#because what Berger was trying to achieve there is very similar to what a lot of modern leftist video essayists are doing also

[thedreadvampy]

hello fellow youth do you like...Video Essay? can I interest you in... John Berger?

[zipgrowth]

Amplify’s Been Quiet. Here’s Where CEO Larry Berger Says It’s Going in 2018

In the education technology business, Larry Berger is considered—if not the smartest guy in the room, then certainly one of the wiser ones. With more than 20 years in the industry, Larry has seen the ups and downs, twists and turns.

In 2000 he co-founded Wireless Generation, which pioneered the use of data, digital diagnostics and assessments to support students. It was bought in 2010 by News Corporation, which invested more than $1 billion into the company and rebranded it as Amplify. News Corp’s commitment proved to be a short-lived, however. The media giant sold Amplify to private investors five years later.

Today, Larry Berger leads Amplify as its chief executive. The company is no longer as high-profile—or as big—as it once was. So what is Amplify today? What have the past years taught him, and where is the company going?

EdSurge recently sat down with Berger for an update on what Amplify’s up to, along with his thoughts on how the curriculum business is evolving. He also talked about the challenges facing edtech companies today, including his skepticism towards what he calls an “engineering” model of personalized learning.

Subscribe to the EdSurge On Air podcast on your favorite podcast app (like iTunes or Stitcher). Or read highlights from the conversation (which have been edited and condensed for clarity).

EdSurge: What is Amplify in 2018?

Berger: There’s really two things that anchor Amplify today. There’s a body of work we’ve been doing for a long time around diagnosing reading and math issues in young kids—these are observational assessments. Teachers do them on a mobile device or a laptop, or they do them one-on-one with kids. And then capturing that data and being able to give feedback to teachers, to parents, to the system as a whole about how reading progress is happening. And that’s the thing we started doing back in 2003, which has grown and evolved.

Then, over the last decade we’ve started to do more and more in curriculum. And I would say Amplify is increasingly a curriculum company. So we do K-8 English language arts curriculum and K-8 science curriculum.

These are blended programs, so they’re not just a textbook. They’re a lot of interactives and simulations. There’s also a lot of print materials and, in the case of science, a lot of hands-on science experiments that kids are doing, too.

Not too long ago, the question was: “What wasn’t Amplify?” We were talking about tablets, games, books and other kinds of services. As you removed some of that and condensed your focus, what do you think was the biggest lesson that you’ve learned?

Education requires a lot of patience, and the products that become great in education rarely do so because someone [builds] something in a garage, puts it out there and it becomes huge overnight. The thing that tends to happen is you invent something, you try it in schools, and you realize you didn’t quite get it right. Teachers teach you how to make it better, and over a few years you get to something that’s pretty good. And over a few more years you get something that’s a real breakthrough.

I love that journey. I wouldn’t want it to be any other way. I like the learning process, the back and forth. It makes us better.

But if you’re a big company—and we got acquired into a big company—you want to be able to just say: “Can’t we just spend more money and skip all that and build something that’s going to make an immediate impact?”

Before we were part of [News Corporation], we would build things carefully and methodically, and make sure that we really researched things before we scaled them. And I think right now we’re back to that.

As a part of News Corp, there were bankers calling about your results every quarter. Does that time pressure create an unrealistic time-frame for the things that you wanted to build to bear fruit?

Yeah. I think education products grow methodically over time. And then schools take their time piloting, expanding—eventually going district or statewide. But those things are multi-year things that have as much to do with the relationship you establish with the people in the school and the goals that you’re helping them achieve, as they do any kind of marketing or business or publicity.

So I think increasingly we’ve been sort of keeping our heads down trying to build great stuff and trying to respond to school customers.

Education requires a lot of patience, and the products that become great in education rarely do so because someone [builds] something in a garage, puts it out there and it becomes huge overnight.

For a company named Amplify, it’s been a little quiet over the past few years...

I think it was an intentional effort to really focus on what we are doing and let teachers and students start to be the voice of whether we’re up to is great. And the really fun thing is that while we’ve been quiet, with not as much publicity as back in the day, the teachers in the schools are starting to really speak up about how this stuff is helping them.

The big publishers used to own the markets and channels. But how is the K-12 curriculum market shaking up? Is it easier for a company like yours to get your foot in the door?

