CMA’s 2008 Word of Mouth Conference

Agent Wildfire Key Belief #1– The Power of Word of Mouth “There is only one thing in

the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”

Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Grey

Word of Mouth – What Is It?

• “the authentic & enthusiastic sharing of opinion about a product, service and idea between two or more people”

– Online & offline– Long term & short term– Marketing, media, operations,

innovation & insights effects

ORGANIC (Baked into the brand/product)

• Company with a great cause/culture/mission

• Well-differentiated product that works

• Delivery of a great customer experience

• Beyond-the-call customer service

AMPLIFIED/ORCHESTRATED (Surrounding or

added to the product)

• Marketing-oriented• Research-oriented• Media-oriented• Operation-oriented

The many flavours of amplified word of mouth …

Word of Mouth Marketing Options

Viral

Influencer

Social User-generated Community

Referral/Affiliate

Experiential Buzz Cause-Driven

If 67% of the economy runs on word of mouth,

Why are we spending less than 5% of our money/time trying to get it?

If 80% of companies believe they are giving theircustomers a great experience..

Why do only 8% of our customers say they are getting a great experience?

If there are1,540 people who hear about a problem before one complaint is fielded to management..

Why are we not

making it easierfor our

customers to talk

to us?

If every 7% increase in positive word of mouthor 2% decrease in negative word of mouth leads to 1% business growth.

Why are we not attempting to measure word of mouth ?

If less than 10% of your audience fuels most of your word of mouth activity….

Why don’t we try to find these people ?

If more than 20% of the media we consume is user-generated (and 50% for people under 25) …

Why do we not participate and invest in these spaces?

Overcoming the myths about our industry and the importance of word of mouth…

Word of mouth marketing myths holding companies back

• “Word of mouth is really niche”

• “Word of mouth can’t be tracked”

• “Word of mouth can’t be generated’

• “Word of mouth is too risky”

• “Word of mouth influencers don’t exist”

• “Stealth is required to make word of mouth work”

The Marketers

We like to live and think in packs…

It’s scary to act alone as a marketer…

But it’s getting dangerous to be out there…

Despite the risks, we need to get to otherside …

The smart marketers are making changes…

Some mess up….

- Fake blogs- Bad customer experience- Astroturfing- Shill marketing

But most marketers do just fine…

So you can fight a losing battle…

You can keep hitting your head against the wall

you can be a plain old ….

Or you can listen to your influencers intheir world ….

Start a Conversation…

Embrace and invite your fans and customers to participate..

Turn your back on traditional practices…

Get curious…

Get Noticed and Talked About…

Win some new friends…

Spread the word….

…and live to see a better day

What Will You Learn About Word of Mouth Today

- It Can Be Embedded and Accelerated

-It Works for Wide Range ofCompanies and organizations

- It Has Its Owns Rules

- It Can Be Measured

- It’s a Big Part of the Future

Are You Ready To Become Word of Mouth

Evangelists?