Grumpy Cat Made Me Do It

Last week I opened my blog post with a question. Why are we loyal to our favorite brands, places, or products?

I visit a therapist regularly—Target. Unfortunately, insurance does not cover accrued expenses. Not only am I loyal to Target as a store, but certain brands within the store appeal to me more than others. Maybe the packaging is stylish, or the materials are high-quality, or a friend posted about it on their Instagram story leaving me green with envy. I wager that you too commit to specific brands or products. 

Why do we choose the products we consume?

In the last post, I mentioned that I would dive into Word of Mouth Marketing, specifically with an example that involved dancing fruit.

Rural communities in Feeding the Gulf Coast's service area face great difficulties obtaining nutritious food, with food insecurity among children nearing one in four. While the national child food insecurity rate is 17.9%, the food bank's service area has a child food insecurity rate of 26%, and our rural areas average a rate of 27%. To fill this gap, Feeding the Gulf Coast partners each summer with community sites to ensure that all children, 18 and younger, have access to free meals while school is out through the Summer Meals Program. The Summer Meals Program begins at the end of May and runs through mid-August. The food bank partners with local sites; such as schools, libraries, parks, daycares, church programs, and summer camps, to offer free meals to children. There are no program fees involved for sites to participate. In 2018, Feeding the Gulf Coast was awarded a grant by Share Our Strength for the third year, with $31,700 in grant funds allocated for promotional efforts to increase program participation throughout our service area. The two primary goals for the Summer Meals Program campaign were to increase site partners and to increase site attendance.  

Please note the marketing budget mentioned above. Nonprofit resources are usually slim and trim, especially for marketing. $31,700 is a large budget to figure out how to spend effectively, and it was the third year in a row the food bank received the award. In 2017, with a similar budget, we allocated the funding towards various methods of advertising; including billboards, bus signs, targeted digital ads, radio, and print ads in rural newspapers all with fabulous dancing fruit to entice our audiences. At the end of the summer, staff surveyed the parents to gauge which forms of advertising were useful for promoting the site locations to participants. The three-question survey implemented during the last two weeks of the Summer Meals Program received 483 responses. The main question asked parents how they heard about the program. 

The results showed that billboards, bus signs, and print ads garnered very little acquisition compared to digital ads. Most interestingly, the survey showed that the most effective form of promotion was through Word of Mouth between site participants and new attendees. Based on this information, our 2018 plan was built out to focus more efforts on expanding Word of Mouth Marketing through flyers, handouts, signs, and "Fun Day" events. The funds initially budgeted for billboards and bus ads were switched to digital and social media outlets.  

Not only is Word of Mouth Marketing effective, but it is also generally affordable and, believe it or not, you use it every day. 

"Hey, have you tried the new breakfast place downtown yet? It is amazing. I have had it twice since last Tuesday. They gave me a couple of discount flyers to share with friends." 

Every time you read a review before purchasing a product, ask your friend what good movies they have seen lately, or utilize a referral program online to "share $10, make $10 when a friend joins" XYZ Club, you are experiencing the joy of Word of Mouth Marketing. 

Day after day, you rely on recommendations from friends, family, and most of the time, even strangers to help persuade your consumer actions. 

According to Hubspot, a shocking 90% of people believe brand recommendations from friends. Amazon even has an influencer program for qualifying individuals with the right amount of social media following and persuasion. 

Who are influencers, and how does an individual reach that status?

In short, influencers are people who have managed to captivate an audience online and have a strong following on their social media platforms, YouTube videos, or blogs. You know the Instagram accounts with 25,000 followers that leave you wondering who is following them around and taking their picture as they look off into the distance while sipping on a Starbucks Venti Pumpkin Spice Latte. 

I kid, sort of. Whether we would admit to it, these perfectly curated accounts suck us into their world. The influencers know it, brand managers know it, and they capitalize on the influencer's appeal to persuade consumers to purchase a product. We all follow perfect strangers on social media accounts because they tell us the story we want to hear. We believe that they hold a certain level of knowledge and authority on specific subjects. Who all followed Grumpy Cat because we could relate?

In last week's post, I discussed the Diffusion of Innovation Theory by Everett M. Rodgers. In this theory, we acknowledge that in order for the Early Majority and Late Majority of a population or social group to adopt an innovation, we must first reach the tipping point in public persuasion. To arrive at the tipping point, we have to appoint our opinion leaders. So in today's social media-driven world, are influencers considered opinion leaders? 

According to this Cision article, "Opinion leaders are those knowledgeable and respected in their field, with views that carry significance to the community, and those forming public opinion on any subject. They interpret rather than copy media content, and they actively share it with the public."

Unlike influencers, they might not have an always-online mentality because they do not have to in order to retain their status of authority. Opinion leaders are experts in their field and have gained notoriety for knowing their stuff. According to the same Cision article, "The concept they promote is more about "thought leadership" than "influencing." They do not care about follower numbers, but instead about expertise and knowledge. Opinion leaders are those influencing influencers."

The past decade has seen a shift in mass communication practices with the introduction of Facebook and the like. Social media has opened doors to blur the lines of where one should expect to read the news or purchase a product, and it has given me and you the authority to pave the way for influence. Word of Mouth Marketing is a powerful and compelling tool, and we all possess the ability to yield it well. I will leave you with the following example: 

I received a text from a friend who received a text from her friend with a plea. This friend is the mother of a sweet toddler, Cara Grace, who is currently undergoing treatment for cancer. This young child relies heavily on a cancer drug. The U.S. will soon face a shortage of this life-saving medication due to limited production. Her request was simple; please sign this petition so my child and others like her stand a chance. She sent the link along with a photo of her daughter and friends carving pumpkins. Without hesitation, I clicked the link and signed it. Then I forwarded that message to my friends. As I write this post, the petition is only a little over 700 signatures from reaching the needed support.