Feb. 18, 2009 at 10:23am

Raise the barrier to entry

Posted by Kathleen Deakins in Planning and Strategy
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I crave easy. So when Geno Church and Spike Jones from identity company Brains on Fire recommended raising the barrier to entry for would-be evangelists, I was startled. Their point: Word-of-mouth is spread by passionate people; don’t waste your effort on the somewhat interesteds.

A couple dozen of us gathered in a JayRay ThinkLab this week to hear Geno and Spike share their approach to word-of-mouth marketing. We’ve participated in a lot of these PRSA teleseminars and this one prompted the most conversation I recall. But then that’s what Geno and Spike do – create conversation.

Passion that leaps the hurdle
They told of their search for inspirational leaders to become Park Angels in Charleston, S.C. The first criterion was passion, a passion that would survive a competitive selection process that included completing a lengthy questionnaire and interviews.

Once selected, Park Angels participated in three days of training. Today they participate in park cleanups and represent the parks at a host of events, and blog about it. (What a model for a community or employee wellness campaign!)

It’s not about social media
Geno and Spike say word of mouth is 92 percent face to face. Sure social media can help a movement spread, but passion is personal. Understand where the conversations you care about take place and join the party.

They had much to say about spawning a movement around a shared interest rather than launching a campaign. A campaign is about the product and marketing at people. A movement is about the people and their shared passion.

Fanning the flames
The Park Angels project took a year to research, plan and launch. The budget? Between $100,000 and $200,000. Today scores of Charlestonians are “loud and proud” about their parks and are putting their muscles and wallets to work to keep their parks ― and their movement alive. Geno, Spike and team lit the fire; the angels are fanning the flames. That’s a movement.

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