Word of Mouth Marketing 1

Hi guys!!! I am so excited!! Guess what?  Creatives' Corner has her first guest post!! Drum roll!! Are you wondering what it's about? You need to check the full gist out. It's about Word of Mouth Marketing, how to get your customers talk about you. Yes...I know you are interested, why not follow me.

A quick introduction about the writer, he is a friend, his name is May-Las Akorede and he is so excited to have you read his post. Let's go.

Sometimes towards the late ember months in 2019, I stumbled on a couple of information that has changed my views on business and how it's been run. I decided to follow up on that information and I started digging and researching hoping to uncover more information – well, I'm not done uncovering – but the good news is I've uncovered some pretty good stuffs that I believe every business owner should begin using NOW. Not tomorrow, but NOW.

I know a lot has been wrought in you up to this point and I don't take it for granted, and all I simply need is for you to have an open mind and be receptive to some of the insights I'll share. They've been time-tested, and experienced personally.

My name is May-Las Akorede and I run a photography business, a real estate business and a consultancy business; let’s just make that a form of introduction of myself.

“How much you grow is dependent on the quality and quantity of information you have access to. This is the Knowledge Economy” – Debola Deji-Kurunmi

Let’s Begin!

Have you ever had a nice time at a restaurant you visited for the first time, and when you got back home, you told someone about your experience at the restaurant? 

Or have you ever watched a cool movie or listened to a really nice song and you tell your friend about it? 

Or you just bought a new pair of shoes and every time you wear it; you always want to snap pictures and post it? Or in some cases, you want people to actually see the shoe on you?

You’ll most likely answer yes to one or more of those questions or know someone who has engaged in something similar. The real challenge is in knowing how – a business owner – to engineer such situations in your products and services also, such that when our customers patronize you or use your products, they just can’t hold it to themselves and they become advocates for you, telling their friends and families about your business and how cool it is to patronize you.

Do you know that on an average, people share more than 16,000 words per day and every hour there are more than a 100 million conversations about brands, products and services?

People love to share stories, news and information with those around them. The things others tell us or text us about, have a significant impact on the actions we take, on what we think, read, buy, watch, sing, do etc. We watch movies our friends recommend, we download songs people talk about, we read books our friends praise and often times we vote candidates our friends and family endorse. 

Word of mouth is the primary factor behind 20 percent to 50 percent of all purchasing decisions.

So, while traditional advertising is useful, – still very useful – word-of-mouth marketing (WOMM) is at least ten times more effective and I’ll give two major reasons for that;

Word-of-mouth is more persuasive. Ads tell you how great a product is, and because ads always claim that their product is the best, they’re not really credible. Most people don’t believe ads and you can almost count the number of times you’ve seen an ad and immediately respond to it. You won’t find an advertisement that would “shade” their product. However, our friends tend to get blunt, they tell it to us straight, they just simply call a spade, a spade. If they believe a product is great, they’ll tell us exactly that. If the product is bad, they’d also tell us. We trust our friends more than we trust ads. We listen to them. We believe them.

Word-of-mouth is more targeted. A lot of businesses advertise in ways that allow them to reach as much number of interested customers. That might not be really efficient because many of the people who see the ad may not need your product/service or may not need it immediately (P.S I'm not against ads, I advertise for my business also, but minimally, I focus more on word-of-mouth... I'll advise you do both). Word-of-mouth is naturally directed toward an interested customer. We don't share stories with everyone we know. We select particular people who we think will find it valuable. You won't tell a friend who doesn't have children about a new diaper. Word of mouth tends to reach people who are actually interested in the "thing" being discussed. 

And we believe our friends more than ads, because we know they're mostly not working with the company in question. And Word of mouth gives you infinite return for little investment on a customer. That means, from one customer, you can get an infinite chain of other customers.

This implies that as a business owner, you should find a way by which conversations about your business is infused into people's daily "small talks". Those "small talks" of theirs can fetch you big money and influence.

