By Rod Brooks, CMO of PEMCO and WOMMA President

Another Quarter In The Books

Wow! Where does the time go so quickly? It seems as though it was only last month that I was writing a recap of my first quarter as President of the WOMMA Board of Directors. Now it is the twelfth of July and we are already a week into Q3. It’s been a busy and productive time for WOMMA and I’ll try to bring you up to speed with a selection of key advances and accomplishments that have been made by our maturing association.

It’s been a real pleasure to lead and work with such a passionate group of volunteers that make up the WOMMA board. You’ll be pleased to know that the membership is well represented by an outstanding mix of global, national, and regional brands and agencies that truly have the best interest of WOMMA at heart. Add to that a staff that is led by Executive Director Kristen Smith, who in her third year at the helm has found ways to grow membership and revenue while delivering continuously improving educational events, partnerships, and programs. I’d like to offer the board, Kristen, and the entire WOMMA staff my sincere thanks and appreciation for another outstanding quarter of productivity and accomplishments. Let’s look at a few:

As great word of mouth practitioners know, it all starts with effectively listening.

School of WOM: After making a conscientious effort to examine the feedback from attendees of prior years and carefully reviewing submitted surveys, a President’s “Innovation Task Force” was assembled to explore opportunities to better differentiate our two major events – The School of WOM and The WOMMA Summit.

Several great ideas were brought forward, a few of which were implemented in Chicago at the School of WOM.

• Several sessions were converted to 90-minute workshops that allowed for both presenting valuable information as well as working through examples in a practical hands-on format.
• A speed-networking session was piloted at the end of the first day of presentations. Those who participated were able to seek out and spend valuable one-to-one time with specific companies and individuals that they were looking for suggestions and advice from.
• And speaking of networking, WOMMA was able to use POKEN technology to help make sharing contact information both easy and fun, while encouraging attendees to say hello in a friendly face-to-face way. The clever device was sponsored by Nology Media and was a big hit, generating over 3000 contact “pokes” by over 83 % of the 300 registered attendees.

WOM-COMM: With a full year of producing this program and listening to participant feedback under our belt, we have grown to understand that members who enrolled were more advanced than the 101 levels of content that we were providing. You asked for richer and deeper content, quizzes that were more aligned with the material being presented, case studies that were directly tied back to the course work, and less overlap within the first three modules. As a result, we reworked our lineup of presenters and coached them on the importance of differentiating the content between each module so that there is a building progression of learning. The quiz, which is mandatory, is written by WOMMA staff and is more aligned with the presenter’s key takeaways. The newly reformatted WOM- COMM online certificate program has just graduated its first class of students and we are eagerly awaiting their feedback.

President’s Innovation Task Force: A group of thought leaders from among our membership has been brought together on a quarterly basis to provide feedback and guidance to me as President as well as to our WOMMA staff. During Q2 a subgroup of the task force volunteered to develop a set of tools that would better enable current WOMMA members to act as advocates for the association. This work is currently underway and will be rolled out in the coming months.

Bringing our message to the market where they live and work.

Talkable Brand Exchanges: I’m very excited that we are now taking the WOMMA message and deliverables into regional outreach and educational events. The pilot program for these Talkable Brand Exchanges is intended to bring brands and agencies together who might not otherwise attend one of our national events. In addition to the February event, held in San Francisco, there are three events being planned for Chicago, Seattle and New York City. Check our member website for details on the event in your area.

Wine Wednesdays: WOMMA has schedule four Wine Wednesdays that will take place this summer in Atlanta, New York, Denver and Washington DC, with tentative dates for Chicago and San Diego. Wine Wednesdays are great opportunities for member companies to showcase their WOMMA pride by hosting a networking event in their city. To schedule your Wine Wednesday go here.

Adding value to our members and recognizing their accomplishments.

Customer Care Guidebook: Hot off the press in Q2! The Research & Measurement Council recently produced Best Practices Guide: WOM in the Customer Contact Centerfocused on understanding social media and customer service with six brands sharing their case studies. As a member only benefit, members can access the Guidebook in its entirety, by going here.

WOMMY Awards: The WOMMY’s are in their third year and continue to grow momentum and relevance in our industry. As the only awards focused on WOMM and Social Engagement we’ve gained credibility and international recognition. The WOMMY Chairs have added three new categories to the awards submission: Mobile, Cause Related Marketing, and Customer Relationship Management. These were added due to WOMMA’s recognition that these are growing areas of relevance and importance to our membership. It’s not too soon to plan your entry for this year’s WOMMY Awards.