I would say that there is a certain fatigue with those big publishers, and there’s a sense that we don’t want to buy the same thing that we bought last time. Historically, there hasn’t actually been a lot of choice. The investment that was required has meant that only a few companies with the resources to do that can afford to build that product. And only a few companies could afford enough salespeople out there in enough places where they can meet with the schools in their territory.

When we were a little startup—Wireless Generation—we just didn’t play in curriculum at all because it was too expensive to enter that space. And so those guys get to be unchallenged. But part of what happened when we were part of News Corp was that people said: “Let’s make the investment to create an alternative, to create an upstart in that sector.”

What gives you optimism that you can go toe to toe with the big publishers?

In some states, in some districts, they pilot really extensively. They’re trying the different things and seeing which one’s actually working well for the kids.

There’s a pretty rigorous process of how [core curriculum materials] gets chosen. The challenge is it’s expensive to participate. They want you to send samples, they want you to support pilots. But I think it is actually a pretty meritocratic decision that happens at the end.

Do schools want digital?

We built at first something that was pretty heavily digital. And the original model was that every kid needs to have a device for this to work really well.

What we quickly learned was schools were happier with something that was much more blended, meaning if I want to teach with technology, I can do that. When I want to do something in print and when I want to do a little bit of both, all of that is supported. It’s a much more flexible idea of the technology-to-student ratio.

You and a colleague wrote a paper about 11 years ago that people still refer to as required mandatory reading for entrepreneur, called “K-12 Entrepreneurship: Slow Entry, Distant Exit.” If you had to write an update to that paper, would you still give it that same title?

What I would say is there are a bunch of things that have changed since we wrote it, and there are probably more things on the list that seem to me to be more similar than different.

The big change would be that, at the time we wrote it, there were a small handful of people who were willing to make commercial investments in K-12 companies. “Edtech” certainly wasn’t a thing. It seemed a little too risky at the time and not what schools were doing.

The engineering model is asking personalized learning to introduce a kind of foreign object into the classroom, and the interaction between teachers and students can be a bit diminished...

There’s an evolution of what schools are doing, and also the sense of an informed market[place], so people now know that there are edtech companies and that some of them are doing well, and that there are investors that are interested in that. Just telling these stories has been a helpful part. And, there’ve been some successful exits to companies that wake people up to the fact that there’s a business opportunity here.

What’s the most frustrating things to you that hasn’t changed since 2010?

There isn’t a “return on investment” mindset in education—in terms of what education returns [a school or district expects to get]. The fact that hasn’t really changed is the conversation around outcomes and efficacy. There’s probably more talk about measurement, but the idea that as we buy something, we [should] evaluate or even pay for it in terms of how helpful is it in terms of getting results.

I’ve gone around the country being willing to do deals with school districts saying, “Don’t pay me unless I show real results.” And schools are like, “I don’t really know how to do that. Either I buy your product or I don’t buy your product. I don’t have a way of holding you to a performance contract.” I think if we could get that in place, lots of other things would change.

Recently, another piece you’ve written has attracted a lot of attention around the limitations of personalized learning. Have we hyped it up too much and set unrealistic expectations?

There’s a kind of hype, and maybe a misdirection of energy, around what parts of personalizing the learning experience are likely to be the most productive.

In that piece I look at the “engineering model” of personalization. Essentially it says this: When you look at a classroom, it is a not a very well-designed network because there are 30 different nodes, [each of them a kid] who is each processing in their own ways. And there’s only one transmitter: the teacher. There’s not a parallel-processing machine that can give each of those kids exactly what they need at all times.

So why not fix it and feed the right thing to each kid at each moment? Wouldn’t personalized learning be using computers so that every kid gets what they want at exactly the moment, and it feels like one-on-one tutoring?

But we just don’t know enough about how to do that. We don’t know enough about how to measure exactly where kids are in order to know what to give them next. We don’t actually have a great library of the next thing to give them. And it’s not clear that if we did, kids want to be in a mechanistic system, or the teachers want every kid to be on their own little personalized learning journey.

There are a bunch of ways that teachers have always personalized learning in the classroom, scaffolding different kids’ learning so that they get different kinds of support. They have always personalized feedback, and good teachers do a phenomenal job of that. And so shouldn’t the technology be helping with a few more of those things that classroom teachers are trying to do?

The engineering model is asking personalized learning to introduce a kind of foreign object into the classroom, and the interaction between teachers and students can be a bit diminished by that vision of personalization.

