Word Of Mouth Marketing To Women

CEO's Who Dare

2010-01-30T19:37:53-08:00

There is hardly a day that goes by without the topic of health care reform making its way in the news. Today, to gain an "in the trenches" perspective, I decided to spend time researching and reading blogs authored by a group that I like to call CEO's Who Dare - the hospital CEO's who are brave enough, passionate enough and transparent enough to discuss the business of health care. Their insights allow us to watch from afar as they tackle the day-to-day challenges of leading their respective hospitals.

I have created a Hospital CEO Blog link section on this blog. Sites authored by Scott Kashman, Tom Quinn, Paul Levy, Marty Bonick, Bruce Bullen and William Roper are provided. Sign on and begin to make the health care journey with these web 2.0 savvy CEO's.

Pay particular attention to Marty Bonick - this CEO gets social media! With 864 Twitter followers, someone is listening to what Marty has to say.

Social Networking's ROI

2008-06-05T12:24:47-07:00

I recently read an article - the Fork in the Road for Social Media - which asks a very important question - What revenue model works for social media? the assumption is advertising... but is that assumption right?

I took a break form doing this post to view a webinar on the topic of product innovation. Communities such as Dell's Idea Storm and Starbuck's, My Starbuck Idea were just a few of the many communities discussed in the webinar AND whose main purpose was to generate ideas for new products and services. These social networks were NOT built to generate ad revenue. Seems that many companies 'get' the true power in all this talking and chatting, better in fact that the advertisers who are trying to crow bar the technology driven social trend into their old ad model.

The article mentioned in this blogs opening makes a statement..."at some stage, social media has to move from a cool technology to a fundamental new business type". I would suggest that the word media needs to be viewed differently if not totally replaced by a social networking model that delivers ROI - Return on Innovation. This model then derives its revenue from the number of non-duplicative innovative ideas and the value of those ideas when translated into new products and services. If a community is created with this goal in mind, then joining the conversation and becoming part of the community become a natural extension through things such as moderation, rewards and contents for 'best innovative ideas' etc.

The article discusses another social media model - the authorized lurking model. This model can be viewed at Sermo. The author also feels that no consumer company would 'pay to listen to dorm chat'. The author obviously has not heard of companies like Cymfony whose clients are in fact paying, and paying big, to do just that.

From direct experience, the communities we have created and are monitoring provide value in the following ways.

Messaging - by viewing what is being said, how it is being said and the stories, experiences discussion...these are wonderful sources to enhance communications and sales marketing materials
Product/services enhancements - a 24/7 virtual focus group which allows you to truly listen to and then translate customer desires into feature and function improvements
Competitive intelligence - along with the good and bad about your products, you will be able to hear the same about your competitors - data which can be a gold mine for your sales team
SEO - Customer words, comments, and phrases...handed to you on a silver platter to incorporate into your SEO strategy

So when you or your company are ready to make the social networking jump - view ROI in the following way:
I = innovation & inspiration, I = insight, I = I (as in what I as the customer would like versus what you as a company needs)

Blogging Women Just Want to Have Fun

2008-06-02T09:05:58-07:00

My last post talked about women and social media so BlogHer's newest study showing that 35% of all women in the US, age 18-75 are blogging should come as no surprise. So what makes this study particularly important? Read on...

In last weeks posting I mentioned the various categories of social net workers according to Groundswell's (AKA Forrester's segmentation model). The BlogHer study broke out two of these segments - the Writers (Forrester's Creators) and Readers (the Spectators) of blogs. The important take away is the consistent reasons behind both of these different group's blogging activities - fun, information gathering, connection with family and friends, advice and education. Of these the one activity which caught my eye was Fun! Long ago, we at Interpret identified Fun as one of the critical elements required in engaging women so we were not surprised at this finding, but an interesting point is made in the BlogHer study. While we know that women are shifting their media consumption habits away from the traditional channels of the past, BUT they are also shifting their 'play patterns' from traditional activities to on line activities. If you are tracking her involvement in gaming you are aware that women dominate the gaming category ( 64 percent of on line gamers are women) according to a Nielsen study done in 2006.

This 'girls just want to have fun' trend impacts all aspects of strategic market planning - both on and off line. What avenues you go after to find/reach women, what elements you build into the customer experience and even how you design your service and product in some instances. The key thing to remember is that women who are pressed for time, multi-tasking and juggling need a break - and sometimes that break needs to be entertaining.

