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September 21, 2009
There's a Ferrari in here somewhere
If only the message on this billboard outside my window at home in Austin were true.
The traditional ways marketers have driven sales and profit are accelerating in their obsolescene. New data from Nielsen shows that not only is word of mouth more important than ever, the opinions of strangers posted online is more effective than TV, radio and yes, even billboards.
Billboard advertising is easy. Banner ads are easy. Entire industries have been created to make them easy.
Creating a product or service worth talking about is hard. Done well, the ROI of excellent word of mouth makes traditional advertising look downright buggy-whippish.
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While I can't agree that billboard advertising is easy (I believe outdoor is up there with newspaper headline copy in terms of difficulty to do well), I do find it fascinating where we are placing trust these days. At least for now. I like this one!
This is an all-time great post, Jackie!
Great info, I haven't tweeted about anything in a week - but this is worthy of
a chirp for sure! Consumers will have their say and we better make sure that we
are listening (and engaging). What I find interesting about the Nielsen Wire is that consumers are actually gaining trust in traditional advertising like TV again. They chalk it up to advertisers becoming more "realistic" in their approach. Honesty in advertising . . . hmmmm, can it last?
Frank Motola in Orlando getting ready to leave for a tradeshow downtown today.
Love this post. People have always trusted the opinion of their friends and loved ones. Now, it's just easier than ever to share. I love that quality and creativity wins the day!
Thank you for this timely reminder.
To anyone looking to delve deeper into the subject of word-of-mouth, I would highly recommend The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited by Emanuel Rosen. Even if you have read the original, the latest version is updated with 2/3 new material to include the concepts of social networking and consumer-generated media among other next-generation strategies.
One of my favorite excerpts: "Bees (which really should get the credit for inventing buzz) communicate through dancing. A honeybee that finds a patch of flowers goes back to its hive and performs a dance that tells the other bees where to go."
My employees are encouraged daily to make our customers dance!
I am a bit surprised that TV, radio and magazines are still up there in the trust kingdom.
About trusting strangers who post online: would you imagine deciding which new camera to buy by listening to radio or watching TV? Nope, you want to see what the costumers say – even if they are strangers on the net. Even if they are masked advertisers, at least they're answering your questions, not selling you the feeling of the new camera.
Nice post - turns out your product IS your marketing.
Also, could you have a lower bar on the chart? "Some Trust"?
TO'B
Dear ReaganOutdoor.com,
If billboards worked as well as advertised, wouldn't there be an ad on it?
Love,
Ben
Interesting text. You have a nice blog. Keep it up!
Small businesses should take advantage of customers posting their opinions online. While good reviews will help sales directly, generally more reviews will lead to a better ranking in their local market. Smart business owners would give an incentive to get their best customers to post reviews online.
Too many business owners refuse to put changes to their product on the table when considering things open for change when sales slow. Most just want "a new ad." A big mistake, especially, as you point out, when people rely more and more on the social web and WOM.
