tell ten friends::

marketing is evolving

I'm back from a long hiatus that included several days on the Sunshine Coast in Powell River; to visit family, enjoy Easter turkey and catch a hockey game in the Allan Cup tournament.











As a quick sidebar from the marketing babblespeak, I'm proud to say that my home team boys (and alma mater, if you count the two games they let me play for them) The Powell River Regals are the 2006 Allan Cup Champions. A few years back I got to sip from the revered Allan Cup (it's older than Lord Stanley's pail, and is now presented to the top Sr. Men's team in Canada) and although I was never enough of a hockey player to play on those championship teams, I'm proud to see the old green-and-gold win the big prize at home.

::Now, back to the goods. Since I've returned I've had a lot of action in the Tell Ten Friends universe. Although I can't share too much yet, the good news is that some clients seem quite receptive to web-based PR and using blogs to promote themselves online.

::In all of the reading that I had to catch up on, one thing caught my eye above all else. The folks over at the Church of the Customer blog reported that companies are now adding VPs, Directors and Managers specifically for WOM; including Dow Jones and Yahoo.

Obviously, big business is catching on. I only hope that they get it right. The key is to do something for your customers that is unexpected, or a little bit extra, for which you expect no thanks or recognition. Only then are they likely find it worth telling ten friends about.

I like this quote from Ben McConnell, who sums up this new wave of marketing hires quite nicely:

"When start-ups and two of the world's biggest and most influential content companies are crafting positions specifically for word of mouth, that's evolution. If traditional companies like Charles Schwab, Northrup Grumman or Sysco ever hire VPs of WOM, that's revolution."

::Bonus link: My brother is now using Filmloop to promote listings and recent real estate sales on his blog. He even emailed his example to Guy Kawasaki, and was quickly added to his blogroll. No offense at all to my kid bro, but this is proof positive that this little tool is indeed easy to use. If you haven't tried it yet, you're missing out.

Oh yeah, Rob's using it too on his MySpace page.

posted by Jordan Behan @ 1:52 PM