Social Media - A Women's World

2008-05-27T22:50:34-07:00

According to a recent study conducted by Rapleaf on the use of social media, Facebook users are 63% female and 36% male, MySpace Users 63% female, 36% male, Friendster Users are 58% female, 41% male and Hi5 Users are 60% female, 39% male. So what is it about web 2.0 that breaks the old rule of male early adopters?

The study's findings were reviewed on 5/19/08 in Business Week article - The Social Media Gender Gap . The article offers a number of theories regarding why the gap is occurring, but knowing that more women than men are using social media is not as important as knowing how they are using it. Without this knowledge, a LOT of money, time and resources will be waisted.

In the book groundswell, author, Charlene Li provides six profiles that need to be understood when developing social media strategies.

The Creators, the consumers who produces, posts, maintains a web page, uploads photos etc.
The Critic, the consumer who reviews and recommends
The Collectors, the consumers who collects and aggregates information, and lastly
The Joiners, those consumers who maintain participate and main profiles on social networking sites
The Spectators, those people who consume what the other produce
The Inactives, those who do not participate at this time

Each of the above groups require different strategies to encourage and support their desired social activity. Some of these groups will be more dominant, demanding more time and attention, and some will only want to do one activity. This becomes a challenge to the marketer when selecting software tools and services which often offer a 'take it all or leave it' total solution. Our advice is to listen and observe what your market is doing and then focus on THE dominant group profile that you are trying to reach. Build or buy the tool they want, not the one that your agency, or IT or web or brand folks want.

Word of Mouth, Social Media & All That Buzz

2008-05-15T08:54:15-07:00

What can you learn about WOM and social networking, and the power of word-of-mouth women from a battle with cancer? A lot , as I have learned first hand these last 5 months.

Many of you may be wondering why I have taken a hiatus from WOM-talk. During this time I have been a primary support to a friend as she fights for her life in a battle with cancer. Her daily treatment schedule gave me the gift of time - time to read, listen and observe. Something we WOM marketers are always telling our clients to do , but something that in the day-to-day activities we often don't do.

The support I have been providing has given me a first hand examples of many key WOM principles.
Below are just a few of the many lessons I have watched unfold.
1. The power of word of mouth and 'buzz'. Upon my friends diagnosis, no less than 35 people were notified, and brought together under a 'social net' called Caring Bridge - a social family and friends network which became the vehicle for daily updates on my friends condition.
2. The power of reviews and recommendations - this 35 woman network spread the word to their friends, asking for recommendations for doctors, facilities and more. The names and experiences began to pour in and through peer consensus, a physician recommendation was given...ditto for the oncologist, the radiologist and now, support and counselors and program.
3. The power of chat, forums and blogs - while this network can provide a lot of help and recommendations, we were not able to truly relate to what my friends was going through. The power and support of patient peer chats, forums and blogs have been a virtual lifeline to my friend, at all hours of the day and night. The health care niche sites that provide this type of community is truly staggering and a very big reminder of the need to connect with those that have a like interest and need.
4. The Desire for Transparency - with cancer comes treatment - often with very powerful and dangerous drugs. In the past, one's doctors recommendation was a given - not today - my newly empowered e-patient friend and her female research 'network' pulled and read patient drug clinical trials, patient written side affect and treatment stories - the end result of all this honest input was the co-creation in her treatment plan with her doctor. With sites such as Patients Like Me and others - health care will never be the same.

I could go on and one, but suffice it to say, true WOM lessons are all around us if we just listen and observe. They exist in the everyday needs of people like you and me. These lessons show us what our product and services weaknesses are and provide us solutions if we just want to take the time to observe.

Flipping Out Is In!

2007-10-25T10:44:18-07:00

Are advertisers and marketers reaching the young girls/Gen Y market? Not according to the team at 3iYing. Its' offensive, insulting and plain stupid! Who i 3iYing, what's a Flip? and what has this got to do with Word of Mouth? Plenty!

The group of young women at 3iYing have taken on the advertising world by posting 190 ad critique videos called Flips on YouTube. Everything from tampons to jeans and perfume are being flipped. Since 3iYing began its flip requesting program, more than 400 entries have been submitted by young girls - and the number grows daily.

