Dan Greenfield, tech and new media blogger extraordinaire and proprietor of the always-enlightening Bernaise Source blog, recently wrote about the power of letting customers do your branding for you — not via online social networking websites (or “crowdsourcing, as we at Aplus.Net have written about before), but via actual physical word-of-mouth marketing
The Bernaise Source blog entry gives some pointers as to just how this sort of buzz is harnessed:
On the marketing side, organizations like the Word of Mouth Marketing Association and companies like BzzAgent have emerged to help businesses find these pitchmen and pitchwomen. These volunteers are tapped to promote new products through their network of family, friends, colleagues, and acquaintances. They are upfront about their affiliation, honest about their opinions and devoted to their products. Companies get loyal customers and genuine advocates, and customers get a sense of accomplishment.
The same spirit that drives individuals to spread the word also motivates others to contribute to company sponsored social networks. … The results are more unpredictable and thanks to the Internet permanently searchable. But the payoff is loyal customers who may identify solutions that those inside the company had not considered.
Like word of mouth marketing, company forums tap an existing social networks [sic]. But customer support forums generally don’t recruit participants. They operate online where face-to-face contact is rare. Word of mouth marketing on the other hand generally operates in person with an established social network.
It strikes me that building and sustaining online forums are more difficult than enlisting citizen marketers. Companies using forums must set up and tend to underlying infrastructure and monitor content for accuracy, tone and appropriateness.
Regardless of the degree of difficulty, however, having individuals pitch products and help others is an exciting new way to deepen a company’s relationship with its customers. While it is always nice to rely on the kindness of strangers, companies have the added responsibility of nurturing this trust. They must avoid the temptation to take advantage of those who are willing to make such a personal commitment.
The best part of all this? Customers are both touting your brand and speaking their mind. They’re not being persuaded or bribed to market your product — they’re doing it because they want to, because they like your product.
This sort of inherent customer satisfaction with any given product has always existed, but because of previous limitations, has been largely untapped. But with modern technology being what it is, the online business world now has an opportunity to make use of this kind of buzz in a much more proactive way only dreamt of by previous generations of entrepreneurs.
Here’s a link to Dan’s original blog post, “Tapping Customer Advocates“. As always, feel free to discuss in the comments section.
