Word of Mouth + Leveraging = Giving value to sharing

Marketing is subjected to the product it has to help selling. Telling a story and raising interest about the product among potential customers is then related to the product, that’s the art of Marketing. But when looking deeper at products, there’s an item that may help facilitate the marketing process: the sharing value inside every product.

The sharing value and it’s word of mouth potential

There are two kind of products: the kind that has value only when shared, like the Facebook network or board games, and the kind that has value by itself, like shampoo or running shoes (most of the products). If you’re marketing the last kind of products, the objective is to create an environment and a message behind that invites people to share it, since the product doesn’t have that property. A strategy that most of the companies follow, from B2B businesses to consumer packaged goods ones.

If you’re marketing the first kind of products, the strategy is to rely and involve users in the development process, empowering them by turning them into ambassadors and advocates. That strategy is efficient for Internet companies, like Dell and Zappos that use the power of word of mouth and confidence to develop their business and increase loyalty.

Developing tactics to improve the perceived sharing value

The associated tactics to the strategies above are easy to complete then:

If you’re creating sharing value attached to the product:

• Focus on story telling putting the product as a life enhancer
• Showing value people can get from telling others why the product’s actually good for them

If you’re highlighting the sharing value of the product:

• Focus on the product enhancement inviting people to join the ideation process and spread the word (actually you’d be also creating a story behind the product to clearly explain why you need people advocate)
• Empower people so that they can easily spread the proof of the product’s value

Seth Godin is explaining that theory using the FireFox example. Most read article.

Photo Credit: Navid J

To read more on that topic:

• Web 2.0 + Best Practices = Connecting and creating value
• Word of Mouth + Strategy = engrave it in your delivery strategy
• Reebok + Run Easy campaign = not advertising but engagement
• Brand + Definition = Influence is core to brands, Internet is then core too
• Review of the Internet news for Today