Amplify’s Been Quiet. Here’s Where CEO Larry Berger Says It’s Going in 2018 published first on https://medium.com/@GetNewDLBusiness

[othersportsnews-blog]

Weekly 18 -- Why Jordan Spieth is the Tom Brady of golfing

New Post has been published on https://othersportsnews.com/weekly-18-why-jordan-spieth-is-the-tom-brady-of-golfing/

Weekly 18 -- Why Jordan Spieth is the Tom Brady of golfing

Considering that the watercooler at Weekly 18 headquarters is continue to centered on The Open up a 7 days later, we might as well start off there — and with a cross-sport comparison that desired a 7 days to marinate.

1. I put in a large amount of time above the previous 7 days attempting to demonstrate the variations involving Jordan Spieth and other top rated players, notably Rory McIlroy — and I wound up acquiring an analogy from another sport. Go look at highlight tape of Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady. They’re each quite talented, of course. They’re each uncommonly successful. If you actually want to parse the online video — and I am crafting as an unabashed Patriots lover below — you might contend that Rodgers throws a tighter spiral and is faster exterior the pocket. And still, if you check with any impartial soccer lover to choose involving the two occupations, they’d unquestionably choose Brady, since of his over-all achievements and penchant for coming up major less than stress. I see the exact same thing in relation to Spieth. He might not be additional talented than a man like McIlroy, but he owns the intangible will to be successful that destinations him above his peers.

two. Immediately after typing that final analogy, it dawned on me that this was not the initial time I might drawn parallels involving Spieth and a Patriot. So I went back as a result of the archives. Final year, in an job interview session ahead of his following get started after a Hyundai Match of Champions victory, Spieth reported: “I am quite centered on this 7 days and understand that by Tuesday afternoon no a single actually cares anymore. And that is fine. It is really on to the following a single.” That is downright Belichickian.

Jordan Spieth just turned 24 final 7 days and presently is No. 22 on the PGA Tour’s job earnings checklist. Steve Flynn-Usa Currently Sports activities

3. Spieth turned 24 on Thursday. The fourteen professional victories, together with eleven on the PGA Tour and three majors, are of course spectacular stats. But the most eye-popping numbers might come in the type of dollar indications: He presently ranks twenty second on the PGA Tour’s all-time income checklist, with $32,584,648 in official earnings. That is astounding. And necessitates a hat tip to Tiger Woods. And Arnold Palmer. And Deane Beman. And so lots of other people who paved the way for this type of monetary windfall.

four. Always essential to recall: McIlroy continue to qualified prospects Spieth in majors four-3. Indeed, he’s more mature. Indeed, he’s performed in additional of ’em. But it is essential to not only check out this from inside of the bubble of what is actually only occurred in the previous 10 days.

five. Speaking of McIlroy, lots of storylines will be floating all over getting into this week’s WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club, lots of of which will concentrate on Spieth creating his initial get started after profitable The Open up and other top rated players attempting to put alongside one another a single additional strong 7 days ahead of a ultimate prospect to assert a important this year. But the most important of these storylines is that of McIlroy. At the time of this crafting, stories experienced surfaced that he’s split from longtime caddie J.P. Fitzgerald, while no substitution experienced even been rumored. Bizarre timing. McIlroy is new of The Open up, the place he effusively praised Fitzgerald for a mid-initial round pep talk that at some point led to a fourth-put finish. Just before that, he’d struggled to shake an personal injury (and the ensuing rust) for a great deal of this year, finally appeared to be the McIlroy of old for these ultimate 3½ days at Royal Birkdale. The final time he performed Firestone, back in 2014, he won — in involving wins at each individual of the final two majors. Don’t be stunned if he troubles when once again this 7 days. And certainly, it could lead to a major 7 days at another put he’s won ahead of, Quail Hollow, for following week’s PGA Championship. The larger shock, for now, will be the man walking together with him.

Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy are the favorites to earn the 2017 PGA Championship at eight-1 odds. In this article is the comprehensive checklist of odds from the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook.

Jordan Spieth’s third important title failed to come without the need of drama, and now he’s in a duel with Rory McIlroy to get paid a job Grand Slam.

1 Similar

6. Poor Matt Kuchar. It was a single thing to look at him eliminate The Open up and come to feel his suffering. It is really another thing entirely to listen to him discuss these emotional phrases about shedding in front of his two boys, days afterward: “[It] was hard on me to see the youngsters in tears knowing their dad failed to earn. It is really an intriguing placement as a father. When your youngsters are younger, they glance up to you like you are Superman. Sort of you are their hero. You happen to be the a single to protect them and save them and to do terrific matters. And when it would not function out and you are not the hero keeping the trophy, it is saddening, as well. I saw the glance in their eyes, and I preferred to be that man. So I was a small bit broken myself that I was not that man.”

