SMB Seattle - Offline WOM by Saul Colt

Clever presentation title

Creating amazing Offline Word of

Mouth to drive online chatter!

Saul Colt – Head of Magic November 25th, 2011– Social Media Breakfast - Seattle, Wa

2

A fancy professional speaker once told me to remove the first two slides of all my presentations

because they were usually unnecessary.

3

…but that is going to make the third slide harder to understand…but

here goes.

4

….and I LOVE women!

4

5

Be Interesting Yourself!

5

6

So why am I here today?

6

7 7

To explain a few of the ways to create offline WOM with or without a budget….

8 8

Lessons from Dick Shawn.

9

And that is how you too can get on a Digital Board in Times Square!

9

10 10

A simple search for the definition of Word of Mouth in Wikipedia will tell you

that….

11 11

“Word of Mouth” was the second album by Jaco Pastorius, released in 1981 while the bassist was a member of of the band Weather Report

12 12

…and while that is true I prefer to explain it as doing something so

fascinatingly interesting that people have no other choice but to tell their friends about a cool experience they

had.

13 13

[This is a good place for an apology]

14

If real world WOM is about creating experiences.

14

15

…then those experiences better be creative!

15

Quick Points on Creativity:

• Creativity does not come from a committee.

• Creativity comes from thinking uniquely and being fearless.

16

Ways to create experiences if you are not on antidepressants!

16

• Look for obvious connections (Do research) • Play on Emotions. • Force people to ask questions. • Add Conflict. • Make people feel special. • Be Interesting Yourself.

17

Look for connections/Do research!

17

• Wikipedia • The Googles • LinkedIn • Blogs • Twitter Search

18

19

Play on Emotions!

19

• Surprise and Delights! • Make it as personal as possible.

20

Force people to ask Questions!?!

20

• What are you up to? • Why are you doing this? • You aren’t trying to sell me water dispensers are you?

21

Add Conflict!

21

• Kidnapping for fun and profit

22

Make People Feel Special!

22

• Spend time with your community. Especially if they are female. • Go beyond expectations. • Make Girlfriends!

23

Be Interesting Yourself!

23

24

Be Interesting Yourself!

24

25 25

Live the life of your customers. Fight for what they care about

and be an advocate for their voice..

26 26

…and if that ain’t your thing you could always just

do interesting things.

27 27

Do interesting things.

(With Barter)

28 28

Do interesting things. (With Dead Inventory)

29 29

Do interesting things.

(With Emotions)

30 30

Do interesting things.

(With Customers)

31 31

Everything you do with or without a budget

should be about, and include your customers.

32 32

Including your customers is the same as fighting for them.

33 33

By promoting your customers you are forming a real connection and with that connection you will empower your customers to talk about your

company and indirectly you have a highly passionate

sales force!

34 34

The more connected you are with your customers the better you will know what they want,

like…

35 35

…the more you will try to not disappoint them.

(with a WOM initiative that is a huge miss)

36 36

These types of activities will help build your brand and start lots of conversations, and when it is all said and

done those are the only things a competitor can’t steal!

37 37

Do Interesting Things

(by keeping your eyes open)

38

Opportunities are literally everywhere!

38

39 39

..so anyone remember that Times Square Slide?

40

And this is how you too can get on a Digital Board in Times Square!

40

41

So…in closing.

41

42 42

1- Take a stand on something your customer base (and you) believe to create positive attention with a purpose.

43 43

2- Barter (beg) like you are a virgin on prom night

44 44

3- Dead Inventory is called Dead for a reason.

45 45

3-Everything you do should be about, and include your customers.

46 46

4- Keep your eyes open for opportunities to use other people’s “stuff” to start conversations.

47 47

Lastly… (for real this time)

maybe.

48

Three other things to remember…

48

Live The 4 E’s

• Execute • Extraordinary • Experiences • Everyday

-Mike McDerment, CEO of FreshBooks

49

Three other things to remember…

49

”The absolute best things about WOM campaigns are that if they fail it usually means no one knows about them.”

-Andy Sernovitz, CEO of Gaspedal

50

Three other things to remember…

50

If you want to give something away for free…give something away for free. Never make your customers work because they aint gonna.

-Bill Veeck, Baseball Hustler

51 51

…and what exactly am I calling this new way to spread to messages to people with or without a budget?

52 52

The Aristocrats!

53 53

….and now finally, if you remember nothing else from this talk I hope it is that….

54 54

Girls find me irresistible!

Any Questions? Did any of this make sense?

56 56

Contact me!

@saulcolt

Cell - 416-219-3259

saulcolt

saulcolt

saul@freshbooks.com