So what’s the priority, creating more advocates for a brand or reducing the number of badvocates?
It surprises some to learn that badvocates have 3x more impact on growth than advocates. Last week Dr Paul Marsden reminded an audience of this at a Weber Shandwick Advocacy event in London. His study at the LSE demonstrated that a 2% reduction in badvocates equated to a 1% increase in growth (you would need to increase advocacy by 7% to achieve the same result). Also interesting is what drives badvocacy. Research indicates that up to 50% of badvocacy is caused through frustration at a company not listening.
So, set up your Ideastorms, Mystarbucksideas and other channels of communication and get listening. It’s an easy way to grow your business!
Starbucks has now joined the growing list of corporations that have recognised the power of putting customers in the driving seat. In the last few days they have launched Mystarbucksidea which like Dells Ideastorm asks customers for ideas on how to improve their offering and then gives them the chance to vote. So if you want a free cup of coffee from Starbucks on your birthday or free Wifi access in all Starbucks stores, click on the link above and vote!
It’s an interesting experiment and one that I’m sure will work. It’s a lot better engaging openly with your customers on your own turf, than fighting a rear guard action on somebody else’s
Last week I was interviewed by PR Week on the European Brand Advocacy research that Weber Shandwick conducted across Europe. The video is a useful summary of what we found and what we believe business and brands should be considering when building their communications strategies.
Weber Shandwick made an important announcement last week. The appointment of Leo Rayman from the adv agency DDB as European Head of Planning. Leo sent me a book over Xmas - Pollitt on Planning.
Stanley Pollitt is considered by some to be the father of modern day advertising account planning. I believe his story holds important lessons for the PR industry.
Stanley introduced the role of “strategic planner” to the ad industry as “someone who would decide when research would be done and what information was relevant to the creative development process and would remain independent of the pressures of the client and the creative directors”. Fundamentally Stanley saw the role of the strategic planner as the data literate consumer champion who would ensure that the agencies output was always kept on track.
The PR industry has transformed itself in recent years, by putting measurement at the heart of its agenda. Today insight is increasingly being adopted as the new agenda as clients provide increasingly complex challenges that require much deeper insights into the influences behind today’s customer behaviours. As a result we are commissioning research reports, buying into new consumer panels and uncovering new streams of data in a way that never happened before. And this of course is the issue. Does a fantastic publicity person also have the necessary skills to sift through all of this data and identify what is relevant or not? Can a creative guru always separate dreams from reality? Can the slick account man say no?
Historically the PR industry hasn’t divided its roles in the same way as the ad industry. But, as clients see the growing importance of advocacy within their marketing mix and recognise that PR is best equipped to deliver against their needs, things are changing. Every agency man knows that clients buy on trust and for the PR industry that trust is coming from demonstrating, consistently it’s ability to navigate client brands through an increasingly complex and cluttered world. It’s an exciting time for the industry and an exciting time for my company. Welcome on-board Leo!
More research into word of mouth has been released this month, questioning the relevance of targeting influencers – the elite in society who are the charismatic, well networked, all knowing, few. The research suggests that in the digital world the cost and complexities involved in hunting out these individuals is unnecessary, when in reality most of us are willing and able to advocate a product or service at some point, as long as the message and experience pleases us.
In some situations this may well be the case. This is why targeting customers who are advocates and turning them into powerful word of mouth influencers is undoubtedly the cost effective place to start. Equipping your buyers to influence other potential purchasers and giving them a platform to talk about their recent purchases for example, has got to be a lot easier to execute and far more credible than trying to hunt down the illusive S. Claus at 90 degrees north and rewriting his script.
Humbug!
I’ve run a number of workshops recently with the lofty ambition of turning strong brands into iconic brands. I start by getting the assembled team to give examples of iconic brands and describe their characteristics. The usual suspects normally appear - Dove, Apple etc. What’s always most interesting is when we uncover the building blocks of these icons. When we uncover that each is addressing some angst that exists in it’s market - fighting for those who think different, appreciate real beauty etc.
As we move further into the new conversational age, every brand is going to have to extend beyond functional differentiation and traditional “push” communications. All brands are going to have to pull like-minded customers to them, create a conversation and unlock their most effective sales-force - their customers. Every brand in the future will have to pick a fight!
STOP THE PRESSES!
Eight years ago I left a promising FMCG marketing career to join the PR industry. At the time my colleagues couldn’t understand why. On Tuesday I was able to share with some of them the results the Advocacy Study that we have recently conducted with Dr Paul Marsden. It identifies that today, across Europe, advocacy is five times more effective at driving brand sales than advertising. That a third of brand trial is driven by advocacy. That advocates believe that when they promote a brand, it results in a sale every other time. And that brands in Europe have only activated just over half of their available and clearly very effective advocates.
It’s compelling stuff that should put advocacy at the heart of every marketing agenda. But do you know what’s more interesting? It’s that these advocates don’t talk to each other about brand onions, one word equities or indeed advertising. They tell stories - simple, compelling, credible stories about their experiences. And do you know who is best placed to help you create, test and seed these brand advocacy stories? You’ve got it … it’s the PR industry!