7. Here’s additional from Kuchar on that aftermath, just since I couldn’t get plenty of of how brutally trustworthy he was about talking with his youngsters: “We experienced a flight acquiring property that obtained delayed, and we went to a bowling alley and killed some time. I experienced to explain to them, I reported, ‘Listen, you do your ideal. You enjoy your ideal, you attempt on just about every shot, and from time to time it goes your way and from time to time it would not. You have to study that these matters transpire.’ They are such terrific lessons that come from golfing. You know, this was a single of them. I did my ideal. I tried out my toughest and it failed to function out. Undoubtedly going to continue to keep attempting. And so it is challenging when you will not come as a result of as Superman, but it is lessons that I believe will spend dividends in the extensive run.”

eight. Main controversy at the U.S. Ladies Junior Championship on Friday afternoon. In the nineteenth hole of a semifinal match, Elizabeth Moon skipped a putt, then raked her ensuing four-incher without the need of it initial getting conceded. Her opponent, Erica Shepherd, was promptly asked by her coach/caddie regardless of whether she’d verbally conceded the putt. When she rightfully reported she hadn’t, she was deemed winner of the hole and, as a result, winner of the match. All of which sparked a sizzling-button difficulty that hadn’t been pressed because Suzann Pettersen’s non-concession at the Solheim Cup two decades in the past. Moon was mistaken for raking as well speedily Shepherd was mistaken for not observing and conceding. But neither of them were being so mistaken that they are worthy of to be chastised for the complete thing. Which qualified prospects to another stage …

9. … my the very least beloved section of the complete controversy was not even the controversy itself. It was the complete aftermath, when older people bludgeoned each individual other with sizzling usually takes above social media about which teenaged woman is at fault, which a single is to blame and why she need to come to feel so badly about what she did. These are youngsters. A single split-next of their life was frozen in time for the relaxation of us to evaluate and debate. Chalk it up to a learning expertise. Let us hope the two of them are not remaining overthinking the problem like so lots of sofa surfers were being afterward.

10. I know the rule. We all know the rule. But I also know that rules need to give way to typical sense when correct. Don’t concur? Try out this: The following time you are participating in a $two Nassau with a buddy and he rakes a single from four inches away without the need of hearing a concession, allow him know about it. And then allow me know how that goes for you.

Jhonattan Vegas created birdie on the initial playoff hole to conquer Charley Hofffman and defend his Canadian Open up title. Vaughn Ridley/Getty Photographs

eleven. Properly defending a title would not sound that hard. I imply, a participant only has to complete one thing he’s presently achieved ahead of, so he presently owns that crafted-in self-confidence. It is really not that uncomplicated. From improved sponsor and media obligations to residing up to loftier expectations, it is scarce that players earn the exact same tourney in back-to-back decades. Look at that: It is really typically scarce. That phenomenon has transpired additional routinely this year, with Justin Thomas, Hideki Matusyama and Daniel Berger presently going back to back, then joined by Jhonattan Vegas at the RBC Canadian Open up this weekend.

12. This week’s lesson in “Finding Winners is Definitely, Definitely Tough”: Vegas’ previous 10 commences ahead of profitable once again were being MC-MC-MC-MC-MC-35th-MC-MC-thirty fourth-MC.

13. Sticktaps to Canadian Open up organizers and their Glen Abbey host system for #TheRink, a hockey-infused wonderland which experienced golfers ripping slap pictures and wristers on event grounds. From all stories, it was a load of fun. And if you will not believe me, just check with Jack Nicklaus, who wore a hockey sweater while doing work on his video game.

.@jacknicklaus usually takes a different kind of shot at The Rink, the interesting new hockey-themed seventh hole. #RBCCO. pic.twitter.com/ch6b35AwqD

— RBC (@RBC) July twenty five, 2017

fourteen. Speaking of Canada, it is now been 63 extensive decades because Pat Fletcher was the final native Canadian to earn his country’s nationwide open up. The fellas who arrived the closest this 7 days were being Mackenzie Hughes (T-32) and Graham DeLaet (T-48), who each individual obtained into contention getting into the weekend, only to come up shorter.