That’s just a few examples of the work that your WOMMA board and staff have been doing on your behalf. It’s a great organization and one that is gaining momentum on a weekly basis. I urge you to talk WOMMA up in your organization and among industry colleagues. It’s in all of our best interest to include the thought leaders and practitioners that will help us grow the quality of our association.

I continue to be very excited about the opportunities that are developing in the online and offline space for word of mouth marketers. I hope you will join me by enthusiastically supporting and attending our upcoming events. As you know, your referral and recommendation is more highly regarded than anything WOMMA can say or do on our own behalf.

Have a wonderful summer.

Best regards,

Rod

Rod Brooks, WOMMA President & PEMCO CMO

By Rod Brooks

When people ask me how the year as WOMMA Board President has been going I try to give an honest and thoughtful answer.  In January, it was a little overwhelming and I was worried that I hadn’t worked hard enough on an effective transition with the Immediate Past President, Paul Rand. By February, I felt that I was catching up to the required pace but I was still struggling to balance the requirements of my commitment to WOMMA with my responsibilities as the CMO at PEMCO Insurance. And now, as March has come to an end and April ushers in the second quarter of the year, I feel like a sense of order is being realized and the months of transition are behind us.  I’m now striding more confidently into the new year of strategic initiatives and objectives.

In the first 90 days our board and association has been able to revisit our near and mid-term strategic plan and bring forward three areas of important focus. First, we recommitted to the importance that we place on ethical use of word of mouth marketing practices by brands and service providers. We have reviewed the process of responding to identified gaps in compliance with the WOMMA Code of Ethics and have begun discussions that could lead to increased levels of review, scrutiny and even certification.

Next, we recognize and are focused on continuing to create compelling and relevant business value for our members so that we accelerate membership growth, increase the retention of existing memberships, and thrive as an association. For some, that value comes in the form of research, measurement and metrics. For others, it comes in the form of education and best practices.  And while WOMMA can’t be everything to everyone, we have continued to be responsive to the needs of our members and have enhanced several opportunities for engagement and sharing.

And third, we have committed to the continuation of educational opportunities and forums that will advance the art and science of building talkable brands and advocates.  We are committed to providing clear “how to” approaches regardless of the progress that has been made on a members journey into the online and offline word of mouth world. We recognize that our membership will consistently be a blended mix of interested and curious beginners interspersed with more established thought leaders and front runners. The beauty of an association like ours is that we enable the great melting pot of experiences to be shared.

I’ve found the first quarter of my volunteer leadership role as WOMMA President to be exciting, stimulating, rewarding… and yes, a little exhausting. It has provided a number of opportunities to visit with thought leaders; share insights with members of the media and collaborating associations; and to engage with equally passionate people who share a common enthusiasm for word of mouth marketing and talkable brands.

Now we are in the process of accepting and vetting candidate nominations for the board seats that will be vacated at the end of 2011. The commitment that five new board members will make will be for a three year term of service. Successful candidates will be asked to serve in leadership roles, on strategy committees, and to help the organization grow and develop our membership base. It’s a commitment that requires time to understand the needs of the organization and our members; to guide and support the agenda of our excellent Executive Director and staff; and to bring a blend of skills and experiences together that will enable WOMMA to achieve the goals that have been set as we continually raise the bar of expectations.

It’s an exciting time for WOMMA and it’s a time during which a noticeable difference can be made by individuals that step up to support our association as it continues to grow. If you are ready to help make a difference, WOMMA would like to hear from you too.  Whether on a board, a committee, or as a subject matter expert in a presentation or webinar, there is ample opportunity for you to contribute.

I’m looking forward to attending the upcoming School of WOM in Chicago, May 9 - 11. I suspect that there will be many who are attending a WOMMA event for the very first time as well as many who have been coming to our events for years. Regardless of which group you might be in, there will be much to see, learn and experience.

Yes, my year as WOMMA Board President is going quite well thank you.  I’m proud of the people I am working with and have a great deal of optimism for the direction our association is moving.

See you in Chicago.

By Rod Brooks, WOMMA Board President & CMO of PEMCO Insurance

The rules of the game have changed. No longer is consumer behavior driven exclusively by traditional marketing and advertising. Today those consumers are making purchasing decisions after hearing the opinions of peers, friends, and even strangers. And most often, those influencers make their opinions known online.

