Boris Johnson’s Famous Ping Pong Speech
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Slightly OT, but I had to post this - just brilliant! I’m certain that Boris sometimes shocks people, because he tells it how it is and has a load of charisma and personality. People are shocked because 99% of other politicians have zero charisma or personality. We are just not used it.
Toms Shoes - a unique marketing success story
I’ve just picked this up via my morning feeds and I am SO impressed.
Toms Shoes are a company who have been around for only 2 years. They have a very simple message:
Buy a pair of our shoes, and we give a pair to someone who really needs a pair.
The company was set up by Blake Mycoskie. He was a former contestant of “The Amazing Race” who was inspired by the low-cost alpargatas (espadrille-type shoes) during a trip to Argentina, where he saw people who could not even afford the very basic shoes.
Why has Toms Shoes impressed me?
Number one - a superb cause - people really do take this to heart, and what a great way to promote and sell a product when you know you are doing some good in the world too.
Number two - a quality product, a fun one, and not just one style, many styles (so more purchases!).
Number 3 - great brand, which is telling a story - people LOVE stories.
Number 4 - great marketing - lots of viral potential, loads of evangelists who spread the word, and the big one.
Being unique. Standing out and being noticed, doing something different, which also happens to be great.
I wonder if they sell them in the Uk yet? Time to hit up cuil, or maybe I will just stick with Google!
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Connection and Interaction
I’m betting that, right now, you have quite a few tabs open on your browser. (From my analytics data, you are probably using Firefox 3 or Safari 3). I’m exactly the same as you. Loads of tabs open and using FF 3.
The reason I mention this is down to a tab that I have had open for a week or so now, something that has really stood out from the rest of the material I consume online. It’s this post from Seth Godin on his blog.
Seth talks about that the 4 P’s of marketing have actually been replaced by these building blocks on the left here.
Data and stories, interactions and products, and finally connection. I am a huge fan of interaction and connection, products is obvious, but data and stories also ring true.
Something that applies to me, just as well as you, is this. Sit down, look in the mirror and ask yourself if you are encouraging interaction and connection with your customers today, and the customers of tomorrow. Seth quite rightly states that if anything you are doing doesn’t do this, then whay are you doing it?
The web provides such an easy, repeatable format for connection and interaction, one that we could not possibly imagine 10 years ago. The constantly shifting and evolving power of the web, means that online communication / connection / interaction is going to touch more and more people.
One word which Seth didn’t mention, but fits in well with the 5 elements he did, is personalisation. People want a personal experience. They increasingly want information, communication, products and connection which is suited to them and them only. Their habits, likes, preferences, whatever you want to call it. Just make it personal - if you as a marketeer or sales person can communicate, interact and connect by being really truly personal and meaningful, you will be successful.
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When word of mouth marketing works
Word of mouth marketing is something that makes a huge amount of sense. If you experience something good, you tell someone about it. Word of mouth. On the other side, you experience something bad, and you also tell people about it, possibly even more!
Word of mouth marketing has always been there, but with the rise of the web, and of course Google, it has started to be recognised as a serious part of the marketing mix and even has it’s own association - WOMMA, and they do a good job of explaining what they think it is all about.
What is vital for Word of Mouth marketing is customer satisfaction, (and dissatisfaction in some cases), the ability of being able to facilitate a conversation between customers, potential customers and the company / brand, and transparent communications. The basic elements are laid out by WOMMA are:
- Educating people about your products and services
- Identifying people most likely to share their opinions
- Providing tools that make it easier to share information
- Studying how, where, and when opinions are being shared
- Listening and responding to supporters, detractors, and neutrals
There are a number of key things to understand here.
- If you have a happy customer, they are going to sing your praises
- Encourage them to tell other people if they have a good experience, and give them the means to do so if at all possible
- Listen, learn, get feedback, and actively take on board all postive and especially negative comments, so that you can act and make your product and service better
- Word of Mouth marketing really fits well with an authentic company which behaves in a postive manner with its customers. Word of Mouth is being honest, telling the truth and should not be forced
In fact, as pointed out by the WOMMA, Word of Mouth marketing can be organic (natural) or amplified (I like to use the term, stimulated). I regularly take part in natural word of mouth for certain brands and services because I am pleased with them, and have a desire to share my enthusiasm, with the honest belief that I will be helping someone, making their life better, or recommending something they will also enjoy. (Natural word of mouth could be likened to evangelism). Examples of my organic / natural word of mouth would be:
- Apple computers and the iPhone (I know, a real shock)
- 37 signals services
- Wordpress
- Method Cleaning gear
- Howies clothes
- Hasbean Coffee
- First Direct banking
- IC Berlin spectacles
All of these companies and brands make me smile, provide excellent service and great products. Stimulated Word of Mouth marketing happens when companies actively launch campiagns to facillitate Word of Mouth.
There is one BIG watch out with this seemingly great form of marketing. And that, ladies and gents, is false Word of Mouth, paying people to be positive, spamming people, providing misleading information, I think your get the idea. Word of Mouth works best when you have a great product or service. It really is as simple as that. That’s what your aiming for anyway isn’t it? If you get this right, word of mouth will come along soon enough, you may just want to be able to harness it, and perhaps stimulate it. Just don’t think people won’t notice if you try and do something a little unethical. They will, and it will always come back to haunt you.
PS I nearly forgot about why word of mouth works! Two good examples from yesterday and today. A friend recommended me to his friend, who got in touch and I get a new client. I tell my friend about the great coffee we are drinking, and he goes to investigate online and will order some. Natural, unprompted word of mouth resulting in sales and more business. If only all marketing was like this! But, it could be. Think about it 
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