15. Several years in the past — possibly eight or 9, to be additional specific — a single PGA Tour caddie whispered this bit of knowledge to me: “The three most talented players on the PGA Tour are Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and …” In the split-next ahead of he completed that assumed, the choices were being managing as a result of my mind. Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, possibly Sergio Garcia. Not quite. He continued: “… Charley Hoffman.” His stage was that Woods and Mickelson experienced of course maximized their potential centered on the outcomes, but that Hoffman was one thing of a job underachiever. Effectively, it might have taken a while — and certainly, Hoffman has enjoyed a lengthy, successful job — but at forty, he seems to have turned a corner. Immediately after shedding in a playoff Sunday, he now owns two runner-up finishes, a third and a dozen top rated-25s (together with all three majors) in twenty five commences. He’d probably trade that in for job earn No. five, but he’s undoubtedly residing up to that expertise.

16. Bernhard Langer is a machine. At the age of fifty nine — considerably less than a month from his 60th birthday — he won his 10th job senior important championship at the Senior Open up on Sunday, a event about which he’d reported early in the 7 days, “I most likely should not even be below, to explain to the truth I most likely need to be in mattress.” Inspite of laryngitis and flu-like symptoms, Langer battled brutal climate conditions through the 7 days, then posted a ultimate-round seventy two to earn by 3 strokes. His achievements qualified prospects to a larger question for the following era: Will a top rated participant someday see his data as a benchmark that he functions to surpass? As an alternative of the way of thinking of players such as Steve Stricker, Vijay Singh and Davis Enjoy III, who all have typically performed on the PGA Tour after turning fifty, will players at some stage arrive at that checkpoint and promptly get started gunning for Langer’s marks? Even if they do, he’ll be hard to overtake.

seventeen. How negative was the climate at Royal Porthcawl? Brad Faxon, who completed 14th, tweeted this:

Have performed 36 decades skillfully all above earth and today at Royal Porthcawl for Sr British experienced to be toughest conditions ever. +13cut!

— Brad Faxon (@BradFaxon) July 28, 2017

It was chilly and windy and rainy and just depressing. There were being seventy two scores in the 80s, three in the 90s and, as Faxon tweeted, opening rounds of 77-78 were being plenty of to make the weekend.

18. We’ll finish with the worst information of the 7 days: It was declared that Jarrod Lyle has been identified with still another recurrence of acute myeloid leukemia. A single of the game’s additional common players for his fun-loving character and inspirational story, he once again has the help of the complete golfing local community at the rear of him. Here’s hoping for a comprehensive restoration and a day in the in close proximity to long run when we see him competing inside of the ropes once again.

Resource website link

[gustavowilh]

5 Ways to Generate Word-Of-Mouth as a Small Business

Humans rely on their network to make decisions about where to go, what to do, and what to buy. 92% of consumers trust referrals from people they know, and 77% of consumers are more likely to buy a new product when learning about it from friends or family. According to Wharton marketing professor Jonah Berger, author of the bestseller Contagious, word-of-mouth is 10 times as effective as traditional advertising.

You might be fooled into thinking that word-of-mouth is simple to generate, but it isn’t. Creating a buzz-worthy message that goes viral is not an easy task and, unfortunately, there is no clear-cut formula (much to the dismay of marketers). So, how do you turn customers into brand advocates? How do you fuel conversations that make people want to share your message with their network?

  1. Exceed your customers’ expectations

According to Entrepreneur, “businesses should be focusing on creating customer service that transforms customers into fans who can’t stop talking about your brand.” But it goes even beyond excellent customer service. Word-of-mouth is triggered when a customer experiences something far beyond what was expected. Hence, you need to delight and please your customers with their entire experience. It’s important to remember that this is not so much about gifts and promotions, but about how you treat and communicate with the people who drive your business growth.

How can you, then, improve the customer experience as a whole? One example is when Colorado’s Vail Resorts created a mobile app that connected skiers with their networks on the mountain. Dupped EpicMix, the app allowed guests at any of the Vail’s five resorts to capture their performance and share it with others on social media. With RFID technology embedded into season passes and lift tickets, riders were able to learn where and when they skied, and how far they traveled. Riders were motivated and challenged to push themselves while sharing their achievements with their friends and family. After going live in December 2012, 100,000 guests at the resort were using the app, generating more than 35 million social impressions. With the use of mobile technology, Vail Resorts managed to exceed their customers’ expectations of their stay at the resort, leading to an immediate influx in word-of-mouth.

