By now, every marketer is familiar with the terms buzz, viral, and word-of-mouth. Many will have noticed terms like brand advocacy, advergames, and blog marketing, as well as influencer panels and consumer empowerment, seeping into industry jargon.
The latest marketing shift has been collectively dubbed “connected marketing.” What is connected marketing, and why do advertisers care so much about it? How can marketers measure and manage it?
What is Connected Marketing
The current state of viral, buzz, and word-of-mouth marketing is similar to that of the early Web days: Marketers are experimenting with new strategies, revitalizing and evolving older ones, and using catchy words without necessarily understanding their meaning.
The classic Indian parable of the elephant and the six blind men is similar: one blind man bumps into the trunk and believes he bumps into the snake. Another blind man bumps into the tail and thinks it’s a donkey. A third blind man bumps into its leg and assumes that he bumped against a tree trunk. The zookeeper explains the elephant’s collective perspective and the larger picture.
There is no agreement on the definitions of viral marketing, buzz marketing, or word-of-mouth marketing.
Buzz marketing, word-of-mouth marketing, and viral marketing are all terms used to describe campaigns that rely on word-of-mouth, whether online or offline.
These definitions, however, are not and may never be set in stone. In Germany, for example, the term “viral” is now widely used because “word-of-mouth marketing” is translated as “mund propaganda” (literally, “mouth propaganda”). Propaganda has largely negative connotations.
Everyone seems to agree that viral, buzz, and word-of-mouth marketing techniques, as well as a range of other approaches within this field (see the following figure), are about using consumer connections to create conversations that add value to a company.
We’ve gone one step further by coining the umbrella term “connected Marketing” to refer to any marketing (from research and development to production to promotion using any method, including traditional advertising) that creates conversation in target markets and adds measurable value to brands.
It isn’t about the name of what you do. It’s about the way you do it and the results you get. The outcome is what you measure, not the language. Instead of getting bogged down with definitions, let’s look at what makes people interested in connected marketing and how it is done.
Why are advertisers so interested?
Today, marketing is a mess. Leaders in the industry say that traditional marketing campaigns based on mass-media advertising are no longer effective. The facts support their claims. In a 2004 study by Deutsche Bank on advertising effectiveness in the US consumer goods sector, only 18% of television advertising campaigns generated a positive return annually. Harvard Business Review reported that for each dollar spent on traditional advertising of consumer packaged products, the return on investment was just 54 cents.
The B2B sector is no better. 84% of marketing campaigns result in a decline in brand equity and market share.
The fact that money is not the answer doesn’t help. Doubling campaign budgets can only lead to a 1-2% increase in sales. In 2000, Budweiser’s US market share actually dropped 1.5-2.5 percentage points during the campaign. Sales in barrels fell 8.3% – the largest revenue drop that the company had experienced since 1994. Budweiser’s US Market Share actually fell 1.5-2.5 percentage points during the campaign. Sales in barrels also dropped 8.3%, the largest revenue decline the company has experienced since 1994.
It was only a question of time before boardroom directors and shareholders began to consider marketing as a cost to be rationalized.
Word of mouth is a free medium that can be used to spread marketing messages. Word-of-mouth connections can be influential and are free. A 2004 UK study by consultants CIA MediaEdge found that 76% of consumers cited word of mouth to influence their purchase decisions. Traditional advertising only accounted for 15%.
Research by NOP (now GfK), an advertising company, shows that word-of-mouth is the preferred method of product information for 92% of Americans. Euro RSCG, an advertising company, found that word-of-mouth is ten times as effective at generating excitement for products than television or print advertisements.
Why? Why is it that word-of-mouth connections are becoming more and more important in influencing buying behavior in an age of media formats and channels? Answer: The answer is five-fold.
- Word of mouth is becoming more effective and efficient with the advent of new technologies, including blogs, instant messages, mobile phones, emails, online review sites, and personal websites.
- Digital media’s capabilities in turbo-charging the viral spread of information mean that well-planned and well-executed connected marketing initiatives–particularly those that integrate more traditional marketing communications techniques in their activities–can help business messages reach the mass market in a way that would require significant investment if left to more conventional methods alone.
- As marketing literacy increases among buyers, they increasingly reject traditional marketing campaigns. They turn to trusted sources of advice, such as word-of-mouth.
- Advertising clutter has become so intense that it is becoming increasingly difficult for marketing campaigns to stand out and grab people’s attention. In order to avoid the cacophony of advertising, buyers rely on word-of-mouth recommendations from their friends.
- Media fragmentation, which is increasing, has a negative impact on the media audience. More channels and media make it difficult for advertisers to reach their target audiences through traditional marketing campaigns.
- The new ad-blocking technology allows people to stop or skip unwanted marketing messages and advertising campaigns.
Consumers are now more engaged than ever in the global communication and message delivery. Many brands have finally realized that the most effective way to sell products and ideas is not from a marketer to a consumer but rather from consumer to consumer. ”
It is one thing to recognize that word-of-mouth connections are powerful media. It is one thing to realize the power of word-of-mouth, but another to understand how to use it for commercial purposes.
Connected marketing is the future. The techniques it uses, such as viral, blog, buzz, and influencer marketing, allow marketers to engage and reach clients, customers, and consumers. They can also use these powerful marketing tools to drive business growth.
How can we manage connected marketing?
It is not possible to achieve success in connected marketing by following a 12-step formula. It is possible to manage successful related marketing activities through a series of organized decisions and approaches. This is not a random search for the one revolutionary idea.
The connected marketing toolbox is a collection of techniques to generate brand advocacy, i.e., positive conversations that add value to a company’s brand. It is less important to choose the right approach at the campaign level than it is to ensure that connected marketing principles are incorporated into an organization’s strategic planning.