Negative publicity can increase sales when a product or company is relatively unknown simply because it stimulates product awareness. The idea is this: Anytime your brand gets publicity, it’s a good thing, even if the news about the brand is negative.Ī timeless Stanford Business study put it this way: You’ve probably heard people say, “There is no such thing as bad publicity.” Some of the most explosive marketing moves of all time have come with a fair share of negativity. When the brand exhibits a sense of freedom, its customers feel empowered to promote the brand with their enthusiasm, off-the-wall ideas, and crazy actions.Ī cult may be the best thing your brand can ever become. Cults, in spite of their insular reputation, accept new converts and devotees. The brand itself must facilitate organization, or at the very least, it should effectively communicate a slogan, a story, a message, and a goal. Normally, the cult does not organize and form spontaneously. The brand must work hard to create communities.Therefore, their voice deserves to be heard. The brand must listen to its customers.After all, it’s about a lifestyle, not just a product.
Why? Because cult members must possess courage themselves if they are to be part of a cult. Cult-prone customers aren’t likely to desire mainstream conformity. How did these brands stir up fanaticism in their customer base? Cult Branding’s endless research into cult brands has produced the following seven features.
I could market products by pushing my personal brand.Īnd that’s exactly how you can become an evangelist for your business. I discovered, by accident, that being a popular blogger had turned me into a brand evangelist. I became an outspoken advocate for digital marketing including SEO and content marketing.Īs I proved the success of these methods, I discovered the incredible value of the personal brand. This is how I propelled Quicksprout to become a successful blog with a steady revenue stream. You can grow your brand and market your product at the same time. To become a successful brand evangelist, you need to grow your personal brand. Hire people to spread the word while they fill their roles. They know the product, the company, the culture, and its values. Your best evangelists are your own team members. It’s putting in the time and doing the hard work to connect with people. That’s the essence of word of mouth marketing. They simply have to be “willing to grind it out and do the dirty jobs,” in Kawasaki’s words. Now it’s bottom up – if enough “ ” like your product, it can tip over and then powerful people have to pay attention to you.Įvangelists don’t have to be major players. It used to be top down – suck up to the powerful people, hope they like your product and that they make your product. You may not be able to afford a rockstar like Guy Kawasaki, but you can take a page or two from his playbook. As Blake Mycoskie said, “Every person who wears our shoes, becomes a marketer of our shoes.” When customers have an emotional connection to a brand, they feel as if the brand’s success is dependent upon their involvement.Ī brand like TOMS has turned customers into spokespeople because of its strategy of giving back. It’s one thing to know that word of mouth marketing works, but how does one actually do it? Turn fans into evangelistsĭevelop a brand story, and help customers buy into it. A Forbes article labeled word of mouth marketing “the most important social media.” In an age dominated by Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook, word of mouth still wins the day. In the digital age, word-of-mouth marketing is sneered against as an outdated, ineffective, and pretty much passé. A brand evangelist is a personality that spreads the word about a product or service through his or her personal reputation and network.īasically, its word of mouth marketing ( WOMM).