  2. Create the WOW factor

The Missouri Business Development Program states that: “All successful small businesses seem to have an edge. They have found a way to distinguish themselves, to rise above the commercial fray, to put the WOW into their business.” It’s not enough to offer a quality product or service. You need to surprise and delight your customer, not simply satisfy them. How do you do this? By incorporating a WOW factor. Transform a satisfactory experience into a special and memorable experience. For example, if you run a Bed & Breakfast, you can go that extra mile by providing your guests with a handwritten note and a local bottle of wine in their room.

One of my personal “wow experiences” was after a trip to the vet’s office. The doctor and nurse took the time to thoroughly explain why my dog might not be feeling well and gave her the necessary medication. While I was already very pleased with my visit, the doctor personally called me the next day to check up on my dog. She answered my remaining questions and told me to call back anytime. I was left thinking “wow!” I also went straight to Yelp and left them a glowing review. The conclusion: you want your customers to say “wow”, because “wowed” clients are loyal clients and will tell others about their experience.

  3. Make it easy for people to leave reviews

When running a word-of-mouth campaign, the worst thing you can do is make it difficult for customers to communicate with each other about your brand. So, make it as easy as possible for people to leave reviews and recommendations. Make sure you turn on your reviews on your Facebook page. This has to be done manually, before anyone can leave star-reviews. Similar, you should set up your Google My Business and Yelp account, if you haven’t done so yet. Also, allow customers to give feedback directly to you on your website, as you’ll learn a lot from this. For example, 3M ESPE, a manufacturer of dental products, made its review process so simple that the company increased customer review volume by 200 percent in three days.

  4. Set goals for word of mouth

Just as with any other type of marketing strategy, goals like “getting everyone to talk about our product” are too vague to be effective. In your marketing plan, you will want to set certain objectives and measurable goals. For example: “We want X number of new customers through referrals per month”; “ We want to obtain press coverage in three X places per month”; “We want to generate X number of leads per month via word-of-mouth marketing.” Every goal should have time limits and detailed methods for accomplishment.

  5. Promote your business through PR

Public relations is a way to keep your business in the public eye. As a small business, develop relationships with local journalists, newspapers, radio stations and online influencers in your niche. Keep them informed about your company’s latest developments and future plans.

Take it up a notch by organizing something that will create a real buzz with the local media. For example, an interesting trend in the restaurant industry has been the rise of the “pop-up” restaurant. Pop-up restaurants are temporary restaurants hosted in a shared kitchen, giving customers and journalists a feeling of urgency and excitement surrounding the business. As Kabbage mentions: “Pop-up businesses also enable small business owners to test new concepts, bring products to local markets, try a wider variety of products, and connect with customers in a more personal and efficient way. All of these characteristics make pop-up businesses an ideal fit for local marketing.” Organizing these special stunts can really drive press coverage and, subsequently, word-of-mouth. 

  Generating word-of-mouth isn’t easy, but with a little strategic planning, a small business can create a real buzz in their local community. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box, you can achieve a lot with creativity even on a small budget. Word-of-mouth is the most powerful form of advertising a small business can have, as each happy customer can steer dozens of new ones their way.

The post 5 Ways to Generate Word-Of-Mouth as a Small Business appeared first on Bizness Apps.

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[darincjohnson]

5 Ways to Generate Word-Of-Mouth as a Small Business

Humans rely on their network to make decisions about where to go, what to do, and what to buy. 92% of consumers trust referrals from people they know, and 77% of consumers are more likely to buy a new product when learning about it from friends or family. According to Wharton marketing professor Jonah Berger, author of the bestseller Contagious, word-of-mouth is 10 times as effective as traditional advertising.

You might be fooled into thinking that word-of-mouth is simple to generate, but it isn’t. Creating a buzz-worthy message that goes viral is not an easy task and, unfortunately, there is no clear-cut formula (much to the dismay of marketers). So, how do you turn customers into brand advocates? How do you fuel conversations that make people want to share your message with their network?

  1. Exceed your customers’ expectations

According to Entrepreneur, “businesses should be focusing on creating customer service that transforms customers into fans who can’t stop talking about your brand.” But it goes even beyond excellent customer service. Word-of-mouth is triggered when a customer experiences something far beyond what was expected. Hence, you need to delight and please your customers with their entire experience. It’s important to remember that this is not so much about gifts and promotions, but about how you treat and communicate with the people who drive your business growth.