Many smart companies get this, and are taking steps to harness this new venue. Others, regrettably, are still learning the tough lessons of how the game has changed.

Those who are reaping the benefits of these online conversations have made the decision to take the time and dedicate the resources to create long-term relationships with consumers by consistently listening, responding, and joining conversations. Now, smart enterprises are going a step further, giving employees the knowledge of where these conversations are taking place, and the tools and the confidence to join in. These organizations have recognized that engaging with customers in these conversations can be a tremendous equalizer, allowing nimble, adaptive companies to compete on par with much bigger, better funded competitors.

This is the exact experience we have in our organization. PEMCO is a small regional insurance company, and we face national insurance giants spending billions on advertising annually. To break through this advertising assault, we have needed to embrace an engagement strategy that sets us apart from national competitors. We are focused on the voice of the customer, and we’ve decided to spur brand conversations in unexpected ways.

For PEMCO Insurance, the solution was to differentiate ourselves in our ability to connect with consumers on a local level. Our message was simple: we’re different because we live, work, learn and play in the same communities as our customers and understand their needs first-hand.

We created an ad campaign based on this message, celebrating our quirks and shared values here in the Pacific Northwest. The campaign provided entry into both online and offline conversations on topics that matter to our customers – community, local issues, and sometimes even insurance.

As luck would have it, I discovered the annual WOMMA Summit at about the same time that PEMCO’s new “hyper local” campaign was coming to fruition in 2007. Our company was founded on the premise that we differentiate ourselves by enthusiastically embracing the relationship we have with our customers. The “voice of the customer” is so important to us that we are willing to reorganize around their voice and pay specific attention to each and every touch point.

As a self-proclaimed student of WOM, I soaked up everything WOMMA had to offer. I became the “maverick” in our organization and chose to be proactive in our assessment and approach. I found it very useful to encourage our marketing partners (agencies) to become WOMMA members and to take advantage of the information and connections that WOMMA offers.

Together, we spent almost a year identifying relevant online conversations and listening to what customers had to say. We studied other companies’ experiences and brought in a partner dedicated to helping us find ways to use new social media channels in our day-to-day business. Creating “employee readiness” was a key feature of that plan.

We established our own set of social media guidelines to fit our culture and goals. By collaborating with Legal, Human Resources, and Information Security groups, we were able to knock down departmental barriers and roadblocks while converting our skeptics to advocates through the process.

Next, we developed a series of social media boot camps to increase familiarity and comfort with social media applications enterprise-wide. We bolstered our preparation for the training by enrolling our marketing team in WOMMA’s seven-week WOM-COMM 101 certificate program. With the shared vision of rallying around the voice of the customer, we armed employees with the knowledge and tools to meet customer needs in the social space.

Internally, community-building tools like Yammer began with a small pilot group but snowballed organically as employees rushed to get on board. Externally, customer story-sharing tools like Ratings and Reviews provided back office employees direct access to the voice of the customer. For us, these tools have buttressed our customer focus by facilitating receiving, sharing, and heeding customer sentiment across the organization.

Finally, social media leadership summits disseminated ownership of social engagement. Disparate departments convened to discuss the progress of our shared vision and managers were challenged to consider how social media may serve their business purpose.

And we’re not done yet. Our next steps include supporting pilots in customer-facing departments, reviewing and updating our social media guidelines, and offering social media classes through our in-house learning center. The goal is to weave social media into our customer service toolkit – ideally, these online tools will be as familiar as the telephone at every employee’s desk.

We’ve come a long way in equipping our organization with the tools necessary to serve and compete in a virtual world, yet like most journeys, ours is far from finished. By rallying around a shared vision, fostering a social-savvy workforce, and meeting customers on their terms, we can deliver unsurpassed customer service in a marketplace where the rules – and the conversation – are continually changing.

Being a member of WOMMA has made our journey much easier. WOMMA has given PEMCO access to strategic thinkers, experienced practitioners, and incredibly valuable colleagues on the front lines of customer engagement. Our WOMMA membership has been incredibly valuable.

As the 2011 WOMMA Board President, I’m excited by the goals we have established for the coming year.

