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August 15, 2005
Catching a buzz
No this isn't a post about Club Energy. That will come later. Much later.
This is about the session led by Dave Balter, CEO of BzzzAgent and cofounder of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association. Very good session that built nicely from the morning's general session, in which all the panelists acknowledged the growing importance of this nontraditional marketing technique. I'm sure we'll hear more about it in Tuesday's general session as Malcolm Gladwell, author of the seminal Tipping Point as well as his latest best seller Blink, speaks.
Rather than provide a long summary of Balter's session, I'm going to highlight one thing that promises great opportunity for associations. Balter highlighted a study his firm did with a restuarant to find out just who spreads word of mouth marketing.
They looked at "Trendsetters" first, but these people weren't very helpful. They were too cool and would only buzz about something new.
The "Heavy Loyal" was next -- these folks loved the establishment, practically lived there. Again, not very helpful as they had already told the people he knew, and, truth be told, didn't really want his hangout to get too crowded.
The "Expert" -- in this case a restaurant reviewer, liked the place, but could only provide limited buzz, citing reputation for fairness.
Finally, a group you wouldn't expect was actually the best at creating buzz. This group is called the "Light Loyal." They like the place but are pretty infrequent visitors. But when given an opportunity, such as a coupon and/or customer loyalty rewards, they were quick and eager to spread the word.
In the association world, we have a different name for "Light Loyal"... "mailbox member."
Posted by ScottBriscoe at August 15, 2005 05:54 PM
Comments
Doug - I'm glad to see you're reading the blog so thoroughly. I thought that part of Balter's presentation was so interesting because (1) it's counterintuitive, and (2) it's based on real, quantifiable research his firm did.
While I buy into the Gladwell/Godin/McConnell-Huba buzz mantra, I thought all of those books were pretty thin in quantifiable research.
Left alone, mailbox members will remain mailbox members. What Balter studied is what happens when you're able to nudge a mailbox member a little. As it turns out, at least in the case of the restaurant Balter was studying, these folks really spread the word around. An effective marketers job, then, is to provide that nudge.
I'm curious, do you do anything in particular to nurture the "Heavy Loyals?"
Posted by: ScottBriscoe at August 18, 2005 01:37 PM
Analyze your own organizations. For us, some of the "Heavy Loyals" are the ones who create buzz - they are constant networkers who have access to new people every day. But, there are only so many of those, and I'm not sure you can create more - they are somewhat born that way. It's the ones who you only get to see/touch directly once or twice a year that can build the buzz. I'm not sure how to get a true mailbox member to spread the word when they don't seem to have it in the first place.
Posted by: Doug Bladecki at August 18, 2005 12:31 PM
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