How can you, then, improve the customer experience as a whole? One example is when Colorado’s Vail Resorts created a mobile app that connected skiers with their networks on the mountain. Dupped EpicMix, the app allowed guests at any of the Vail’s five resorts to capture their performance and share it with others on social media. With RFID technology embedded into season passes and lift tickets, riders were able to learn where and when they skied, and how far they traveled. Riders were motivated and challenged to push themselves while sharing their achievements with their friends and family. After going live in December 2012, 100,000 guests at the resort were using the app, generating more than 35 million social impressions. With the use of mobile technology, Vail Resorts managed to exceed their customers’ expectations of their stay at the resort, leading to an immediate influx in word-of-mouth.

  2. Create the WOW factor

The Missouri Business Development Program states that: “All successful small businesses seem to have an edge. They have found a way to distinguish themselves, to rise above the commercial fray, to put the WOW into their business.” It’s not enough to offer a quality product or service. You need to surprise and delight your customer, not simply satisfy them. How do you do this? By incorporating a WOW factor. Transform a satisfactory experience into a special and memorable experience. For example, if you run a Bed & Breakfast, you can go that extra mile by providing your guests with a handwritten note and a local bottle of wine in their room.

One of my personal “wow experiences” was after a trip to the vet’s office. The doctor and nurse took the time to thoroughly explain why my dog might not be feeling well and gave her the necessary medication. While I was already very pleased with my visit, the doctor personally called me the next day to check up on my dog. She answered my remaining questions and told me to call back anytime. I was left thinking “wow!” I also went straight to Yelp and left them a glowing review. The conclusion: you want your customers to say “wow”, because “wowed” clients are loyal clients and will tell others about their experience.

  3. Make it easy for people to leave reviews

When running a word-of-mouth campaign, the worst thing you can do is make it difficult for customers to communicate with each other about your brand. So, make it as easy as possible for people to leave reviews and recommendations. Make sure you turn on your reviews on your Facebook page. This has to be done manually, before anyone can leave star-reviews. Similar, you should set up your Google My Business and Yelp account, if you haven’t done so yet. Also, allow customers to give feedback directly to you on your website, as you’ll learn a lot from this. For example, 3M ESPE, a manufacturer of dental products, made its review process so simple that the company increased customer review volume by 200 percent in three days.

  4. Set goals for word of mouth

Just as with any other type of marketing strategy, goals like “getting everyone to talk about our product” are too vague to be effective. In your marketing plan, you will want to set certain objectives and measurable goals. For example: “We want X number of new customers through referrals per month”; “ We want to obtain press coverage in three X places per month”; “We want to generate X number of leads per month via word-of-mouth marketing.” Every goal should have time limits and detailed methods for accomplishment.

  5. Promote your business through PR

Public relations is a way to keep your business in the public eye. As a small business, develop relationships with local journalists, newspapers, radio stations and online influencers in your niche. Keep them informed about your company’s latest developments and future plans.

Take it up a notch by organizing something that will create a real buzz with the local media. For example, an interesting trend in the restaurant industry has been the rise of the “pop-up” restaurant. Pop-up restaurants are temporary restaurants hosted in a shared kitchen, giving customers and journalists a feeling of urgency and excitement surrounding the business. As Kabbage mentions: “Pop-up businesses also enable small business owners to test new concepts, bring products to local markets, try a wider variety of products, and connect with customers in a more personal and efficient way. All of these characteristics make pop-up businesses an ideal fit for local marketing.” Organizing these special stunts can really drive press coverage and, subsequently, word-of-mouth. 

  Generating word-of-mouth isn’t easy, but with a little strategic planning, a small business can create a real buzz in their local community. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box, you can achieve a lot with creativity even on a small budget. Word-of-mouth is the most powerful form of advertising a small business can have, as each happy customer can steer dozens of new ones their way.

The post 5 Ways to Generate Word-Of-Mouth as a Small Business appeared first on Bizness Apps.

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[michaelmikkelson]

5 Ways to Generate Word-Of-Mouth as a Small Business

Humans rely on their network to make decisions about where to go, what to do, and what to buy. 92% of consumers trust referrals from people they know, and 77% of consumers are more likely to buy a new product when learning about it from friends or family. According to Wharton marketing professor Jonah Berger, author of the bestseller Contagious, word-of-mouth is 10 times as effective as traditional advertising.

You might be fooled into thinking that word-of-mouth is simple to generate, but it isn’t. Creating a buzz-worthy message that goes viral is not an easy task and, unfortunately, there is no clear-cut formula (much to the dismay of marketers). So, how do you turn customers into brand advocates? How do you fuel conversations that make people want to share your message with their network?

