My First Parlux 3500 and the Power of Word-of-Mouth Marketing

I have been out of a hairdryer for over three weeks now, as my trusted hair dryer died after four-years of reliable service, and I've been battling afro-head for too long. It was time to get a new one.
So I went on a mission, first to buy the same product I had before, only to find that it's not available outside of the US without significant planning and coordination across continents. I then went to several local department stores to find a suitable substitute, but nothing seemed to meet my needs. I travelled to specialty hair supply stores far and wide, looked in magazines and finally looked online. With so many options and being somewhat of a discerning customer, I was actually paralysed by the analysis of choosing between them all.

I then spoke with a co-worker who sent me a link and a note about her positive experience. A recommendation; it was just the nudge I needed. In the end, I spent more than I wanted to, but it led me to think about what marketers are doing to reach consumers at the points that most influence their decisions.

Traditionally, consumers would get the majority of brand and product messages before they need to purchase, then again after their purchase decision, as an affirmation and means of retaining loyalty to a brand or product.

But with the shift of communications away from pushed, mono-directional communication to a dialogue, and with social media channels being readily available, marketers need ways of managing word-of-mouth. As one of the moments of maximum influence, capitalising on word-of-mouth can increase the chance of reaching the right consumer, with the right message, at the right time - a tricky task, considering you don't want to waste money or seem out-of-touch with consumers.
Now, word of mouth happens when a conversation happens. Conversations about your product happen where consumers congregate to view and share product information, reviews and recommendations.

So if your customers are active users of Facebook/Twitter/Orkut/Hi5, your company should actively use those, too.

In a December 2008 study from Kudzu.com, results showed 86% of consumers seek out and read online reviews before making a purchase decision. 90% of consumers surveyed said they trusted online reviews they read. Another report from the eTailing Group in June of 2008 showed that 32% of retailers who added online reviews to their website experienced an increase of more than 11% in purchase conversions. Of those retailers, 11% of them experience a 20% or more increase in purchase conversions.

So perhaps listening to what customers are saying and addressing their concerns can help create buzz and identify advocates of your products.

Besides the obvious strategies of evaluating objectives, prioritizing spending and tailoring messages, it looks like investing in consumer empowerment is a way to be in the right place at the right time. Marketers should see this not as a loss of power through traditional means, but another way of listening to consumer needs.

If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got

So today I attended my regular Toastmasters meeting where one of the members gave a speech on learning from experience. He touched on a couple of points around failure which led me to some conclusions:

1. Learn to fail


2. Fail early, fail often


3. Learn from failures
   

This got me thinking...As a card carrying member of Generation Y (albeit on the cusp), I was lucky enough to have parents who encouraged me at every turn. Fortunately, as a child I did well at most of what I attempted. Unfortunately, what I didn't get early on was failure experience. We're often told failure is not an option, and I'm not saying it's something to aim for, but lets look at ways to frame failure as something to learn from.

Learning to fail involves trying something in the first place. As a Canadian living in Australia, I'm very aware of cultural differences, especially the ones engrained attitude of 'Having a go' which revolves around giving something the 'old college try' without fear of failure, which may well happen. So far, I've been reasonably successful at playing it safe, but if I want to move forward, it's time to take some action, and not treat failure as a personality characteristic.

Failing early has to do with the way we learn. Everyone knows we learn through experience and making mistakes. In theory, we should be able to increase the pace of learning by increasing the rate at which we try, right? More than likely, this will also increase the rate at which we make mistakes, and by that I mean different mistakes - new mistakes. But failing in your twenties is probably a lot better than failing when you've got a spouse, kids, and a mortgage or two. There is so much more time for recovery.

Learning from failure is probably the key element to take away from all of this. That means doing things differently. They say one definition of insanity was doing things over and over and expecting a different result. If you're not getting results from your current sales pitch, change it up. If you're not increasing traffic to your blog, try something new. If you've tried sending your resume to a hundred agencies and cold calling organisations to no avail, why not try tapping your network or running a personal campaign for a change?

Learn from failures by:

• Identifying the mistake
• Examining why it happened
• Take steps to prevent the same mistake again
• Move on!

In the end, if you learn something, it's not a complete failure is it? Failure is not a person, it's a thing, so go on, set some goals and have a go!

How do you learn from your failures?

When your job needs a stimulus package

Maybe your role is no longer a challenge for you, you've outgrown the role and you're feeling a little underworked and understimulated. Maybe you've realised that your goals and the organisation's goals, as noble as they may be, no longer match up. It could be that there's an office bully, or an incompetent manager. So many elements could make your work experience begin to sour.

The feeling of dread usually starts at the pit of the stomach as you approach the building on foot or you see the compound in the distance from the car every morning. The feeling moves upward from the stomach toward the heart region. Your chest feels heavy as you dig your security pass from your handbag or wallet. In the elevator, you pray that you don't see anyone since the awful feeling has finally enveloped you from head to toe and there's no way you could dredge any inane pleasantries from the depths of your loathing.

And yet, as the elevator approaches your floor, since you don't want to be seen as 'the toxic employee with the bad attitude', you slap a smile on your face, walk in with your chin high, and greet each person with enthusiasm and genuine* interest.

What reason could you possibly have to smile?

1) You're keeping a to-do list, that gives you structure and direction, even if your manager won't.
When you're pretty certain that you can do your job with your eyes closed and both hands tied behind your back, having a bit of self-imposed structure can help you maintain some initiative. It will also help the day zip past, and when review time comes around you can prove you've been "super busy".

2) You've been volunteering for the social committee or other extra-curricular office activities
Maybe you're now on the social committee and you're the mastermind behind the office Christmas party, or the latest charity fun-run. In any case, getting out there socially portrays you as part of the team.

3) You've been making friends in the office
Odds are that you've got some colleagues who are also bored with their work, so you can pool your ideas on how to get ahead, try to motivate each other, beat the boredom and stay on top of the workload. It's also the ideal time for you to speak to people you ordinarily wouldn't, and build a positive profile of yourself.

4) You've been looking around for other jobs
When you're stuck in a career or work rut, it can be incredibly frustrating, especially if you're intelligent, educated and you could probably do your boss' boss' job if given the opportunity. Especially in the current economic climate, maybe those opportunities aren’t around, and may not be for a while. There's no harm in looking, though, especially if you're finding out where your skill gaps are, and how you can address those so you're prepared for your next big thing. Who knows what you might find.

Whatever you do, don't fall into the trap of letting your office boredom consume your life to the point where you start to make mistakes or offer work that you wouldn't otherwise be proud of. Several combinations of the activities above will make you look like you're showing a little initiative to get ahead. This could help you move up the ranks which will revitalise your interest and ultimately alleviate your boredom.

*fake

Image credits - Interest Rates (by ArtemFinland - CC- BY)