Word of Mouth Marketing - a spectacular way to earn new customers

Welcome Promotional Product Agencies - and a special welcome to those who have found the GalleryBoard Packaging line through Rosalie Marcus, the PromoBiz Coach.

Rosalie asked me to talk to you today about Word of Mouth Marketing and in particular, how you as an agency specializing in promotions can use a successful word of mouth marketing approach to earn more customers (and strengthen relationships with your suppliers).

During our time together this afternoon I will cover the following ground --

• What exactly is Word of Mouth - and how is it defined by the professional marketing community?
• How you can integrate Word of Mouth into your marketing and prospecting campaigns - cost effectively, realistically and successfully. 
• Resources to learn more about Word of Mouth  -- including web-sites and books

WHAT IS WOM?

The word-of-mouth association's define's WOM three-ways --

The act of consumers providing information to other consumers.

Giving people a reason to talk about your products and services, and making it easier for that conversation to take place.  

It is the art and science of building active, mutually beneficial consumer-to-consumer and consumer-to-marketer communications.

Here is how I define WOM -

Make yourself (your products / service) remarkable.  That means, make it worthwhile for someone (a customer, supplier, prospect) to make a REMARK about you.

Give them something to talk about and make it easy for them to do the talking (and spreading of the word).

HOW can YOU integrate WOM into your marketing approach -

• You already have a marketing plan -- you are writing emails, sending thank-you notes, making phone calls, attending networking meetings, going to trade-shows -- HOW IN THE WORLD can you do something else? Who has time for WOM?
• The trick is to integrate it into what you are already doing.  Add value to your successful approaches by adding WOM executional elements.

I'm going to provide examples by showing you how I've integrated WOM throughout my company's marketing startegy --

Website -

• Most of you have a web-site, if you don't, you can easily create one through a blog-tool (like Typepad) or Yahoo Small Business services (they have a new very friendly interface that allows you to create web-sites with a web-interface)
• Put call-to-actions on your web-site.  If someone FINDS you - give them something to do & complete.  Don't make them wait to call you or send you an email (we all assume that we'll get VM or get stuck in spam, and we abandon the cart and move-on)
• Highlights from my-site
  • 24 Hour Challenge
  • Mailing List
  • Request a Sample
  • Request a Virtual Sample
  • Visit our blog
  • Find a distributor

Parnerships & Relationships --

• You are all networkers and are members of various local & national organizations.  You meet and greet all the time.  Add power to this already successful strategy by rewarding those who you are courting. 
• My company created a Referral Program.  We ask qualified promotional agencies to join our program (no-charge), and then send then end-user leads from their geographical area.  We send ALL end-user leads to a promotional agency, and choose those from the referral group - so why not be on it?  We also provide special perks and promotions to those on our referral program.

• What we are doing with the referral program is giving someone a gift (for free).  It's a proactive reward.  Think of how you can do that for your network.  For exampe, when someone passes you a lead, or sends you a referral - thank them by sending a gift-certificate or providing them with a free order. 

Search Marketing --

• Many of you use Google AdWords or the like from Yahoo/MSN to drive traffic to your web-sites. Your ads are displayed (on the right panel of google search for example) when someone searches on your keywords, and you are charged when someone clicks through your ad to your landing page.  This is expensive, but effective and necessary.   If you are hearing about this for the 1st time, visit  Google AdWords site and learn more.

• Leverage the money you spend on search by strengthening your presence in the 'free' search listings (the left panel of the google search page).  Leave keywords throughout your web-pages and on your blogs.  Again - if you have to -- create your own web-pages through Yahoo and/or blog tools and use those as alternate sites for your customers (beyond your corporate page).  These Yahoo and blog interfaces allow you to leave keywords all over the place - which is like leaving bread crumbs for your customers and prospects.

• My company has multiple web-sites -- and I provide those addresses in email signatures, cross-link them between sites, on business cards, etc. It all adds up and creates links and traffic.
  
  • www.theplatformgroupgallery.com
  • www.theplatform.typepad.com
  • www.pggsecure.com
  • http://social.asinetwork.com/profile/AllisonGower
  • http://www.linkedin.com/in/allisongower
  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=667958101

Tools that are useful for your customers & partners --

• We provide our qualified promotional agents with a web-site presenting our full GalleryBoard packaging line by created agent specific URL's.  These URL's display the agent's contact information and allow them to provide their clients with a shopping cart for samples and other requests.

• We provided agent branded hard copy catalogs as well -- no-charge.  These are perfect or leave-behinds or prospecting.

• We offer qualified promotional agencies a no-charge self-promotion program, of 50 items with a 1 color screen or CMYK Vignette.  The 'catch' is that we print a tag-line on these items that directs people to find more spectacular packaging at the agent's GalleryBoard branded web-site.

Invite your customers or partners to become an expert - give up some control --

• In March 2008 we are adding a create your own virtual sample service to our web-site.  This will allow promotional agents and their clients to choose an item or items, upload art, manipulate logo positions, change background colors, etc.  Then save a jpg(s) when done to email to clients or other members of team.  This will help us 'be viral' and spread the news.
• We offer a Welcome Kit that 'gives the key to the door' to our qualified agents.  This outlines all the tools, how to get information, who we are, and all of those basic things that you learn about a company after doing business with them for years.  This is our short-cut strengthen our relationship.

Give it Away and Create Value --

• We offer a no-charge door-opener with a Vignette.  Any qualified distributor can use this to open a door to a new client.  Use your logo or your client's logo.  The item is the 40-60 R-3 and holds our mini catalog perfectly.

• Seth Godin - the GURU of WOM, gives away his books free for a period before publishing.  Although this is counter-intuitive it creates buzz and value and momentum.

Make it easy for them to remember you --

• Email Signatures; include company statement, hyperlinks
• Text-Messaging; text 'allison; to 78247 or text 'platform' to 78247 to get more information

SNEAK OFFERS JUST FOR ROSALIE's Group -

• so secret we can't publish --

RESOURCES for you -

• LinkedIn - www.linkedin.com; create a profile, populate with your professional and personal interests (per your comfort level), and then use your gmail / yahoo / other email program to invite others to your network. 
• Create a BLOG -- there are many tools, TypePad is my favorite.  It is very inexpensive and easy (no web-skills needed and no web-site needed). Once you've setup your blog, you can add your LinkedIn and Google Search widgets to your blog easily on TypePad.  You'd be amazed how much traffic this will generate and so and so telling so and so about you.   Typepad allows you to put technorati (the main search engine for blogs) and keyword tags at the bottom of each posting -- that helps you come up in searches when folks are looking for something on google or yahoo.

• Facebook - it's not just for your teenagers!  This is a legitimate way to create a professional profile and network with customers, suppliers and prospects. See my profile below.
• WOMMA - the word of mouth marketing association; great listing of white-papers, recommended books (read anything by Seth Godin or Andy Sernovitz)
• Seth Godin - the absolute GURU of word-of-mouth
• ASI Social Networking Site  - Forums like Ecologically Friendly Promotional Items and other specialty groups. See The Platform Group Gallery's profile below.