  1. Exceed your customers’ expectations

According to Entrepreneur, “businesses should be focusing on creating customer service that transforms customers into fans who can’t stop talking about your brand.” But it goes even beyond excellent customer service. Word-of-mouth is triggered when a customer experiences something far beyond what was expected. Hence, you need to delight and please your customers with their entire experience. It’s important to remember that this is not so much about gifts and promotions, but about how you treat and communicate with the people who drive your business growth.

How can you, then, improve the customer experience as a whole? One example is when Colorado’s Vail Resorts created a mobile app that connected skiers with their networks on the mountain. Dupped EpicMix, the app allowed guests at any of the Vail’s five resorts to capture their performance and share it with others on social media. With RFID technology embedded into season passes and lift tickets, riders were able to learn where and when they skied, and how far they traveled. Riders were motivated and challenged to push themselves while sharing their achievements with their friends and family. After going live in December 2012, 100,000 guests at the resort were using the app, generating more than 35 million social impressions. With the use of mobile technology, Vail Resorts managed to exceed their customers’ expectations of their stay at the resort, leading to an immediate influx in word-of-mouth.

  2. Create the WOW factor

The Missouri Business Development Program states that: “All successful small businesses seem to have an edge. They have found a way to distinguish themselves, to rise above the commercial fray, to put the WOW into their business.” It’s not enough to offer a quality product or service. You need to surprise and delight your customer, not simply satisfy them. How do you do this? By incorporating a WOW factor. Transform a satisfactory experience into a special and memorable experience. For example, if you run a Bed & Breakfast, you can go that extra mile by providing your guests with a handwritten note and a local bottle of wine in their room.

One of my personal “wow experiences” was after a trip to the vet’s office. The doctor and nurse took the time to thoroughly explain why my dog might not be feeling well and gave her the necessary medication. While I was already very pleased with my visit, the doctor personally called me the next day to check up on my dog. She answered my remaining questions and told me to call back anytime. I was left thinking “wow!” I also went straight to Yelp and left them a glowing review. The conclusion: you want your customers to say “wow”, because “wowed” clients are loyal clients and will tell others about their experience.

  3. Make it easy for people to leave reviews

When running a word-of-mouth campaign, the worst thing you can do is make it difficult for customers to communicate with each other about your brand. So, make it as easy as possible for people to leave reviews and recommendations. Make sure you turn on your reviews on your Facebook page. This has to be done manually, before anyone can leave star-reviews. Similar, you should set up your Google My Business and Yelp account, if you haven’t done so yet. Also, allow customers to give feedback directly to you on your website, as you’ll learn a lot from this. For example, 3M ESPE, a manufacturer of dental products, made its review process so simple that the company increased customer review volume by 200 percent in three days.

  4. Set goals for word of mouth

Just as with any other type of marketing strategy, goals like “getting everyone to talk about our product” are too vague to be effective. In your marketing plan, you will want to set certain objectives and measurable goals. For example: “We want X number of new customers through referrals per month”; “ We want to obtain press coverage in three X places per month”; “We want to generate X number of leads per month via word-of-mouth marketing.” Every goal should have time limits and detailed methods for accomplishment.

  5. Promote your business through PR

Public relations is a way to keep your business in the public eye. As a small business, develop relationships with local journalists, newspapers, radio stations and online influencers in your niche. Keep them informed about your company’s latest developments and future plans.

Take it up a notch by organizing something that will create a real buzz with the local media. For example, an interesting trend in the restaurant industry has been the rise of the “pop-up” restaurant. Pop-up restaurants are temporary restaurants hosted in a shared kitchen, giving customers and journalists a feeling of urgency and excitement surrounding the business. As Kabbage mentions: “Pop-up businesses also enable small business owners to test new concepts, bring products to local markets, try a wider variety of products, and connect with customers in a more personal and efficient way. All of these characteristics make pop-up businesses an ideal fit for local marketing.” Organizing these special stunts can really drive press coverage and, subsequently, word-of-mouth. 

  Generating word-of-mouth isn’t easy, but with a little strategic planning, a small business can create a real buzz in their local community. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box, you can achieve a lot with creativity even on a small budget. Word-of-mouth is the most powerful form of advertising a small business can have, as each happy customer can steer dozens of new ones their way.

The post 5 Ways to Generate Word-Of-Mouth as a Small Business appeared first on Bizness Apps.