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I’ve been meeting with a bunch of firms recently that want to develop a strategic word-of-mouth plan for 2007 and integrate it into their overall marketing communications efforts. It seems that ‘07 is likely to be a big testing and investment year for many firms. So, I thought I’d share some — just some — of the strategic planning topics that often come up. I can’t give away the farm in terms of tactical approaches but I think it’s useful to chat about resources, management, control, measurement, and platforms.

Let me know what you think. I’d love to get your feedback…

WORD OF MOUTH MARKETING STRATEGIC PLANNING OVERVIEW

I. Department/Company-wide Resource Considerations

** Staffing or project based management
** Implementation strategies
** IT time and resources
** “Activating” sales representatives as agents
** HR training issues
** Updating corporate policy guideline for employees
** Plugging in other corporate locations to localize conversations
** Budgeting

II. Measurement

** Volume of sales inquiries
** Revenue goals by service or product
** Cumulative number of trials
** Subscription volume
** Change in churn rates
** Pilot program goals
** Baseline share of voice
** LTV or upsell % increases
** SEO objectives

III. Addressing Negative Word of Mouth & Control

** What role Customer Service will play
** Process for entering into hostile conversations
** Final disposition of dialogs
** Corporate reporting process, if any
** Monitoring tools and comment reviews
** Addressing comment spam

IV. Customer or New Acquisition Focus

** Working with your base
** Outreach efforts to suspects or prospects
** Creating audience profiles based on recognized interests
** External online communities
** Why should they care?
** Community education and participation
** Disclosure

V. Integration into Existing Web Presence

** Internal or external sites to support brand, service or product
** Internal or external links to conversations/sites
** Open or closed comment or communication systems
** Social networking tools
** Build it or Buy it
** Open source tools

VI. Integration into Existing Marketing Communication Efforts

** Text or technology tools
** Lead time and legal review hurdles
** Appending information back to an operational database
** Acknowledgement communications to participants

VII. Content Distribution Plays

** Your’s or Their’s
** Viral mechanisms and tracking issues
** Video
** Audio
** Text

IX. Word of Mouth Frameworks

** How to get started tomorrow
** Type of customer interaction: co-creation or push
** Cycles – pre, launch and post (when and who do you bring in for what)
** Types of incentives – social/professional or economic or moral
** Referral systems
** Measurement and analysis
** Brand or service-based program
** Campaign based initiatives
** Community building and management

TAGS: word of mouth, WOM, word of mouth strategy