WOMMA Seattle
Next Tuesday I’m on a panel at WOMMA - an organization that is trying to bring some structure to the concept of “Word of Mouth” marketing. Spending time at one of these conferences and bookmarking the site expose you to valuable news, strategies, case studies, campaigns, jobs, research, and more. Word of mouth marketing surely must be one of the most misunderstood categories in the whole marketing mix. Ask anyone and they’ll define it as “getting people to talk about your company or products”. That’s true but that’s like saying that your revenue strategy is to “sell more”. The devil is in the details and word of mouth marketing doesn’t necessarily mean finding a mode whereby your customers are doing all your marketing heavy lifting for you. It involves hard work and a focused strategy. It means allocating a budget, getting management support and measuring real results against an effective word of mouth marketing campaign. It’s about embracing an ethical code of conduct as it relates to customer and prospect communications. The basic elements include strategies to identify which groups are most likely going to share their opinions and giving them the tools to do so. Finally, in this process of educating people, you need to commit to listening and responding to all constituents who have engaged you - supporters, detractors and even those who are completely neutral as to your message.
I encourage anyone working on a new start-up to attend if you can. This topic goes to the very heart of developing a growing and loyal user base for any online initiative. While you’re there, say hi to my friends over at Visible Technologies and particularly Blake Cahill, VP of Marketing who is doing a lot of work to help pull this local event together.
Hope to see you there.
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