Swinging from the Tree of Word of Mouth Marketing

So last Tuesday all of us at Webbed Marketing took a day to go offsite and work on strategic planning for the rest of the year.

By "strategic planning" I mean canoing and drinking beer.

About halfway down the river we passed a rope hanging from a branch hovering over the water. Judging from the fire ring nearby this appeared to be one of the local hangouts. Rebecca, our social media daredevil rowed her canoe to the bank. Climbed out, grabbed the rope, swung out over the water and dropped into the river. Within minutes we were all swinging from the rope, splashing in the river, getting soaked and laughing like a bunch overworked marketing professionals who are out of the office for a day.

We took some time in planning the day. We reserved a cabin, researched canoe liveries, bought food and beverages and prepared several team building exercises.

By "we" I mean Amy, of course.

But that day, just like a many word of mouth campaigns, presented us with an unforeseen opportunity.

If a client comes to us with a piece of content they want to "go viral," we spend a lot of time researching and planning. We work to make the content compelling, useful or funny. We look for online influencers that care. We time the campaign to hit when the opportunity is best. We prepare for the negative feedback. We define timelines and goals.

But, sometimes, we pass a rope swinging over the river.

Let's say a client is promoting a new line of software. We happen to know that the CEO of the company bikes to work, worked her way through college and loves wine. Our viral marketing program may be built around the software launch, but if we found out about a blogger looking for a source who was:

A. A CEO

B. Changing habits due to rising gas prices

C. Proud of having worked his or her way through college

D. Was a Wine Connoisseur

E. Any Combination of the Above

We'd jump on it. Is this pitch in line with the new software launch? No. Should we still swing from the tree? You bet. No matter what your company does, there is someone out there who wants to tell your story. And there are people who will listen. I promise.

When a client says they have nothing that consumers or the media want to talk about, I tell them they are dead wrong. Sure, Buzz can be manufactured by creating great content, finding great channels and telling a great story, but often times the rope swings are lining the shore, we're just too focused on paddling to see them.

Comments

[Yvonne Rayburn]

I wish more clients could learn the lesson I learned that day...don't be afraid to grab that rope and go for it!