Posts Tagged ‘word of mouth’
Word of mouth and pepper spray parody
23 November 2011 | 
Author Read the article below, and the rest of it at the Kellogg website.
There really is an opportunity to stand out from others by writing good old fashioned letters to people.
For better or worse, a decade of development in web technology enables the fast sharing of imagery. “Word of mouth” used to occur verbally, but some part of it now occurs online.
What has moved online soonest? Things that are easy to share with one click. It tends towards the quick hit: Pictures that tell a story, recommendations that require little elaboration, snappy and quick quotes or retorts, and other self-explanatory links.
This article has inspired me and I will write 50 letters in the next week.
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Does social media cut it for B2B sales & marketing?
The current hot stories about B2B marketing and sales eminating from the US are about Facebook and its use in the mix. This may well be valid but I guess these messages are also being propogated by people with a vested tech/social media interest.
Andy Maslen on his blog reports that his successes are primarily all techniques and approaches that could have been executed in the 18th century. In ranking order of business success Andy reports this list:
- Referrals/word-of-mouth
- Attending conferences
- Running workshops
- Having coffee/lunch with prospect
- Speculative meetings
- Writing books
- Writing article
- Giving speeches
- Telephoning client
- E-newsletter
- Sending emails
- Direct mail
- Search
- Blog
So if you read this blog and visit Andy Maslen’s Sunfish site, do let him know a blog got you there 
But in all seriousness, if your business is B2B and you want to develop sustainable relationships I would wholeheartedly recommend referrals/word-of-mouth, attending conferences, running workshops, having coffee/lunch with prospect and speculative meetings as ways to get those conversations started.
Posted in Marketing | 
Tags: Andy Maslen, B2B, B2B marketing, blog, books, conferences, direct mail, Facebook, meetings, referrals, relationships, Social media, speeches, Sunfish, Twitter, word of mouth, workshops | 
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Those Welch are very civil
Now that’s what you want, your contractors staff being polite and civil advocates for your brand.
This morning, at Loddon Primary School, there was a big hole in the ground. There were four workmen digging a trench to lay green pipes to carry data cables. As you can imagine this gathered a crowd of 8 and 9 year old boys that found this all much more fascinating than going into school.
One of the boys asked the men what they were doing. Back came the reply, “We are laying data cables for Virgin Media so that you can get faster internet in school.” Wow!
Many people know I’m not a Virgin Media fan (largely because in my opinion they are NTL in disguise) but what great advocacy for your brand. And then one of the boys went off and repeated the message to a friend…that’ll be word of mouth as well.
So, plaudits where they are due. The contractor working on the site was Welch Civils. Well done to you and Virgin Media.
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Posted in Marketing | Tags: brand advocacy, Loddon Primary School, NTL, Virgin Media, Welch Civils, word of mouth | No Comments »
Supermarket shopping for heroes
This is a good story and brand to follow: Go shopping to give heroes a bag of cash.
I must immediately declare a personal interest here as I know Andrew Gidden, the founder and managing director, of Red Lion Foods Ltd.
The concept is simple: 100% of the post tax profits go to armed forces charities. At the launch event £100,000 was donated. This money was shared by The Royal British Legion and SSAFA. This created a considerable amount of excitement and positive support for the business straight away. And of course as the business continues to trade and grow the payments to charities will recur…this is not a one off exercise.
What will be interesting here is how fast the brand catches on with minimal ATL activity. Will word of mouth (WOM) get people reaching for Red Lion Foods teabags at Tesco or ham at Morrisons? Personally I think it will take off; here is a way for consumers to support a range of popular causes without spending more or signing a direct debit. Already some pundits are predicting this to be a £150m business in 12 months.
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Posted in Consumer marketing | Tags: Andrew Gidden, ATL, charity, ham, Morrisons, Red Lion Foods, Royal British Legion, SSAFA, supermarkets, tea bags, Tesco, word of mouth | 2 Comments »
Surrey mums like MAD activities
MAD Academy
We all know that word of mouth (WOM) is very powerful marketing. Therefore it was very pleasing to see the comment below on Surrey Mums about one of my wife’s businesses.
“I’ve recently started taking my little girl to MAD (music and Dance) academy, and it’s brilliant!
“The first group we attended consisted of the children dancing like penguins and horses, playing drums and tambourines, singing songs about cars and frogs and my daughter shouting “more, more, more!” and now we’re nearly half way through the term and it hasn’t lost its magic.
“It’s a fantastic activity for the very energetic to the very shy as they’re not pressured into doing anything they don’t want to do. I would highly recommend a MAD session to anyone who wants to put a smile on their little ones face.
“To find a class near you please visit www.madacademy.com“
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- kevin harrington dancer
Posted in Marketing | Tags: dance, MAD Academy, Marketing, music, Surrey Mums, word of mouth | No Comments »
Are Chef’s Table dinners the best word of mouth (WOM) marketing?
View from the L'ortolan chef's table
Are Chef’s Table dinners the best word of mouth (WOM) marketing? You pay for the best then go off and tell everyone about it. Restaurant wins at both ends.
I raise this subject as a compliment having just had the most wonderful Chef’s Table dinner at L’ortolan, Shinfield, Reading, Berkshire. My daughters Jo, Sam and Katy conspired to book the night for me as a birthday present.
The evening was a magical 12 courses accompanied by 12 different wines. Interlaced were conversations and chats with Alan Murchison (the boss, executive chef and all round good chap), Elliot (the sous chef) and the rest of the team.
But the visual theatre of the team delivering plated perfection for the restaurant guests was most engaging part of the experience. A truly fantastic evening.
The result: here I am doing the PR and marketing for Alan and L’ortolan. And it is a pleasure to do so. If you are looking for a unique experience and enjoy excellent cuisine, try and book the Chef’s Table.
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Posted in Marketing | Tags: Alan Murchison, Chef's Table, L'ortolan, Marketing, restaurant, Shinfield, WOM, word of mouth | No Comments »
Cauliflower shock story
Should we complain about the cauliflower?
Well, it was a shock to Jo, one of my daughters. In one of her rare encounters with the kitchen she was dismayed at how small the head of the cauliflower was in comparison to the leaves surrounding it.
She was so horrified she got me to take a photo of it and weigh the evidence. The pound coin and the baked beans are for scale reference only.
The edible head of the cauli was 288g and the leaves alone weighed in at 548g. I’m not sure who she thinks we should complain to.
Through a very narrow association (supermarkets) this got me pondering on recent supermarket adverts. ASDA were claiming that they had over 2,000 items lower in price than Tesco. At the same time Tesco had just over 200 items cheaper than ASDA. On this basis ASDA were making themselves out to be the best.
This is a very interesting bit of positioning. You can see how the ASDA cauliflower got me here now.
The point firstly is do I want the 2,000 cheap ASDA items? Perhaps it is the 200 Tesco products at a better price that I want.
My second point is, are we after cheap or good value or a good experience. If the ASDA price claim is as powerful as they make out why are people going elsewhere? Why aren’t the queues always out the door?
Tesco were recently not advertising. This was to let word of mouth deliver their message virally. And here I am contributing to it! Good old Tesco.
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Posted in Marketing | Tags: advertising, ASDA, impressions, shopping, Tesco, viral, word of mouth | 1 Comment »