Do you know that I am an advertiser’s dream?
I am also their biggest nightmare. So are you if you do a blog.
I am part of a social phenomenon that advertisers are starting to call Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM). Or if you like jargon, conversational advertising.
Let me tell you why I, and others, are so important to the likes of Proctor and Gamble and Unilever. Only 14% of traditional advertising is believed by consumers, as opposed to Word of Mouth which is 90%. The reason being is pretty obvious, you trust your family and friends more than advertisers.
Let me try a couple of questions on you: What paper do you read? Is it by any chance one that your Dad reads? Who do you vote for? Is it your dad’s party?
In an age where we believe institutions, organisations and companies less and less we look for other ways to help us make informed choices. The reason why advertisers are watching people like me is that we have the chance to influence others more than any of their multi-million pound campaigns can do. That makes me a pretty powerful person.
In America, one marketing sociologist came up with some stats that included the term’ super influencer’. It is thought that 1 in 10 people on a company’s database are one of these people. Find and incentivise these people and they’ll pass the message on to another 9 people. In this group there will be another ‘super influencer’. I am sure you are getting the picture why now we are so important.
And this is why also the internet is such a powerful solution. We can make or break a brand.
Take Kryptonite, the cycle lock people. Their whole company nearly went down the drain, because someone living in Seattle posted a hand-made film on the internet showing how this expensive lock could be unlocked with a simple biro pen. News, along with the footage, spread like a rash across the world. The brand was unable to contain the story. It was only finally from going under by the mother company – 10 million dollars later!
A survey has been carried out recently by the Kingston Business School which showed that people didn’t just circulate bad news, but also good stuff. In fact, it was pretty even stevens. If something is very good people wanted to naturally share their positive experiences with other people. When people have had a negative experience they want to let off steam and tell their family and friends all about it. One did not outweigh the other. This has given advertisers hope.
Of course Word of Mouth Marketing is nothing new. In its modern guise as a marketing device it has been around for at least 30 years. But long before that we simply passed everything on orally.
In the Bible we see this happening in the life of Jesus. Early on in the gospels we read how Jesus heals a man of his disability but tells him, “Go, but tell no-one about me.”
Fat chance! News about Jesus healing people spreads like wildfire. In no time he was inundated with people’s requests.
But, perhaps, the most famous of all Word of Mouth advertising campaigns in the Bible, is in the first chapter of the Book of Acts, on the day now known as Pentecost. Jesus has ascended into heaven and the disciples are waiting in a locked upper room, as instructed by Jesus. Jews, meanwhile, had gathered from all over the Roman world to celebrate the feast of the Passover.
If ever there was a perfectly planned PR event, this would be it. You got maximum attendance in the capital city, ‘super influencers’ and an international stage. Jerusalem was a major trading port and strategically important to the Romans.
We read in the Book of Acts that the Holy Spirit suddenly came and descended on the disciples and they started speaking in different languages. In fact, the languages of those international visitors present. We later read that news of this extraordinary event, along with its explanation (the story of Jesus) spread throughout ‘Jerusalem, Samaria and to the ends of the ends.’ It is now thought that one third of the world is practicing Christian. Not bad coming from just 11 men!
There is an old adage in marketing theory that says, “Markets are conversation’. If you have a picture of an old marketplace in your head, you’ve got the point. But with all conversation you have to listen. Brands at the moment are starting to listen in a way they have never had to do before.
The church is far from perfect. Mainly because it is made up of people doing people stuff. It often does things that gets it talked about – good and bad. Sadly at a national institutional level most of it is bad. But at a local level there is much good stuff to say, but it’ll rarely make a newspaper front page or win a special civic award. Being a Christian is a great thing. Knowing God , knowing Jesus is the best experience of my life. Too good to keep quiet. Just wanted you to know that, so you can pass it on.
ASD
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