Archive for the ‘PR / Word-of-Mouth’ Category
Occasionally, far too rarely actually, I come across a truly brilliant marketing campaign that benefits not only the marketer but everyone else involved.
Enter . . . the Fourth Annual Holiday Feed It Forward™ campaign of Restaurant.com:
Here’s the Deal . . .
Each year around the holidays, Restaurant.com enables anyone to ‘give away’ $10 Gift Certificates to anyone they like . . . as a gift . . . absolutely FREE!
How / Why It Works . . .
Restaurant.com is a firm that helps roughly 18,000 restaurants generate customers. It does this by allowing people like you and me to buy its ‘gift certificates’ at a discount and these 18,000 restaurants honor the ‘face’ value of each certificate. The restaurants get more traffic, consumers get a good value (and, hopefully a good meal) and Restaurant.com gets a nominal fee for each transaction
That’s smart. Afterall, each participating restaurant only incurs a ‘cost’ of sales (the discount and fee) when this promotional tactic actually pays off. I love anything that changes the ‘pay now and pray later’ marketing media into one you only need to pay for when it actually works! That’s what Restaurant.com does — very nicely.
The 2012 Restaurant.com Holiday Gift-Away . . .
For the last four years, to help all the parties in the equation — restaurants and consumers — Cary Chessik, CEO of Restaurants.com has allowed anyone to give a ‘gift’ of $10 to people they know as a simple act of ‘feeding it forward’.
This is altruism and commercialism as it helps Cary’s restaurant clients by putting ‘butts in the seats’ for them. At the same time, it provides people like you and me with an opportunity to say, “Thanks” to many people in our lives in what may find this is a time that’s more financially difficult for more people than we may ever know.
It’s 100% legit — I’ve used this myself already — and I hope you would use this opportunity to give a $10 Gift Card to up to 40 people each day between now and Christmas.
KEY POINT:
Marketing makes a difference in the lives of people by connecting us all. Use this ‘Feed It Forward’ opportunity to do the same with people in your world . . . all you’ll feel is good . . . and appreciated!
One of my Duct Tape Marketing colleagues, David Smith from Boise, ID and I were kicking around ideas on how to get and craft a good review — to support local marketing — a program David’s delivering to a group of Idaho business owners.
My input, while not the most academic, may be of some help to you as you consider the same issue:
Be Real . . . Be Counter-Intuitive . . . Start Off Negative
I find that ‘glowing’ reviews, i.e. overly positive are dismissed more quickly and easily than clients will like. An idea I picked up from a friend and colleague, Sean D’Souza is: ”Lead with a negative”. The CREDIBILITY of what follows is so much greater and it won’t seem like it was written by groupies on drugs stalking their favorite rock band. e.g.
“When I first heard about ‘Duct Tape’ Marketing, I thought, “What The Heck?” Then, I thought, “Oh boy, here we go again! Just gonna be another BS way of saying what everyone else is saying we ought to do only they’ll charge a lot more for it.”
That’s real. It’s what your prospects are probably thinking. So JOIN the conversation in their heads and THEN . . . bring them to know something you know that they probably weren’t thinking about . . . eg. “Well, BOY, WAS I WRONG! Dave Smith, the local Duct Tape Marketing consultant met with me and my team last week and I had to say, “Wow” . . .”
See what a credible impact that makes vs. a sugar-coated, lop-sided but utterly bland compliment that doesn’t stand out in a meaningful way?
Be Specific!
The other thing I believe is important to include in a review is SPECIFICITY of a VALUED OUTCOME. The luke-warm (i.e. ‘safe’) comments are useless because they sound like what everyone else is saying. e.g. “ABC’s food tasted great and the service was good.” (Well, I’d sure hope so!)
You’d be better to focus on a specific ‘outcome’ enjoyed from using (consuming) your product or service –e.g. “We used to have WWIII on our hands trying to get the kids up in the morning. Now, thanks to Tasty Chew Cornflakes, our kids are waking US up to make sure we’re in the kitchen for breakfast! Kind of refreshing, actually.”
Help People Give You a Great Review
It’s always helpful to end a review with a RATING and a CALL-TO-ACTION. Let your reviewers be your promoters — e.g. “Overall I’d give these guys a 9 out of 10 (and I never give anyone, anywhere a ’10′) so the next time you’re hungry in the KC area and the family wants to go out for a bite, be sure and put Oklahoma Joe’s on your ‘short list’ of ‘must-know-gotta-go’ places and get yourself a REAL pulled pork sandwich for a change”.
NEVER ‘Write’ Someone’s Review
You do, however, want to explain the ‘structure’ and provide an easy way to invite them to ‘bullet point’ their key points.
You may want to say, “Hey, can I write-up what I think you just said to me . . . and see if you approve the copy or would like to make some edits?” That’ll work every time!
KEY POINT:
People love being editors vs. writers. If you make their ‘job’ easier, you’ll make your reviews even better.
In The Last Year . . . Have You Referred Us to Others?
There’s an old adage, “Actions Speak Louder Than Words”. I like this one, too: “Clients Vote With Their Wallets”. Both are very true.
The value of knowing that your clients are referring you to others / others to you is a SYMPTOM or EVIDENCE of how well you’re performing for your clients and how committed your clients are to you.
No business will please everyone 100% of the time. But you can assess your performance periodically and use the likelihood of clients referring you as a benchmark of the experience you offer your clients.
Frederick Reicheld, a partner in the prestigious consulting firm Bain & Company, developed what he calls the Net Promoter Score. This is a metric reflecting the overall effect you’ll enjoy (or, suffer!) based on how many of your clients will (net of those who won’t) promote you and your business to people in their networks of influence.
KEY POINT:
Learn your Net Promoter Score . . . and make it move ever higher!