In a recent AdAge article on the ad flipping girls from 3iYing, a representative from Sony was quoted defending its' ad depicting a pink Vaio being used at the beach... " While we understand 3iYing's take on this Vaio ad (stupid color, would never take my laptop to the beach...), we believe the ads are subjective and shouldn't necessarily be taken literally. The Sony Vaio shown in this ad is one of our best-selling models and we think conveys the message that Vaios (especially in colors like pink) are fun and liberating." Notice the WE's in Sony's response..they are missing the point...what they think is not important, what their young, tech savy, video creating and posting market thinks is important! (as a side note, there has been enough research, articles and books about the use of pink and women to date , so shame on Sony - while they are using the color to support breast cancer with the product's purchase they didn't have to make the computer pink to get their point across.)

While reading this article and reviewing 3iYing's Relevancy Report I remembered two tattered books on my office bookshelf - Branded, The Buying and Selling of Teenagers and Body Wars, making peace with Women's Bodies. Both of these books takes a hard, critical look at the advertising world and their portrayal of women in ads and marketing campaigns; BUT, and its a big BUT, these books were written in 2000 and 2003 - before the dawn of YouTube, Flickr, and the social media revolution being driven by Web 2.0 technology Their ability to change thinking beyond the traditional bookstore, book launch speaking tour was limited. This is the power that 3iYing understands well and this is the power that is driving the viral viewing of their critique of Madison Avenue.

Once again, the lesson is clear - the face of marketing is forever changed by the customers' ability to share their views globally. Like it or not, Brand stewards, CMO's, product developers can no longer sit behind their 'silos of power'. To survive and prosper co-creation at many levels within an organization will be necessary. This requires an openness and willingness to listen as never before, and the stomach to admit when you are wrong. It also requires that agencies re-think how they staff, train and assign those that work on accounts and how they utilize research to direct their approaches...the hallowed creative for creative's sake is on shakey ground.

And for my readers that come from the BtoB side of the house, you are not immune to this type of negative WOM. Somewhere on the Net is lurking an unhappy manufacturer, a supplier or a channel partner that thinks your approach sucks...its just a matter of time before they find their viral voice.

I wish 3iYing all the luck and success in their mission to change bad advertising. I see great promise from this young group - perhaps they will be able to change what no generation before them have been able to do. If they are successful, there may not be a need for revised additions of Killing Us Softly.

What Word of Mouth Can Learn from Cartoons

2007-10-18T08:34:21-07:00

What do Powerpuff Girls, Spider-Man and Disney's Cutie line all have in common? These US cartoon characters have all been re-invented by a process called transcreation. Far more than just dubbing in another language, these icons of the cartoon world now have relevance in the global markets they enter. Can transcreation help build stronger WOM programs? Read on.....

On 10/16/07, the Wall Street Journal ran an interesting article "Cartoon Characters Get Big Makeover For Overseas Fans". The article profiles some of the changes in well known cartoon characters to make them more relevant outside the US market. One of the most interesting changes to each character during it's transcreation process involved their super power origins. For India, Spider Man's alter ego Peter Parker gains his super powers from a "mysterious yoga" and not a spider, and for the Japanese market, Powerpuff Girls became super-heroines by eating a super-charged rice cake.

So what does this all have to do with WOM Marketing. In order for someone to talk about a product or service they have to be able to relate to all aspects of it. Beyond its features and functionality, it has to be relevant to their culture, their values and yes, of course their needs.

In marketing, values and cultures are many times not addressed, to say nothing about product re-design. Yes, a proverbial diverse photos may be added and translations done, but changing the product story or making design modifications based on physical differences in the market's people are often times overlooked. The Powerpuff Girls changes for the Japanese market, involved changing their physical look (longer legs), their storyline approach (more complex) and the length of each show segment (from 11 minutes to 20 minutes). Operationally; product design, production, contracting, writing all were impacted. So imagine what could happen if products and services line designers, marketers and creatives took a page from the cartoon transcreation book. New revenue lines would be born, differentiation would occur and the result would be more referrals, great on-line reviews and more impactful WOM campaigns. So, for those of my readers who are in the planning stage for WOM programs in 2008, focus efforts on the product itself first and campaign development second. In other words, give you audience something to really talk about!

Building WOM Through Strategic Partnerships

2007-10-15T13:21:41-07:00

I recently read three different articles regarding new products and services that address the fitness and wellness market. The first article described an intelligent smart grocery cart which allows the consumer to review a product from their cart and learn about its caloric count, nutritional value, and even ethical sourcing and environmental impact. The second was an article about a social networking nutrition site which offers one-to-one virtual support to the dieter and the last article was about the Boomer sports market and the opportunity that it presents for Sports Medicine businesses, professional trainers and fitness clubs.

