bluefly. Bluefly went to their customer to find out what motivates them to buy from Bluefly. In the article, Bluefly's CEO is quoted as saying,

“It's clear that our customers want to talk with us,” Payner says, “and they felt they had a lot to say to us."

Indeed. Bluefly was overwhelmed with customer responses. The result was a hugely successful marketing campaign, based on what their customers told them they wanted to hear. Bluefly saw a 100% spike in traffic.

Our customers have a lot of valuable things to say. They just need the opportunity to do so.