There were quite a few provocative talks at Kellogg Innovation Network’s Customer Experience conference this year. Ted Wright of Fizz gave us some interesting “word of mouth” marketing insights:
- 76% of people don’t believe companies tell the truth in advertising
- 68% trust other people “like themselves”.
- 92% cite WOM as the best source for product ideas.
- A personal contact referral is 57% very convincing (independent reviews at 36%).
Ted then discussed work they did with the American Dairy Association to apply Word of Mouth marketing to increase milk sales. To make a long story short, Fizz identified an untapped segment – teenagers – and created a word of mouth program through key influencers – football coaches – based on a piece of research – chocolate milk is the best post exercise recovery drink – and the rest is history.
OK, maybe it sounded too good, but wait! Last week I was chatting with an associate and I mentioned I was feeling a bit peckish. He then says, “You should try chocolate milk, after all research shows it’s the best post recovery drink…” My eyeballs popped out and I asked where did you hear that? Answer: From my Health Club instructor who heard it from…
Later that day I was running errands with DW, aka the artist, and we were in a bead shop. At the front of the shop were several women around a table taking a bead class. One of them was a small business owner and she started talking about how helpful PNC Bank had been in helping her lower her costs with a new small business thing. It sounded to me like they helped her lower the cost of payroll through the QuickBooks software – which she loved – and handled all her back office transactions. Before you know it she had “sold” the package to the store owner and 2 of the other women at the table.
Hmmm… maybe you need some Fizz in your marketing?
