The BIG Kahuna

Why do word of mouth marketing folks?hate on traditional advertising? Today Seth Godin writes:

This is why the Journal’s report that Google is flirting seriously with a big advertising buy is so troublesome. Once you start buying TV time, you just added another tool to your marketing belt. Now, plenty of your development and marketing team will say, “Oh, we’ll just buy ads. People will use it!” Suddenly, you don’t focus so much on building word of mouth and remarkability into your products, because now you can easily use TV to spackle over less remarkable products.

Think about that for a bit. Here’s what I say, that’s freakin ridiculous. Sure, running bad TV spots won’t work but a good strategic integrated?branding?strategy?will. What these Kool-Aid drinking word of mouth marketers never seem to understand is the impact of a strategic integrated branding approach. One tactic lifts up another, they work hand and hand. They all leverage the brand identity. Bingo, it all works.

But, if you do crappy stuff you get crappy results. Don’t hate on any one tactic it’s just shortsighted. Word of mouth marketing can be fantastic, I agree. But great TV ads?(insert Mac vs PC here) can also do great things and Apple’s TV ads?certainly hasn’t taken away from their word of mouth marketing, has it?

Last week I defended direct mail when word of mouth marketing company Brains on Fire dismissed the entire tactic (read about that here). Today I defend TV advertising. I do this if and only if it’s part of an integrated,?strategic branding approach. Focusing on just any one tactic is not something I will ever recommend to a client.

I would be wary of any marketing?company that only promoted one tactic, because it’s most likely the tactic they’re selling. Brand Identity Guru is not tied to any tactic, we only use the tactics that are best for the client based on their brand identity goals. BIG difference.

?

BIG thanks to everyone that has voted for us in this years StartUpNation Competition! Here’s our current Hot Meter Ranking:

You like us, you really, really, like us.

Don’t forget this thing is still going on and we’re the only branding company in the race so please continue to vote for us everyday.

?

Here’s the latest thing in word of mouth marketing?(I guess): These monkeys (if hired) will do something freaky (creative, they call it) stuff?to build “buzz” for your brand. In this episode they color themselves with magic markers and tool around town. Genius.

If you’re really looking to waste some valuable marketing budget then this word of mouth marketing?gimmick is for you:

First, did you notice how people looked at them? Looked like disgust for the most part.

What message is the brand that hired these guys sending?

How many people saw these guys and actually went to eat at the restaurant they were “promoting”?

It’s been a while but Andy Sernovitz has made the branding blunder blog again, as WaMu used to say… Whoo Hoo! As you know Andy Sernovitz is a self proclaimed “word of mouth marketing guru“. Today in his post titled ” The “Great Green Marketing” Issue” he informs his readers on the right way to market using green tactics. Some snippets of his advice include:

1. Create an amazingly cool shopping bag. Something that is reusable and so cool that people will want to carry it around. For $1 you can have all of your customers become walking billboards all over town (and be happy to do it).

Yea, Andy…that makes your company instantly green. I like the amazingly cool idea as green people will only?use it if it’s “cool”? And here is the rub with me. “Green marketing” isn’t something you try to?do, it’s a conscience decision a company makes, not to help spread word of mouth or trick consumers into believing they’re green. They do it because it’s part of the brand identity and has a real true meaning. But keep telling your readers how these silly tactics (in my opinion)?will help change their brand image.

2. Remember the jelly jars you got as a kid that turned into collectible drinking glasses? No waste, lots of fun — and fantastic marketing. When you get someone collecting your packaging you get instant brand loyalty until the customer completes a set.

Obviously (in my opinion)?Andy does not even know?the basic definition of brand loyalty. But I’m pretty sure even if this simplified tactic did work a customer would NOT develop brand loyalty. I certainly don’t consider brand loyalty to be collecting a set of anything only to leave the brand after said set is collected. I like my customers coming back all the time, where I’m the ONLY choice,?hence brand loyalty. Not brand gimmick loyalty. BIG difference.

Andy doesn’t like me much. He thinks I’m out to get him, so I’m told. But it’s not true. I don’t even know Andy but when he and others advise potential marketers with these silly suggestions (in my opinion) I think it’s important to point out the branding?ramifications. And there are definitely brand image concerns if you follow advice from people who clearly don’t know branding.

Producing a “green” shopping bag is not going to help move your brand forward. All it’s really going to do is make you look like a green hypocrite if you’re not fully committed to being green. And that’s all part of your brand identity. In my opinion these gimmicky tactics that Andy recommends could really work against most companies brand identity. Don’t do them unless it leverages your brand identity.

Remember, a word of mouth marketing company will always promote (sell) what they do best. They can’t help it, otherwise they don’t make sales. If you’re looking for a marketing company to help support your efforts try and find one that doesn’t have any bias against specific tactics. A word of mouth marketing?company will obviously promote word of mouth and most likely will not understand the branding strategy.