When consumers want to buy a flat-screen TV, take a vacation to a place where they’ve never been, or see a movie at the local theater, who do they turn to for advice?
Their friends, family and experts.
Yet only one in four communications professionals have a word-of-mouth program in place. An article in the February issue of PR Tactics includes results from a survey called Myths & Realities, conducted by Ketchum and USC’s Annenberg Strategic Public Relations Center.
It says that despite strong evidence that friends, family and experts play a key role in influencing decisions, only 24 percent of communicators have a word-of-mouth program in place.
Those programs might include:
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A company blog.
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Posting comments at other blogs that discuss a company’s product, service, cause, issue or interest. (See “Let bloggers create publicity for you.”)
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Something as simple as a “tell a friend” box at your website.
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A contest in which consumers create a clever video of how they use your product or video, upload it to YouTube and compete for prizes.
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Encouraging customers to write a product review and post it at your website
There are dozens more ideas. Let’s hear yours.
Hi Joan,
I love your ideas for PR but like so many others you
assume all internet users are at the same level of expertise. I don’t know HOW to make a video to put on You Tube. A step-by-step example would help me and many others who didn’t have the opportunity to learn about computers like students today do. I don’t have children, so they can’t teach me these”modern” ways.
Cheryle:
Not to worry. I don’t have any products that walk you through the process of how to create a video. But Tom Antion has a fabulous 2-CD set that explains the entire process.
Take a look: http://tinyurl.com/y3b6wj
Joan