Conversational marketing
Check out this free summary of the book, Beyond Buzz: The Next Generation of Word of Mouth Marketing. It’s intriguing.
Author Lois Kelly says “buzz marketing” misses the point. What you should be focused on is not creating “buzz” but rather engaging in interesting conversations with your audience.
Why?
Because people increasingly don’t trust sales and marketing. They are bombarded with information. They want to be heard and have a say.
So how do you do have a conversation instead of a marketing message?
Listen and make people feel heard. Get beyond typical messages and value propositions and focus on interesting topics of conversation. When people respond, respond back. Make fewer brochures and have more two-way communications. Hire people who like to have those conversations.
I fully endorse these ideas. When I have taken the time to ask people their opinions, listened, responded, and continued the conversation, great things happened.
Want a good example? Check out Lois’s blog post on Nike’s ad after the Imus debacle.
Here is the conversation Nike started in an ad:
“Thank you, ignorance.
Thank you for starting the conversation.
Thank you for making an entire nation listen to the Rutgers’ team story. And for making us wonder what other great stories we’ve missed.
Thank you for reminding us to think before we speak.
Thank you for showing us how strong and poised 18 and 20-year-old women can be.
Thank you for reminding us that another basketball tournament goes on in March.
Thank you for showing us that sport includes more than the time spent on the court.
Thank you for unintentionally moving women’s sport forward.
And thank you for making all of us realize that we still have a long way to go.
Next season starts 11.16.07.”
I’m ready to go buy Nikes.
The conversation approach has worked amazingly well for Six Degrees.
Have you had success in conversations or two-way communication with your audiences? I will send my Robin Hood book and post the story of the first two people who respond to this question here on the blog. Please respond, we need to learn from you.
Syndicate
Last year we did a “listening process” with our members, asking them how things were going and having a conversation about our work. The results were interesting, but the impact was amazing.
We learned a lot about what we should be doing and strengthened our relationships with our members. It helped in our Board recruitment and started as a springboard for new programs and changes in our structure.
Our biggest challenge has been continuing the conversation after the “project” ended. We’re still trying to figure out how best to do that, and we’re open for suggestions.