WORD-OF-MOUTH MARKETING AND “TRUST” FACTOR

Essentially, word of mouth marketing can be summed up in a single word: Trust.  People trust other people and the experiences they have to report, which means when they hear from a friend or a consumer about a product or brand, they are more likely to buy. One person will tell another, and that person will tell someone else. Then that person will continue the chain and spread the word further.

According to a Nielsen study… 92% of consumers believe suggestions from friends and family than other advertising. If 92% of consumers prefer suggestions from their friends then WOMM is valuable. Plus, having good WOMM amongst your customer may make it easier for you to ask for referrals. Consumers do not only make up their minds through advertising messages but through word of mouth recommendation from a trusted source.

Wow!! Word of Mouth Marketing!

I believe you have learnt something like I have from this post. Of course, you know this is not all. More to be posted as time goes on. Just watch out. 

Thank you for reading! Thank you for subscribing. It means a whole lot to us. Don't forget you can send in requests for topics to be discussed. Also remember to invite your friends and let's enjoy in our corner together.

See ya!

Overcoming Discouragement as a Creative 2

It’s a new week and I am so grateful. Shout out to all readers. You guys rock! I know you must have wondered what happened last week, a lot did. But here is your compensation, two posts this week!

So, in my previous post, I wrote about overcoming discouragement as a creative. I know you know that being discouraged is not a bad nor a new thing. Therefore, I want you to know that overcoming discouragement is a great achievement. I spoke to some friends who are creatives recently and they shared their experiences and challenges in our creative world. I am sharing it because I believe it will help someone going through the same thing, even if it’s just to know that you are not alone. So, let’s move. 

Chris 

Chris is one of the very good graphic designers I know. He is also involved in Digital painting. We met on a Facebook group and we got talking, you can imagine. Talking with him has always been very insightful. Chris partners with studios in Anambra and Lagos. He also teaches graphic design during his free time in secondary schools. He is also an employer and he shared some of the challenges he has been facing/has faced as a Creative. 

His major challenge is getting clients and making them clients that stay. I know that may be a challenge for a lot of us too. You know, unlike doctors, we most times can’t sit in one place and expect clients to come find us. We have to keep marketing. That explains why getting returns from marketing could be a challenge. One lesson to learn is that to bring your clients back means you have to give them a good job at first contact, so they don’t slam the door in your face after that first time. 

 ‘So, I got a job 3 weeks ago, and though I was writing my exams, was very occupied but I took the job. The person is a designer but I considered him a client because he paid me for the job. Despite my very tight schedule, I took the job because of who the person was, I didn’t want to let hm down. Funny enough, I didn’t even remember someone gave me something to do for him. the deadline for submission came and passed, two weeks into the deadline, three weeks into the deadline, I didn’t deliver. That was pretty challenging because I had pressing matters at hand.’ Chris.

Wow…when you do some things so as not to disappoint and you still end up disappointing. So, lesson learnt, no matter who a job is from, if you know you can’t deliver, turn down the job so as to avoid disappointing your client.

Feranmi

Feranmi and I met in a printing agency which was not far from where I once worked. Feranmi is good, very good. He shared his challenges as a creative with me and I would love to share them with you too. 

His major challenge has been in learning the use of design softwares. I know you will have experienced this too. You are not getting it, not because you are lazy, but because a lot of times, the spark might have evaporated but you still have to keep on learning and learning until you get it. Terms might even be a challenge. And then you just get confused and discouraged. So, he proposes the best way to learn - going from theory to practical. Understanding the theory of design, understanding terminologies, the process and then now moving to the practical aspect of learning softwares. You sure have given yourself a good foundation, learning will definitely be easy.

Samuel

The way Samuel and I met, I don’t know, I just realised that I started getting mails from him regularly. It must have been one of the things that I registered for and forgot totally about. Samuel is a very good designer and he runs a business. 

And he shared his major challenge with me. ‘So, one issue I had then was mentorship, like having a senior figure around you, someone that can guide your process. Figuring out design alone especially as a self-taught designer can be very difficult because there is a standard and a journey. You need someone that has navigated the industry (at least beyond where you are). Design resources and learning was not my issue because I had access to YouTube and the likes.’ 