How can these trends and products and services come together to generate WOM for each individual entity ? Through WOM Strategic Partnerships.

We know that organic WOM requires a product or service which delivers on its promise to serve a particular market's need. We know that WOM is great for launching new, innovative products. We also know that once you gain awareness for your product or service that having a vehicle through which you customers can talk is critical to sustaining WOM. So, if we 'connect the dots' of these articles you can imagine a perfect trio to collectively design and deliver a WOM program that benefits each of the partners.

Lets assume for a minute that I wanted to launch the Smart Cart. Besides the traditional media and online marketing efforts (i.e., linking, ad placement, keyword buys etc.) social networking diet sites like DietTV, PEER Trainer or Calorie-Count offer access to the desired target market . Site members could be invited to become 'beta' testers of the cart at grocers near their home? A product giveaway event like 'fill your cart with all the nutritional food you can fit into it in 20 minutes' could be done. The event could include both online video and/or podcast sessions (both downloadable) and offline education sessions sponsored by the social networking sites, and the event of course would provide computer kiosks to allow registration for their services. Lets also assume that the bar code data that is offered through the smart cart is offered as content on-line for the partnering social networking sites and as a mini-database which could be searched by product name from a users i-Pod.

In addition to the above activities, the bar code data from smart cart and the support tools offered through the diet/fitness sites could provide value added amenities for fitness clubs, and athletic trainers. According to International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association states that the fastest growing segment of the fitness club industry is the over 55 market. AND which segment is the heaviest club user - women of course.

The creative WOM campaign options are limited only by the collaboration desires of the partners. So for those of you planning your next years WOM activities, think about how strategic partnerships could turbo charge your WOM programs - start thinking outside your Company Only WOM Box!

Intergenerational Friendships- An Untapped Marketing Opportunity

2007-10-04T21:05:34-07:00

On the Couch, Dr. Gail Saltz, one of the specialty blogs offered through iVillage had a very interesting article about women and their friendships. The article discusses the benefits that come to women who become close friends with those much older and/or much younger than themselves. The blog comments were very telling AND if viewed through a marketing lens, show the power these intergenerational relationships could have on a company's Brand and bottom-line.

" I am part of a multi-age social group. I am the youngest person in the group and reap so much great advice" (a post by a 29 year old teacher). "Thanks for the article, I never stopped to think about it...my best friends are 68 and 23 - I'm 33." One women, in defending her friendship with her best friend's mother stated that her friend had "juvenile/parental blockage syndrome". What a great phrase and one which both researchers and marketers, if honest, could admit to suffering from. Their blockage - unwavering loyalty to traditional marketing segments, long held beliefs that older consumers can't/don't change their brand...despite evidence to the contrary.

After reading this article I began to observe groups of women when I was traveling and realized that there is a hidden opportunity in intergenerational WOM programs. First, I would like to share a personal experience that happened to me this summer. Last February, a friend I have known for over 25 years sent me an email. That email was copied to 10 of her closest friends - none of which know each other. She invited us to spend a week together - she wanted her wonderful friends to meet each other. So, after months of successful pre-planning we all arrived in Michigan where we settled into two lake front homes that had every amenity we could want. On our first night together we shared how we met our friend in common. The ages represented around the table were 41 to 82! The next week we shopped together, went horse back riding, spent a day at a spa, went to Mackinac Island and went antiquing, and with each new day, new bonds of friendship were being forged. And we were not in the minority, every place I looked were groups of women laughing and enjoying each other's company.

Our week flew by. We talked about our businesses, our lives and in 6 short days, found our lives enriched. Today, across the country we email, call each other for recipes and plan for next years adventure in the making - tentatively a fly fishing trip.

So where am I going with this story. Well, from a marketers perspective, this was a captive audience that any travel, spa, resort, tour, restaurant or retail marketer could have leveraged. For example, we went to a local golf/spa resort. They knew from our check in information that we had traveled far (translation - we had money we were willing to spend it).While at the resort I noted two ladies weekends that they offered in the fall and winter, but not one person thought to ask us about our interests or offered us a special deal on renting one of their homes for one of these future events. Ditto for the tour/brunch/trip to Mackinaw Island. If any of you have ever been to Mackinaw, we ARE this resort's target market. One person in our group even mentioned what a wonderful place the island and the Grand Hotel would be for her daughter's wedding - can you say missed wedding bell opportunity! The lack of intergenerational opportunity recognition was unbelievable. Over wine, we talked about what we would have done had we ran the businesses that served us throughout the week.

