Effective Word Of Mouth Tactics – Part IV

Last week, I shared what I call The Nine Levels Of Word Of Mouth.

You may recall that the lowest possible score on the scale is a “Minus 4,” which I described as:

“This is the worst of the worst. It means that your product is creating a scandal…. You never want that kind of Word Of Mouth about your business.”

Just a few days later, the world was treated to a real-life example of a public figure and his company suddenly and dramatically plummeting to the very bottom of the scale and earning a resounding “Minus 4” rating.

Donald Sterling, multi-billionaire real estate magnate and longest-tenured NBA franchise owner, let himself be tape recorded spewing blatantly racist remarks to his latest mistress. When the recording was made public, Sterling became a “Minus 4” pariah practically in the blink of an eye, dragging his Los Angeles Clippers down with him.

In the span of just a few days…

• He was denounced all over social media and on virtually every news outlet in the country
• The President Of The United States publicly called him “ignorant”
• Everyone from average fans to major celebrities vowed to boycott the Clippers
• Over a dozen of his corporate sponsors pulled their support for his team
• His own players staged a protest against him
• The NAACP cancelled its plans to award him a second “Lifetime Achievement Award”
• UCLA returned Sterling’s initial payment of $425,000 and rejected the remainder of his $3 million kidney research pledge

Then yesterday, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver inflicted upon Sterling the most severe penalty ever imposed on an owner of a sports franchise: a lifetime ban from all team and league activities, plus a $2.5 million fine.

Collateral damage has also been done to the NBA (whose owners have known for decades that Sterling is a racist, yet until now did nothing about it) and the NAACP (whose leaders also knew that Sterling was a racist at least as far back as 2009, when it gave him its “Lifetime Achievement Award”).

The damage to these two organizations is extremely minimal, however, when compared with the no-doubt-about-it “Minus 4” predicament Sterling finds himself in.

For purposes of our current series, note that this entire scandal came about completely as a result of Word Of Mouth – spread like wildfire via social media, traditional media and water cooler conversations from coast to coast.

Until these racist recordings were made public, Sterling flew under the radar for the most part, despite him and his team earning these labels from various major publications:

• The New York Times and Forbes magazine: The Worst Owner In Sports
• Sporting News: “One of the worst owners in basketball for decades”
• Sports Illustrated and ESPN The Magazine: The Worst Franchise In Sports

But thanks in large part to the viral and explosive nature of today’s social media-obsessed world, Sterling’s racism was suddenly and dramatically thrust into the public eye, causing his quick downfall.

Again: This is the kind of Word Of Mouth that you never want.

BUT…

What if you could harness the power of all of these forces to rally behind you and your business, creating a massive wave of positive Word Of Mouth for you?

Here are the Six Steps To Harnessing Word Of Mouth:

1. Understand your customers’ values and priorities (to help you understand why they would buy your products or services)
2. Understand the five different adopter types (innovators, early adopters, middle majority, late adopters and laggards)
3. Identify which decision stages are needed in order for your product or service to be adopted
4. Using the information from steps 2 & 3 with the Decision Maker Matrix*, figure out which wording and Word Of Mouth tactics are going to work
5. Put together the resources for the highest Word Of Mouth impact
6. Create and implement your Word Of Mouth campaign

*The Decision Maker Matrix is based upon years of trial and error by Word Of Mouth marketing pioneer George Silverman. It helps you chart all of the different concerns you may come across when working with each of the five different adopters, so you can put together an effective decision process for each one.

Next week, I’ll share with you 30 Ways To Harness The Power Of Word Of Mouth.

If you’re connected to Donald Sterling (or any other disgusting person) on social media, you may want to suggest he or she tune in here for that one.