Word of Mouth Marketing: Campaign vs Movement
By Ted Wright October 1, 2018
By Ted Wright
At Fizz, when we talk about influencers, we always say, the more passionate, the better.
There are lots of brands that we’ve worked with where we’ve discovered people love the brands so much that they want to be part of their story and their movement. Some have even gotten tattoos.
I’m not encouraging anyone to do this, I’m saying that it’s possible to create such a strong, compelling story about your brand, that a person will literally tattoo a beer can on their throat. This actually happened. Just look up.
A strong brand story is what makes your company something worth talking about.
Since Word of Mouth Marketing is all about sharing stories and having a story worth talking about, we consider this to be pretty important.
When I look at most brand stories that companies are putting out there, they often feel like mission statements than stories. We once had a client whose brand story ran almost 1,300 words on their website. While it was interesting to the founding family of the company, it wasn’t interesting not relevant to very many others.
No matter the size of your company or the industry you work in, all brand stories are found the same way – and if your current brand story isn’t doing much, it can still be saved.
How do we find a brand’s story?
Step number one is taking all of the data surrounding your brand. The data should cover every aspect of your brand from “Who buys our stuff?” and “Where do they buy it?” to which products sell best, who are our competitors, what are people saying about us, and so on.
Once you have the data, sort through it.
The data then needs to go through a 3 tier test:
- Is this authentic?
- Is this interesting?
- Is this relevant?
It’s extremely important to think about what’s going on outside the 4 walls of your company, and be able to bring whatever it is your selling into the real world. This test will make sure you do that.
Once you have a solid brand story in place, it’s all about getting influencers to share those stories. Influencers are just 10% of the population, but they love to share.
Unlike other forms of marketing, Word of Mouth Marketing works slowly, because it works permanently. It has to go slowly if it’s going to work at all. Although it requires patience, it’s an option worth investing in when you consider many alternatives out there don’t work as well any more.
If you can create a strong story, get people to talk (and care) about it – you’re on your way to creating not only brand loyalty, but a movement. It’s possible that over time your Word of Mouth Marketing strategy will not only push products, but will eventually become a movement so strong, someone might get your brand tattooed on their throat.
Pictured Above: Framed artwork in the Fizz office
Ted Wright is the founder of Fizz, the world’s leading word of mouth marketing (WOMM) agency. Ted is also an acclaimed WOMM keynote speaker and the author of Fizz: Harness the Power of Word of Mouth Marketing to Drive Brand Growth