How did Samuel overcome this challenge? He leveraged on the relationship he had. One of his friends introduced him to a club for designers from where he started to know more people and be introduced. Uhmmm…relationships, very important in our industry. 

So, we have heard from Chris, Feranmi and Samuel. Chris learnt from the challenges he has gone through to learn to say no to jobs. And also, that if he does a job, then he must do it very well so that the client can come back. Feranmi. realised that to experience learning all the design software better, you have to have a good foundation in the theory of design. Likewise, Samuel learnt to leverage on relationships.

Wow! That was an awesome session of insight. I trust we are able to get one thing or the other as a take home today. Don’t forget to subscribe, don’t forget to reach out and share your challenges with us as a creative, and don’t forget to invite someone to the corner.

See ya!!

Overcoming Discouragement as a Creative

Discouragement they say is the loss of enthusiasm. I experienced that some days ago. Let me share my story with you and of course the lessons I learnt. So, I got this job, okay I had quite a lot of jobs to handle at a time, coupled with pulling off recruitment process on time. But I happened to place priority on it because the owner needed it quite urgently. And of course, it was a new client so I couldn’t afford to disappoint her. The job was to create a logo for a start-up. Being a start-up actually didn’t matter, I wanted to create something for them that they can use for years before even thinking of rebranding. So, I met up with the representative from the brand, I got my design brief answered as we talked and I set out to work. Of course, as the process of design said, I started out with my mind mapping, then moved on to sketching. Yes, the pay was not much but I still wanted to do a great job. After I had done all those required things in the process of design, I came up with a design (the blockbuster) #laughs. Yes, it was the blockbuster to me. Now I understand why design gurus say that you should be the first person to be dissatisfied with your work. Well, we keep learning.

Delivery day came, I was all up and ready to deliver my blockbuster. I was so professional, (you know in presenting your logo, you have to show that you know what you are saying). After I did all my presentation - please note, it was on WhatsApp, physical presentation was not possible - I got a shock. My ‘blockbuster’ didn’t get as much as a glance from the head of the approval committee. The other person said it was not resonating. To be sincere, I was broken. Like I followed the rules (I am not much of a rule breaker anyway). I took my time, I digested the brief, I did what I thought was best for the start-up.  That night was a not good at all, I was aloof, discouraged, thinking of what I didn’t do right. At some point, I considered returning the money paid and just give up. That was how much I was discouraged.

But something kept me going. The thought that this will not be the only time that it will happen. The thought that I just have to keep going.  Then I decided to try it again. Research again, make adjustments and come up with something different. And yes, I came up with two designs that are totally new, in less than 12 hours. Remember, it was supposed to be needed urgently. Then I saw a post on LinkedIn by Chidi Nwaogu who with his twin, after months of consistency and not being discouraged they landed their first big job in 2012. Of course, the stories are different but the key thing being that don’t allow discouragement to affect you to the point of giving up. 

I presented again and I got another feedback of it looking familiar, like something seen online before. I wasn’t really affected this time, because by now I had built a thick skin. Approval has not been finally done but it promises to be great and I look forward to it.

Okay, so I decided to share a bit of my own experience with discouragement as a creative. It will always happen. But your response to it matters. Discouragement is like a rope, you can either allow it to take you down or you climb up with it (I hope I am talking like a motivational speaker o)

Have you had your share of discouragement in the creative world? Would you like to share it with the community? 

Common, let people learn from you too. You can go on to talk about it in the comment session. Looking to hear from you.

Have you subscribed? No!? Why? You definitely should. Do you know that with your subscription, you get notified for every post going forward and you also get to join our mailing list, where we plan to start dishing out something sizzling to you weekly? Subscribe now.

Also, you can send in a request for me to talk about a topic, I will gladly do it, just for you #winks. Don’t forget to invite other creatives around you, let’s sip some tea, have some fun and enjoy learning together in our corner, the Creatives’ Corner.

See ya!!