{"id":40736,"date":"2014-01-25T14:26:20","date_gmt":"2014-01-25T14:26:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/?p=40736"},"modified":"2014-01-25T14:29:19","modified_gmt":"2014-01-25T14:29:19","slug":"valuable-marketing-tool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/valuable-marketing-tool\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Most Valuable Marketing Tool"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"<\/a>

\u201cI\u2019ve heard you help people with horse problems.\u201d \u2013 Annie (Kristin Scott)
\u201cTruth is, I help horses with people problems.\u201d \u2013 Tom Booker (Robert Redford) \u2013 \u201cThe Horse Whisperer,\u201d Touchstone Pictures (1998)<\/p><\/div>\n

Whisper, Don\u2019t Shout<\/strong> —\u00a0 It may seem easier to make a lot of noise to get people to believe you but there are times \u2013 lots of times \u2013 when people listen harder, respond better when you whisper.\u00a0\u00a0 Big marketing doesn\u2019t always bring big results.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Sometimes talking consumers into \u201cdoing the right thing\u201d is as tough as communicating with horses.<\/p>\n

3D was cool but no one stampeded to buy it.<\/p>\n

UHD TV is even better and folks are only slowly warming up to it.<\/p>\n

Cloud everything is super, but folks are \u201chesitant\u201d because of little things like privacy, security.<\/p>\n

Over-electrified cars are shockingly neat.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t blame the companies. My gawd, they pump out new stuff, new ideas as fast as they can! And they\u2019re spending truckloads of money everywhere to convince you that tomorrow is here.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s better \u2026 it\u2019s time to make the move \u2026 NOW!<\/p>\n

Marketing people aren\u2019t stupid \u2026 honest.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ll do almost anything to get you interested in their new product, new service.<\/p>\n

They want the press coverage, the reviewers\u2019 praises, the analysts\u2019 reports, all of that marketing buzz that makes products fly out of the warehouse and off the shelves.<\/p>\n

They have more plans and programs in the works to convince you that if you don\u2019t get on the horse and ride, you\u2019ll be left in the dust.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s only one thing missing.<\/p>\n

Customers!<\/em><\/p>\n

First in Line<\/strong>
\nSure, they have innovators and early adopters.<\/p>\n

\"<\/a>

Source \u2013 Geoffrey Moore\u2019s \u201cThe Chasm\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

Jumping the Chasm<\/strong> \u2013 Innovators and early adopters will buy almost any new technology, the next great leap. But getting the early majority\/late majority can take a year plus. Laggards? They wait until the\u00a0 next generation!<\/em><\/p>\n

You know, the guys\/gals who buy bleeding-edge anything. They just haven\u2019t been able cross Geoffrey Moore\u2019s Chasm to get the volume, profit they want.<\/p>\n

So what do they do?<\/p>\n

What any red-blooded marketing\/sales person would do:<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 advertise more
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 add features
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 introduce new versions
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 lower the price<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s promotion options are endless. \"Untitled-3\"<\/a>
\nWorld of Options<\/strong> \u2013 There are promotional opportunities for new ideas, new concepts at every turn. But those with the greatest influence require patience and kid glove handling \u2026 word-of- mouth recommendations.<\/em><\/p>\n

They leverage all of them.<\/p>\n

All except the best \u2026 the innovators and early adopters.<\/p>\n

The horse whisperers!<\/p>\n

Why spend money\/time on word of mouth (WOM)?<\/p>\n

Why only focus on people others turn to for advice, assistance, guidance?<\/p>\n

Are you out of your freakin\u2019 mind?<\/p>\n

That requires time \u2026 effort \u2026 patience \u2026 and painful \u201cself analysis\u201d that the product\/documentation\/solution may be fallible and might \u2013 just might \u2013 need a little work, a little time before it\u2019s ready to go mainstream.<\/p>\n

You overlook the fact that the post-Chasm crowd checks every source possible before they climb on.<\/p>\n

They Listen, Believe<\/strong>
\nBut it\u2019s other folks’ inputs–word of mouth–that carries the most weight.<\/p>\n

You know; face-to-face, blogs, company review sites, community interest\/networking sites.
\n\"Untitled-4\"<\/a>Let\u2019s Talk<\/strong><\/em> — Today, when people get serious about looking to buy a product or service they turn to their best, most credible sources \u2026 people who have purchased or used the product\/service. WOM, whether face-to-face or half-way around the globe, it lets real people find out the strengths and weaknesses from other real people \u2026 just like themselves.<\/p>\n

With very little effort, folks today check all of the sources.\u00a0 But they give the most weight to colleagues\u2019\/friends\u2019\/consumers\u2019 insights\/recommendations.<\/p>\n

\"Untitled-5\"<\/a>All the Tools<\/strong><\/em> \u2013 Customers \u2013 businesses or individuals \u2013 see all of the marketing efforts from suppliers\/sellers. But when it comes to making the buying decision, the recommendations and ideas from other customers count the most.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, most companies only give WOM lip service.<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

