Funworld January 2009

Spreading the Word

Influential consumers can be your best marketers
by Jennifer J. Salopek

“YOU DON’T OWN YOUR BRAND. Consumers own your brand, and they can make or break your business every day. Forget what you think you know about marketing.”

With these radical statements, Steve Hershberger, principal of ComBlu, a community strategy firm based in Chicago, ushers us into 2009. A new approach seems appropriate as we begin a new year in the midst of a recession and an uncertain outlook on how and whether consumers worldwide will spend their discretionary income. The good news is: with a well thought out word-of-mouth marketing strategy, your park or attraction can be top of mind if and when consumers do decide to spend.

“Word-of-mouth marketing has been around longer than print communication,” observes Myra Norton, chief executive officer at Baltimore-based Community Analytics LLC. “It is much harder to take a data-driven marketing approach within the business-to-consumer space. Rather, people make decisions based on the opinions of the people they talk with.”

Word-of-mouth marketing has become a formal discipline. The Word of Mouth Marketing Association, (WOMMA), has taken the lead in documenting best practices, setting standards, conducting research, and establishing ethics guidelines. Its web site, www.womma.org, hosts useful information for those new to the practice.

Whether novice or experienced in word-of-mouth marketing, however, Hershberger emphasizes you must be in it for the long haul. “Tapping influencers is not a [marketing] campaign; it is a long-term strategy,” he says. “Once you decide to adopt that strategy, you must stay the course.”

Tapping influencers is the name of the game in wordof- mouth marketing. Norton defines them as the people who are on the cutting edge—who have a finger on the pulse of the industry. Certainly, leaders of roller coaster enthusiast groups spring to mind, but there will be others. “[Those people] may not be immediately obvious via online or traditional measurement tools,” Norton says. Rather, you must go to places where coaster enthusiasts (or mini-golf enthusiasts, or whoever) congregate, and ask them.

Say, “Who helped fuel your interest in this pastime?” Get specific names. Try to identify patterns or areas of geographic or online concentration. But the main thing, advises Hershberger, is to start with a blank slate, and to listen.

“Visitors to amusement parks and attractions come seeking an experience or an outcome. Therefore, parks and attractions must try to find out why visitors are coming,” he says.

Most word-of-mouth marketing programs can begin with three simple steps:

1. Ask your best customers what their opinions are, and why.

2. Ask yourself, does our infrastructure match the consumers’ impression of the park or attraction?

3. If it doesn’t, counter that inquiry by asking, are there changes we can make so it does?

Norton also recommends establishing a quid pro quo. “Reciprocity is a basic human instinct,” she notes. “It’s what word-of-mouth marketing should be about: Your brand does something to serve the community.” For example, influencers who share their opinions with you might receive free or discounted admission, or even special early-opening hours at the attraction.

“You can’t force it, however. Don’t pay people. You must be genuine. Influencers are influential, after all, because they are unbiased,” she says. That lack of bias also means you must be prepared for negative feedback— but how you respond to that feedback can make all the difference.

Never censor the negative responses, says Hershberger. Rather, look at the root cause of the complaint, then figure out how to fix the issue or explain why you can’t.

“Brands should be able to admit mistakes, or admit when we don’t know the answer,” he says. “Get the answer, fix the problem, and report your findings.” In this way, you can unleash customers to uncover the weaknesses in your park or attraction.

“That’s the world we live in now—consumers control the brand,” concludes Norton. “These conversations are happening. Are you going to be a part of them?”