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As marketers we all know that advertising isn’t working like it used to. On any given Monday our newspapers are cluttered with display ads hawking hearing aids as if they were tires. And these ads don’t make the phone ring. Why? Because there are too many choices and the clutter of messages is overwhelming. The consumer values her time, so she ignores the messages.
Newspaper circulation in our country began declining 1 percent every year from 1990 to 2002. According to The State of the News Media 2004 Annual Report on American Journalism, in 1950, there were “1.23 papers sold per household. By 1990, only 67 percent of households bought a newspaper. By 2000, it was 53 percent.” Newspapers are no longer the center of American culture. So what is?
The average American home keeps the TV on for more than seven hours a day, and so TV advertising should be the answer, right? Well, consider this; there were only three channels to watch in 1963, and product categories were not crowded. An advertiser could simply find a category that was not yet dominated, buy television ads, and get retail sales, distribution and profit. We all know about Kool-Aid, Goodyear, Winston, and John Glenn because of TV. Then paid programming entered our communities in 1972. Today, a cable subscriber can have 100 channels. Armed with a remote control, and now Tivo, she is in control of her most valued asset--- her attention. She does not have to pay attention to your ads to find out what she wants to find out.
Are radio and direct mail the answer? Well, these have the same problems: a cacophony of choices, and clutter, and the consumer is still in control. Mass media is not dead, but it is time to revise your allocation model. You still need to buy media, but marketing now includes more than media. Marketing is about consumer touch points and the values they communicate about you. You must begin investing in things that will make you remarkable. Innovations that will make people talk about YOU.
What is Word of Mouth?
People have exchanged news long before there was media. They spread news by word of mouth on crossroads, at campfires or at markets. Messengers raced back from battlefields with reports on victories or defeats. Word of mouth was the original viral medium, and it’s never been replaced, it just hasn’t gotten much press lately. So what is it?
Word of mouth is building relationships with the people who influence other people, then being valuable in some way that stimulates them to tell others. “Word of mouth advertising,” is actually “word of mouth MARKETING.” Most of the time it is impossible to know which customers are the innovators, and so you must treat everyone as if they are.
I had a lawn mowing service that I started at 16. It began with one yard, that of Mrs. Harris, two doors away. In the summer, I came every Wednesday at 7am. I rolled her hoses up neatly, and caught the grass clippings and put them in trash bags. I edged around the sidewalks and swept the clippings from the driveway and curb into a dustpan. (Leaf blowers had not been invented, yet.) I came back that evening after I had cleaned up and collected my pay. I would talk to Mrs. Harris to see if she liked what I had done. She did, and I know she did because she told her friends. She was an “Innovator.” She owned Harris Antiques, the largest antique dealer in Fort Worth, and she was involved in the Fort Worth Bridge Club. Mrs. Harris “sneezed,” and word spread about me. Because of her referrals, and neighbors who saw me at work, I quickly had 20 regular customers that I served each week, four yards a day, five days a week. I started turning work away. I really cared about my customers and cared for their yards with integrity until I finished college.
Earlier this year I attended the funeral of one of my yard customers. It had been 30 years since doing her yard, and her daughter told me, “Mother told everybody how you rolled her hoses so neatly. After you, she never could find anyone to please her.”
“Hoses?” I thought. “She remembered the hoses!” It was the little things I did that added up; my attention to detail was what she valued.
Be available. Be consistent. Be likeable. Charge everyone fairly. Don’t take short cuts. Do a polished job every time.
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I have a client, Dr. Anderson, who has the best name recognition and most successful oral surgery practice in the city. He doesn’t advertise, but he does market. He has the gift of teaching. He documents all his cases well, with photography and written report, so he can select the most interesting cases to present later in poster sessions and lectures to his peers. His documentation of cases keeps his competency and confidence on the leading edge. He can articulate his cases well, because they are his cases.
Use of a simple strategy has made him the most referred-to oral surgeon in our city. Each week he makes a presentation in the office of a general dentist. He provides a great lunch from popular local eateries. Armed with Power Point, he meets with a different dentist each week, 50 weeks each year, with an average of four staff members per office. To set it up, Dr. Anderson has a staff member who is in charge of calling and speaking to the office manager. Her presentation is straightforward: “Hi, I am Julie, the implant coordinator with Dr. John Anderson’s Oral and Maxillofacial surgery practice. Dr. Anderson would like to come and do an ‘Eat-And-Learn’ for your office on the subject of Dental Implants. Can we set that up?” The answer is always “Yes.”
In oral surgery, nobody else is doing it, and the staff likes to eat together and be kept informed about related dental specialties. Furthermore, they are disappointed whenever their boss leaves for lunch with a pharmaceutical rep or another doctor because it makes them feel left out. “I want them to know me, see my personality and hear my thought process. I want the staff to like me, because when I persuade them, the referrals will come,” says Anderson, who has a likeable personality and whose presentation demonstrates both his competence and confidence. He says that 50 percent of the referral decision comes from the staff. So when the dentist says, “Let’s refer this one out,” the staff member reaches for my referral pad instead of someone else’s.”
Geoff Moore illustrates in Crossing the Chasm how a new innovation is spread across the population. It moves from left to right until it reaches everyone. In Seth Godin’s newest book Purple Cow he gives a wake-up call to marketers. “Mass marketing traditionally targets the early and late majority because this is the largest group. But the value of a group isn’t related to its size – a group’s value is related to its influence.” Innovators and early adopters “heavily influence the rest of the curve, so persuading them is worth far more than wasting ad dollars trying to persuade anyone else.”
So how do you get “talked about?”
When we buy any kind of professional services, (accounting, welding, dentistry, audiology…) we seek genuine competency. Whenever possible, we’ll act on the recommendation of a trusted friend or professional. You do this yourself without thinking about it. Getting talked about requires that you are remarkable in some way. And I say “YOU,” not your product. Because if you make it a hearing aid brand or technology that is the remarkable thing, the consumer will go to wherever she can get it for less. So here is the point. YOU ARE THE VALUE.
Work on excelling in your competency, confidence and affability. Move to a better location. Give your office a “wow” factor – make it something people will talk about. Hire and keep the best staff. Wear uniforms. Be consistent. Lead well. Tend to the details. Serve every patient well: one out of 10 will be an “Innovator” who will “sneeze” and virally spread your reputation.
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