KTVB Features Justin Foster
December 22, 2010
Above is a clip from my appearance last week on KTVB’s Noon News with Carolyn Holly. My topic was the “Myths of Word-of-Mouth”.
Here are the myths:
1) Myth: Word-of-Mouth is a tactic. A tactic is something you execute or do. Examples in marketing: media buy, creative, web, etc. All things you do. As such, WOM is NOT a tactic. It’s not something you do; it’s something you are. Of course, there are steps and processes to generate WOM, but WOM is not something you can buy.
2) Myth: Word-of-Mouth doesn’t cost money. This may sound like a conflict with #1, so here’s what I mean: It may not cost money to BUY word-of-mouth, but it certainly can cost money to CREATE it. The time, money, and energy that goes in to creating an interesting product or service is all part of the cost of WOM. That said, paying to be interesting can a lot less expense and for more sustainable than paying for attention. A portion of cost can also go towards grassroots marketing, creating sampling, conducting surveys, etc.
3) Myth: Word-of-Mouth means you don’t need to advertise. WOM is often positioned as the opposite of advertising. In reality, they are two separate issues. In many cases, brands need to use advertising to create interest, perception, behavior, etc. Boring brands need to pay more to make this happen. WOM-driven brands can still use advertising - often to further enhance a competitive advantage. These brands use advertising to “fan the flames” of excitement. Think Apple, Southwest, or Harley. They aren’t creating awareness, they are further stirring existing buzz.
I mentioned an ancient and timeless rule in the piece:
Being interesting = creating stories = generating word-of-mouth.
So if you wish you had more WOM and don’t, see the first part of the formula.
If you think you are interesting, but aren’t generating stories then either you are probably not interesting - or you are doing a poor job of capturing and re-telling stories.
If indeed you are interesting, then use your marketing dollars to tell and create stories - and it will create even more WOM!
New Page: Stories
November 19, 2010
For the past few months, we have been collecting stories. We have been collecting clients’ stories: who they are, where they have come from and what their company is doing. Our culture thrives on stories, not sales pitches. We have created a small video archive of video stories for you to watch. All of the stories were captured on a simple Flip camera and pieced together using simple software. The point of these videos is to show who is behind so many of the companies we love. Enjoy and feel free to share.
KTVB Appearance
November 18, 2010
Justin Foster had another opportunity be a guest with Carolyn Holly on the “It’s Your Business” segment of KTVB’s noon news on November 18. You can see the clip above.
Here are the 4 marketing trends for 2011 Justin talked about:
- Crowd-sourcing: engaging with your customers to help market your business.
- Hyper-local: marketing to narrow audiences; typically geographic areas.
- Web findability: creating a web presence that makes your business easy to find.
- Social media quitters: businesses bailing on social media efforts because of lack of results.
As always, we are interested to hear from you. What other marketing-related trends are you seeing?
60 Sec Vid: Airlines
October 12, 2010
This week’s question/ scenario: Southwest Airlines seems to be doing very well as they are currently hiring. They have low price fairs and funny TV ads, so what are they doing right and what is everyone else doing wrong?
This is our eighteenth video in our “60 Seconds” series. We will be posing a number of questions in this series. We will attempt to answer one question per week in video form. There are two rules for the “60 Seconds” series:
1) Justin has 60 seconds to answer a given question.
2) The video is unscripted. Justin has not seen the question before taping. What you see is raw footage, there is only one take. We do this to keep ourselves down-to-earth and transparent.
37 Sec Rant: Identity Crisis
September 29, 2010
Topic: Identity Crisis
A new series of short videos. Justin rants for 37 seconds on a topic that he is passionate about. Now it is time for you to ask yourself, what do you think? Go ahead, speak up and post your thoughts.
Watch this video in HD on YouTube.
60 Sec: Bank Scenario
September 28, 2010
This week’s scenario: A locally owned bank is losing customers. They have been in business for 50 years and have a $300-500 marketing budget. What should they do?
This is our seventeenth video in our “60 Seconds” series. We will be posing a number of questions in this series. We will attempt to answer one question per week in video form. There are two rules for the “60 Seconds” series:
1) Justin has 60 seconds to answer a given question.
2) The video is unscripted. Justin has not seen the question before taping. What you see is raw footage, there is only one take. We do this to keep ourselves down-to-earth and transparent.
Watch this video in HD on YouTube.
37 Sec Rant: Political Camp.
September 16, 2010
Topic: Idaho Political Campaigns
A new series of short videos. Justin rants for 37 seconds on a topic that he is passionate about. Now it is time for you to ask yourself, what do you think? Go ahead, speak up and post your thoughts.
60 Sec: Newspapers
September 14, 2010
This week’s question: In a potentially dying industry, what areas should newspapers focus on to stay relevant?
This is our sixteenth video in our “60 Seconds” series. We will be posing a number of questions in this series. We will attempt to answer one question per week in video form. There are two rules for the “60 Seconds” series:
1) Justin has 60 seconds to answer a given question.
2) The video is unscripted. Justin has not seen the question before taping. What you see is raw footage, there is only one take. We do this to keep ourselves down-to-earth and transparent.
Rather watch it in HD? Find it on YouTube.
37 Sec Rant: Boomers
September 2, 2010
Topic: Baby Boomers
A new series of short videos. Justin rants for 37 seconds on a topic that he is passionate about. Now it is time for you to ask yourself, what do you think? Go ahead, speak up and post your thoughts.
60 Sec: Case Study
September 1, 2010
This is our fourteenth video in our “60 Seconds” series. We will be posing a number of questions in this series. We will attempt to answer one question per week in video form. There are two rules for the “60 Seconds” series:
1) Justin has 60 seconds to answer a given question.
2) The video is unscripted. Justin has not seen the question before taping. What you see is raw footage, there is only one take. We do this to keep ourselves down-to-earth and transparent.
