Digital Atlanta is a week-long conference held in and around Atlanta, November 7-11, 2011. Check back each day for summary updates & perspectives.
Ted Wright of Fizz gave a great opening keynote. For those of us who are veterans in presentations, panels, SXSW, social media, public relations, and marketing, the “skeptic filter” is finely tuned to spot imposters and fluff. Ted provided great content on word-of-mouth marketing, and fittingly discussed that consumers also have their “skeptic filters” on & operational. For businesses to create and sustain relationship with their audiences, they need to shift away from broadcast marketing and embrace word-of-mouth.
- 76% of consumers believe that companies lie in ads
- Conversions from word-of-mouth recommendation approaches 90%. Broadcast (mass-market) media conversion is at 3%. Businesses who shift their approach will sustain growth.
- An individual would need to spend 18 hours each day to fully process all the advertisements presented (billboards, TV, online, radio, etc). Instead, we tune out information that’s not relevant.
- 19% of sales can be tied back to a word-of-mouth recommendation.
- 76% of Americans discuss at least one brand each day
- 15% of conversations daily reference a brand
- Influences discuss twice as many brands as the average American
- 10% of word-of-mouth “conversations” occur online; 71% occur in-person. Use online and mass-media content to generate offline conversations for your audiences.
- A brand’s sustainability is in its story. Products without a storyline are fads.
- Individuals share stores that are relevant, interesting, and authentic
- Influencers are not motivated by new experiences with friends, not by money
- 90% of any population/demographic follows the recommendations & advice of the influential 10%
- Influencers will share stories — a manageable “soundbite” is 32 seconds. Can others recap your brand’s unique story or core identity quickly?
- Not all influencers are talkers
- Word-of-mouth (influencer) campaigns typically take 4-7 months to see measurable results, and those results will often be curious or unexpected. Behind this data lies the key to who understands and influences your business’ identity through word-of-mouth.
- 2 Rules of Engagement: Never interrupt. Never intercept.
- Public relations adds velocity and validation to word-of-mouth efforts
- Fans, followers, and Likes are suboptimal metrics. The average person has 4 people who they trust with their life, 9 people who they trust with their children, and 123 people who they influence.
- What’s important: #1 The Story, #2 The Influencer, #3 The Conversation
Want another perspective on Digital Atlanta? Check out Ogilvy’s PR blog.