One evening as we played cards, we began to talk about our businesses, our offices and the products and services we all use. In the space of 2 hours we covered cell phones, software, office equipment and the recommendations flew around the table.Talk about WOM on steroids! A little wine, a lot of laughs and a few skewered vendors later, model numbers, vendors names - and personal reviews covered our cell phone plans, a new PDA, all our individual digital cameras and a lightweight new Apple computer ensued. The resounding echo for the business women was very clear - no one designed products to meet these Boomer's business owners needs, and electronics shopping for their companies had become as unpleasant as shopping for a car.

Perhaps its time to rethink market demographics as THE way to view 'like' market segments. Perhaps orchestrating a girls getaway week would yield more honest product reviews and be worth its weight in consumer generated golden ideas!

Cause Marketing and Word of Mouth

2007-09-24T22:52:54-07:00

Are all Causes equal? Could supporting a Cause that fits a company's products or services generate more goodwill than supporting one that is done just 'beCause' it is easier to operationalize and requires no new creative thinking? Lastly, can a Cancer Cause program generate more Word of Mouth for their Brands AND stand out among the 'sea of pink'?

Today MarketingDaily ran an article about the multitude of companies that are creating pink themed merchandise and Cause programs that result in donations. The main focus of the articles was to introduce a San Francisco based group - the Breast Cancer Action (BCA) and their critical look at companies and the relationship between what they spend on advertising and promotion for their Cause programs versus the dollar amount they donate. Additionally, BCA is posing and important question...is the company doing the donating also working to assure that their products do not contribute to breast cancer? These issues are best addressed in another post, but suffice it to say that if a company is not honest in its commitment to the Cause it purports to care about, negative WOM will surely result - it is just a matter of time before the company experiences the angry voices of women who placed trust in them and were betrayed.

But back to my questions at the beginning of this post. One of the goals of Cause marketing is to support a Brand and tie the Brand to doing good. With so many 'pink projects' focused on Breast Cancer differentiation for a company's particular 'pink program' is becoming harder and harder to accomplish. Don't get me wrong, I know Breast Cancer is an awful disease and one that affects many women. It needs support for research and education, but there are many creative Cancer Cause programs that could be developed that would result in a tighter fit for a company's Brand AND generate WOM on an ongoing basis. Lets look at several possibilities. According to the article, Estee Lauder has a Pink Ribbon Collection of products. What if, instead of pushing products and giving a % of sales donation, they created a fund that gave women going through chemo therapy a one-on-one, private make-up lesson with an Estee Lauder cancer make-up specialist. A woman could learn how to deal with things such as losing eyebrows and eyelashes as a result of her treatment? And what if these same make-up specialists created and educational Cancer Make-Up video which could be 'rented for free' through their local hospital or cancer treatment center? This type of program represents a Cause Fit. Estee Lauder is all about make-up, and the result of cancer treatment demands special make-up expertise than a woman desperately needs. Would a program like this generate WOM? Absolutely, Cancer patients meet in groups, talk in forums and reach out for help -if a patient, or her mother, sister or daughter benefits from this type of program, you better believe that she would spread the word both on and offline. Lets look at another program that could provide a much needed service to cancer patients. According to the article, American Airlines is a member of the $1 Million dollar Komen donation 'club'. A good fit for an airline would obviously be transportation services. When a women goes through Cancer treatment she often must reach out to family for help. Many times, family members are far away from where a patient lives. What if American Airlines had a special fund to offset airline ticket costs for family caregivers? Taking $1M and dividing it by $350 (an average price for a ticket in the US) results in 2857 donated tickets. The WOM that a program like this could generate through the Cancer patient, her caregiver, the hospital's staff where treatment is being given could be invaluable. Are these types of programs more difficult to orchestrate - of course. Would they stand out among the sea of pink programs - absolutely! One last idea, MGM Home Entertainment has pledged to donate a minimum of $250,000 from the sale of specially packaged 'chick flicks' - what if they donated movies and DVD players to outpatient chemo therapy clinics so women could watch them as they received these long treatments? For hours on end, the women faced with this problem would be reminded of the company that cared enough to help her through this difficult, long ordeal!