Andy’s Answers: Why now is the time to build your army of fans
With the economy still sputtering, now is the time to build your army of fans and start some momentum for when the things turn around. While everyone is focused on pulling back and waiting out the storm, you’ve got a huge opportunity to go out and earn a bunch of new talkers.
What to remember:
- WOM works regardless of the economy. In boom or bust, people will continue to tell their friends about fantastic products and experiences.
- Leadership’s focus is on cost-effectiveness. While your executives are focused on cutting expenses, now is the perfect time to sell them on the inexpensive, effective, and fun word-of-mouth stuff you’ve always wanted to try.
- Free advertising will always beat someone who’s paying for it. If you can get really good at word of mouth now, while everything is down, you’ll be unstoppable once the economy picks up again and your customer acquisition costs are a fraction of that of your competitors.
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Tags: advertising, economic downturn, Word of Mouth
Categories: Andy's Answers
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Posted by Web Media Daily – Tuesday June 23, 2009 | Reinventing Yourself... on June 23rd, 2009 at 9:40 am
[...] Andy’s Answers: Why now is the time to build your army of fans [...]
Posted by Julie Gordon on June 23rd, 2009 at 10:20 am
Totally agree with you on the power of WOM for any size business. Just curious if you have any insight as to what fuels WOM for small businesses. Is it specific marketing tactics or does it really come down to an exceptional customer experience? At Deluxe, we are trying to collect the best wisdom out there on this subject to share with our customers. Thanks for any help!
Posted by frank moricca on June 23rd, 2009 at 11:01 am
Word Of Mouth is like any other consumer engagement tool, it works best when working in an integrated plan. And it is certainly not FREE advertising. The planning, execution, nuturing and reacting the changes of a dynamic world where the consumer has more balanced participation in brand communications is anything but free. That’s sort of like saying good customer service is free. Each requires a commitment of time and money, and both reep long-term benefits if done well. Consider the current online darling Twitter. Free to set up and easy to use. But it is certainly not without costs – social media policies, ongoing editorial calendars to plan communications and then reacting to the good, the bad and the ugly of consumer comments and engagement. This may not be the right place for all brands – Look at how secretive Apple is for example. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/23/technology/23apple.html?_r=1
Last year I wrote about the idea of Twitter being right for some brands, and I stand by that post. http://moricca.wordpress.com/2008/08/
Posted by Nick Eber on June 23rd, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Andy, I’m always inclined to share your insights like this because you make it so easy to understand and really bring home the point. When I’m having problems communicating the benefits of WOM, I’ll commonly reference your commentary and tips.
Posted by Dave Kohl on June 26th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
It does need to be “positive” word of mouth, as any publicity is not always better than no publicity. I always make it a point to follow up closely with any less than positive experiences. This way, even if the recipient continues to be a jerk about it, I can show others how we handled the situation and value new business.
Posted by Why now is the time to build your army of fans | Webbyn.com on July 7th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
[...] a recent post I did for the SmartBlog on Social Media. You can follow the blog here or subscribe to the [...]
Posted by Why now is the time to build your army of fans on September 10th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
[...] a recent post I did for the SmartBlog on Social Media. You can follow the blog here or subscribe to the [...]