Oh yeah\u2026<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 it\u2019s time-consuming
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 it requires patience \u2026 lots of patience
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 it means you have to look at the users\u2019 views, opinions, ideas in a non-defensive manner with an understanding that the user \u2013 the real user \u2013 might know more about what he\/she wants, how he\/she wants to work than engineers, programmers, designers (translation \u2013 sometimes the king may not have clothes or he has mismatched socks)
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 it requires cold, hard analysis of what was said \u2013 and not said \u2013 and delicate handling of the feedback to the people who nurtured the product from concept to introduction. Trust us \u2026 no one likes to be told their kid is ugly!<\/p>\n

Smart companies get the message.<\/p>\n

They know unfiltered user inputs, ideas and recommendations can help, even when it hurts \u2026 a \u201clittle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sometimes the damn horse is right!<\/p>\n

The challenge is two-fold.<\/p>\n

Today, the ticked off customer posts his\/her complaint and BAM!!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s instantly out there for 10-50 million people to read \u2026 and pass along.<\/p>\n

\"Untitled-6\"<\/a>A World of Passion<\/strong> — People who are passionate about their area of interest look everywhere for information, ideas and insight. Finding credible assistance in today\u2019s Internet-connected world is extremely easy.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Getting happy consumers to spread the positive words \u2013 the praise \u2013 is tricky.<\/p>\n

Do it wrong and they\u2019ll stampede.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ll think you\u2019re trying to con them, turn them into shills.<\/p>\n

Not good.<\/p>\n

Do it right?<\/p>\n

Very good.<\/p>\n

Passion, Empowered<\/strong>
\nThere are millions of passionate, empowered consumers out there in special interest\/user groups.<\/p>\n

They are more than a little favorable to things they like\/use in their work, hobby, home.<\/p>\n

They spend hours at work and late into the night scouring the iNet; chatting on use lists, checking web sites, devouring blogs; sharing information and ideas with people who share their passion.<\/p>\n

Some have product sites where they exchange information and share product \u201ctricks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Special interest groups have web sites where they review products with varying degrees of expertise for anyone\/everyone to read.<\/p>\n

Folks read them \u2026 trust them!<\/p>\n

\"Untitled-7\"<\/a>Online Reviews<\/strong> \u2013 Increasingly, when people want to learn about new products\/new services, they view public review sites to gain an understanding of what other people think of the product. Public and company sites provide excellent references.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

These groups, sites and reviews carry a lot of weight because:
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 people share a passion, an interest with the reviewer
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the reviewer talks in terms the reader can identify with \u2026 where the rubber meets the road<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the only time most marketers seek out, work with the influentials is when they want to sell something.<\/p>\n

Other than that, the influentials, the early adopters are a pain in the ***.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no immediate ROI (return on investment) in:<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 helping them with their web sites\/publications
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 supporting their special events, educational activities
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 assisting them in developing a more organized effort to expand their membership, their numbers<\/p>\n

Oh yeah?<\/p>\n

The Whisperers<\/strong>
\nAccording to eMarketer, there are about 58.7 million influencers (you know, folks who are regularly asked for advice) in the U.S. today and 258.5 million worldwide.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re not only first in line to buy your whatever; they actually enjoy the idea of helping others.<\/p>\n

When they spread the word \u2026 influencees buy!<\/p>\n

\"Untitled-8\"<\/a>First in Line<\/strong> \u2013 Innovators and early adopters are the first in line to buy anything that is new, fresh, different, advanced, better.\u00a0 They buy like there\u2019s no tomorrow.\u00a0 They buy until their cart is completely filled.<\/em><\/p>\n

O.K., it isn\u2019t as sexy as a thoroughly researched\/crafted ad that taps into the very deepest reaches of the consumers\u2019 behavior.<\/p>\n

But if you\u2019re in this business for the long-haul, a few of those geeky, weird, passionate influentials might do a helluva\u2019 great job of talking to customers.<\/p>\n

They might convince them they need to join the herd.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, manufacturers should just stand still, shut up, listen to the quiet whispers of their innovators \u2026 their early adopters \u2026 their customers.<\/p>\n

# # #<\/span><\/p>\n

G.A. \u201cAndy\u201d Marken<\/h1>\n

President<\/strong><\/p>\n

Marken Communications, Inc.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Andy@markencom.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whisper, Don\u2019t Shout —\u00a0 It may seem easier to make a lot of noise to get people to believe you but there are times \u2013 lots of times \u2013 when people listen harder, respond...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2055,"featured_media":40739,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2533],"tags":[4897,7375,7376,7377,4586],"class_list":["post-40736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abt-news","tag-customers","tag-influencers","tag-online-reviews","tag-trusted-advertising","tag-word-of-mouth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2055"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/alienbabeltech.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}