1. BSI Word of Mouth Strategy – Insert the right shape peg
Marketing 2.0 Conference, Amsterdam 2007

2. Join the conversation
MARKETING 2.0 CONFERENCE
www.marketing2conference.com

3. WoM Strategy: inserting the right shape peg
Matt Rowley, Managing Partner Central
contact: matt.rowley@thecentralgroup.com

4. attitudes to ‘word of mouth marketing’
The new strategic focus
of our marketing
communication.
A great new tactic.
Where can I buy WoM
units and what’s the ROI?
A wild goose chase.
What would we do
differently anyway?
© central 2007

5. WoM in healthcare
The greatest influence on a physician adopting a new
therapy is colleague recommendation*
Contributing factors:
• Complexity - the more information that needs to be processed,
the more useful Word of Mouth becomes
• Risk - higher levels of risk understandably increase our desire to
learn from others' experience
• Noise - the more promotional noise there is, the harder it can be
to make purchasing decisions and the more important word of
mouth becomes
© central 2007
*Social Relations and Innovation in the Medical Profession - Public Opinion Quarterly, 19, 1955; Elihu Katz

6. adoption decision cycle* - the stages
NEED KNOWLEDGE PERSUASION
DECISION
CONFIRMATION
IMPLEMENTATION
© central 2007
*Adapted from Diffusion of Innovations, 5th Edition, Everett M. Rogers

7. adoption decision cycle* - key modes of influence
NEED KNOWLEDGE PERSUASION
WoM PROMOTION WoM DECISION
CONFIRMATION
WoM
IMPLEMENTATION
© central 2007
*Adapted from Diffusion of Innovations, 5th Edition, Everett M. Rogers

8. traditional “TV industrial complex”*
€
Ads, reps,
Customer and Promotional
online, BTL,
market insight strategy
education etc
WoM?
© central 2007
*Seth Godin - The Purple Cow

9. WoM centered strategy
€
How will Ads, reps,
Customer and
WoM work? online, BTL, Real WoM
market insight
WoM strategy education etc
Framework fits - organisational impact?
© central 2007

10. the shift
How do I get the How do I optimise
best ad and colleague
sales aid? recommendation?
• Ultimate
from to
© central 2007

11. the word of mouth interaction
What they’re saying
“ “
The WoM Story
The talker and listener
Opinion Leadership
© central 2007

12. theory into action
Word of Mouth Stories
Strategic plan
+
Opinion Leader Strategy
© central 2007

13. stories
stories

14. the Three rules of Epidemics*
• The Power of Context
- “An epidemic can be tipped by tinkering
DISEASE STORY™
with the smallest details in the
immediate environment”
• The Stickiness Factor
- “There is a simple way to package
information that, under the right BRAND STORY™
circumstances, can make it irresistible.”
• The Law of the Few
- “The success of any kind of social
epidemic is heavily dependent on the
involvement of people with a rare set of
social gifts”
© central 2007
*From The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell

15. Disease and Brand Story™ example
Disease Story™ Brand Story™
“obesity is an epidemic in the “by targeting visceral fat in
western world which is best patients with high waist
identified using the hip/waist circumference, Acomplia both
ratio measurement. There is reduces weight and improves
a particularly dangerous sort multiple cardiovascular risk
of metabolically active fat, factors”
called visceral fat, which is
distributed around the waist
line. Visceral fat is a root
cause of diabetes and
cardiovascular disease”
© central 2007
Please note this is dummy data synthesised through observation

16. when creating Disease and Brand Stories™….
• They need to be based in the future
yet
• realistic
yet
• ambitious
© central 2007

17. opinion leader strategy

18. opinion leaders: a change in paradigm
An opinion leader is an “The success of any kind
important customer that of social epidemic is heavily
other customers listen to dependent on the
involvement of people with a
rare set of social gifts”*
One dimensional view - Multi dimensional view - also
focuses purely on their understands what makes
influence them influential
• Sphere of influence
• Word of Mouth skills
• Adoption of innovation
© central 2007
*from The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

19. characterising opinion leaders
WoM Skills
Connectors
“a special gift for bringing the world together”
Mavens
assimilators of vast amounts of information
that they use to spot opportunities which they
then enjoy passing on to others
Persuaders
the skills to persuade us even when we are
initially skeptical of what we are hearing
laggards
early late
innovators early majority majority
adopters
© central 2007

20. planning

22. final thoughts

23. a final reflection
© central 2007

24. © central 2007