Reflecting on Ted Wright’s insights
The power of word-of-mouth marketing and the importance of meaningful conversations between people.
On Friday October 11th, my full time MBA classmates and I had the unique opportunity to attend a masterclass by Ted Wright[1] in which he helped us perceive and understand marketing in a way I never did in the past.
The idea that struck me the most was the fact that we should put the focus on finding the right people (“advocates”) to generate conversations, intrinsically motivated, trustworthy people, open to new ideas and love sharing stories. Their attitude makes it so that they tell compelling stories on a specific product or service the way the company is looking for, sharing experiences rather than plain information. A behavior that creates a bond of trust within people, a seed for new conversations about a product through word of mouth (WOM).
After the event I was able to deep dive into the topics that resonated the most with me during a one-on-one interview with Mr. Wright about his journey since starting Fizz in 2000.
- The role of social media in WOM Marketing
Despite the recent technological disruption produced by artificial intelligence and the power of the diverse social media sites in our daily life, the way in which we all engage customers to buy our product is still the same as it was hundred years ago: generating meaningful conversations between people. That still has not changed at all and that is why word of mouth is so important at the time of running marketing.
Nevertheless, we all acknowledge that there is interesting and innovative stuff going around social media and that each person finds one network more attractive than the other, based on their age, their needs and interests. Wright believes that thanks to social media, there is more sharing between people, and marketers should be interested in people having authentic conversations easily, regardless of the channel. In alignment with Ted’s thoughts, I believe that social networks help to make sure this communication process happens as efficiently and smoothly as possible.
- The story of your product really matters
Since I started my journey as a CIMBA student, the word “story” is part of my day to day, especially when it comes to creating bonds and relationships with others. I guess that is why I felt so attracted to this aspect of Wright’s speech.
When it comes to WOM marketing, we should make sure that our story is shared between people. A story will be shared repeatedly between customers if it is authentic, interesting and relevant. In other words, it must be persuasive and convincing. If any story about a product or service meets these criteria, it will thrive. This belief completely blew my mind and after thinking about it, I noticed it totally matches with the way emotional experiences between people are developed.
- How to create a story, when it comes to ideating your own business
If anybody out there is dreaming about creating their own business to offer to the world what they love to do, as I do, I think Ted´s advice is priceless.
At the time of building your story, don’t forget that it should resonate with who you are and what exactly brings you happiness every day. When brainstorming the mission statement of your company, it should portray how you are approaching the world and clearly state what your way of tackling your business is. If you love what you do, just do it. It will be hard and demanding, but it will be the most rewarding, inspiring and rejoicing thing you can do for yourself and the ones around you.
Thank you, Ted Wright, for introducing me to the fascinating world of Word-of-Mouth Marketing!
[1] Ted has been at the forefront of Word of Mouth Marketing since he helped re-ignite the Pabst Blue Ribbon brand in 2000. Over the last decade, his agency, Fizz, has become a global leader in word of mouth marketing with clients on every continent.
A keynote speaker, author, and word of mouth marketing pioneer, Ted helps organizations identify influencers and create communications, resulting in the most effective marketing technique available today.
– Article for the OCT CIMBA Newsletter written by Maria Clara Ventimiglia