• We’ll continue to differentiate ourselves from other organizations through our increasing focus on advocacy for the discipline of credible word-of-mouth marketing, both online and offline.
• We’ll strengthen our ethics code, our role with the Federal Trade Commission, and our continually improving research and educational resources for members.
• We’ll strive to increasingly serve the entirety of our member’s WOM needs throughout their business: Customer Service, Legal, HR, Product Development, and of course, Marketing and PR.
• We’re committed to seeking new and valuable ways to increase the ROI on the membership investments we all make.
• We’ll do more to bring the WOMMA experience to your marketplace – a particular interest of mine. In 2011, WOMMA will host regional events that enable us to share our story with communities of members and potential members where they live, work, learn, and TALK.

If you find your organization struggling on the traditional media battlefield, and like PEMCO you would like to be prepared with new ammunition, I’d like to encourage you to join WOMMA right away. I can say with confidence that it has made a difference. I believe that WOMMA can help you too!

Returning from WOMMA’s “School of WOM” Conference has my head spinning with new insights and new connections. My notepad is littered with takeaways. And Twitter is littered with takeaways too.

Nearly 300 attendees shared 2,500 tweets with the #WOMMA hashtag during the three-day conference. As I did following WOMMA’s 2009 Fall Conference, I’ve whittled down the 2,500 tweets from the School of WOM Conference to 200 of the most “talkable tweets” from attendees.

Enjoy this SlideShare presentation…

Perhaps you know someone at your company who needs to get up to speed on word of mouth and social media marketing. Perhaps that someone is you. WOMMA is here to help.

Beginning Jan. 5, WOMMA is offering WOM-COMM, a seven-week online course sharing best practice education on how to more effectively and ethically use online and offline word of mouth marketing. You’ll learn the core strategies and tactics benchmark businesses are using to get customers talking. And, you’ll gain the knowledge needed to best measure the success of your next WOM marketing program.

The faculty for WOM-COMM is top-notch with practitioners (not pundits). At the recent CREATING TALKABLE BRANDS Conference, the WOM-COMM faculty gave us a sneak preview of what to expect.

Interested?

Click to learn more about WOM-COMM.

Expect lots of tid-bits to be shared from WOMM-U 2009. But first, here is list of immediate recap information.

1. Interviews with presenters and attendees (from BlogTalkRadio)
2. In-depth Blog coverage (from Josh Hallet of Hyku)
3. Flickr Photo roll (from Josh Hallet of Hyku)
4. Smart tweets tagged with #WOMMA (from WOMMA)

Over the next couple weeks, we’ll be sharing video ditties from the Conference as well as digging deeper into some of the major themes discussed in the ballroom sessions and breakout groups. Until then, then should satiate ya!

Yep, I’m putting my marketing where my mouth is as WOMMA’s in-house evangelist for all things word-of-mouth (WOM).

In this role, I will help WOMMA better communicate with its members and non-members to promote the discipline of Word-of-Mouth Marketing. I’ll also serve as a WOMMA spokesperson addressing hot-button topics covered by traditional media and discussed in conversations happening in the online social media world.  Plus, I’ll be sharing thoughts here … on the ALL THINGS WOM blog.

Those who know me, know I’ve long believed in the power of WOM to increase business sales and brand salience.  Can’t help being a believer. I’ve spent a good part of my marketing career working for two brands that baked word-of-mouth marketing principles into how it does business every day. Starbucks Coffee and Whole Foods Market both became endearing and enduring brands because they each delivered products, services, and experiences customers wanted to enthusiastically share with others.

That’s WOM in action … when people so adore something a company does that they share stories with friends/family in the offline world and with followers/fans in the online world. 

Today, companies like Zappos, Method, Apple, Lego, Fiskars, and Rackspace are all proudly flying the WOM flag high and finding success through tapping into the influential power of customers.

As a marketingologist with my Brand Autopsy consulting business, I show companies how to use basic WOM principles to turn indifferent customers into evangelical customers. When I began my practice in early 2005, one of the first steps I took was to join the just-started Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA). And if you attended the first WOMMA Conference in March 2005, you probably saw me.  (I was the dude in the white smock.)

So it feels natural for me to work directly with WOMMA as their “WOM Enthusiast.”  

You’ll be hearing more from me, especially on this blog.  Together, we’ll explore the arts and sciences of WOM that sales (and fails), wrestle with ethics issues, and showcase smart analysis from bloggers about all things WOM.

 Thanks for joining me. This’ll be fun.