Hi! - Word of mouth marketing agency

[REM..!]

Hi everyone :)

My name is Nancy and I work for REM, which is a marketing agency based in Norwich, Norfolk.

We're a bit of a different marketing agency in that we don't tend to go down the route of conventional marketing as we believe times are changing and it doesn't work.

You wouldn't ask a stranger to marry you.
So why expect someone to buy from you when you're a stranger to them?

We help businesses to create a relationship with their customers.

We create campaigns which capitalise on word of mouth, working to get a company talked about in the way they deserve.

I am looking to get talking to other people in the industry and offer any help I can to companies looking to try a different approach to their marketing.

I am really passionate about marketing and making businesses work.

Look forward to seeing you around the forum! :)

[BusinessIdeas]

Hiya Nancy - Gina :)

[Buzzmonkey]

welcome to UKBF - might use your services in the future

[REM..!]

Thanks both of you.

:)

[TechFox]

How exactly do these campaigns work? I might be interested.

[maxine]

Hi Nancy :)

[REM..!]

How exactly do these campaigns work? I might be interested.

Hi :)

Firstly, this is going to be long in order to do us justice so bear with me!

Each campaign is different for every client. However, what they have in common is that instead of reaching for conventional marketing means, we begin with a look at how the business is connecting with their customers.

We call each customer contact - be that directly (face to face) or indirectly (through telephone, post, email) a "Moment of Truth". These moments of truth can present oppertunities to create talking points.

We look for your unique sales persona and try and communicate this through your moments of truth. For example, when you are sending out an invoice is there an oppertunity to engage with the customer and potentially reach out to new ones through referrals. We seek to make the most out of every oppertunity.

We do use editorial (as a small part of an overall campaign) for example, but we have a different approach to it.

Every publication is full of editorial and advertorials. People are becoming more sceptical than ever. They scan articles for signs of advertising and will generally turn the page if they feel they are being sold to.
We understand the need for editorial but we use it in a unique way. We not only write articles to create awareness, we use them to create a relationship with your target market. We want you to resonate with their opinions and aspirations.
In order to connect with your target market, we will create copy that gives them “a seed” of valuable social collateral – something which they will want to pass on to others in order to gain social kudos.
Obviously, client confidentiality prevents me from talking about specific clients but as an example.... Here's a little "snippet" - taken from our newsletter based on a case study -

What if REM worked with a major art gallery?
A major art gallery deals with a huge scope of activities. The marketing challenge is therefore unique. They do not sell any one product or service and have a very broad range of activities and objectives. Therefore, to optimise maximum return on marketing investment, REM would identify the areas which are most profitable to the gallery. We would then use those as the basis from which we would promote everything else.
We would capitalize on the power of word of mouth by utilising aspects of the business that are often overlooked by conventional marketing.
A full proposal of ideas would run to at least seventeen pages but to whet your appetite, here’s just one of the many ideas we might put forward...
Sponsor Art

The Proposition

Loving a masterpiece is one thing, but you know it’ll never be yours.
Or could it be?
OK, so someone can’t visit a gallery, whip out their credit card and walk home with “The Sunflowers”! However, by sponsoring a painting we can give someone a vested interest and “ownership” of it, whilst raising money for the gallery, cross selling products and keeping a qualified purchaser aware of items of interest.
It also harnesses the word of mouth potential by turning art lovers into the gallery Sneezers. (People who will spread the word quickly; like a virus).

How does it work?

The program will allow people to buy a sponsorship package of any painting in the gallery’s permanent collection. The idea is that the sponsorship money will contribute to the conservation and preservation of that painting, whilst giving the sponsor a feeling of ownership. It will be ideal to promote as “the” unique gift item.
There will be various package options, but essentially the sponsor will receive the following:
·Their own print of the painting.
·Story behind the sponsored painting.
·Computer and mobile desktop and screensaver.
·A value of merchandising dependant on the level of package purchased.
·Email updates on books and exhibitions relating to the painting or artist.
·SMS updates when the painting goes in for cleaning or restoration.
·Opportunity for a private viewing of the conservation work carried out on the painting.
·Access to a microsite, which not only sells the sponsorship packages, but shows the current sponsors of the painting. Each sponsor could have a profile which allows a mini community for art lovers to communicate with one another.

Word of Mouth Opportunity

This is something people will want to talk about. By instilling a feeling of ownership, people may even want to bring others to show off “their” painting.
We could further this by adding extra options on the microsite. With an option to host a “special viewing” event we could encourage sponsors to invite friends to a day out to see the masterpieces, including the sponsors painting and enjoy a lunch in the restaurant.
Sponsors could download specially designed invitations along with maps of the gallery and audio tours should they want to demonstrate their superior knowledge!
Helping the gallery reach its potential
Sponsor Art would be part of an overall campaign that would create affinity with the main social groups, giving them the tools to encourage others to engage with the gallery. This would help to broaden the gallery’s customer base and promote its activities through as many channels as possible, including online, in store and use of media.
Every element of the campaign would be geared towards maximizing the potential of the gallery.

I hope this helps to give you some idea of how we work... .as you can see we come up with tangible campaigns which generate interest and stimulate sales through word of mouth.

[OutsideCreative]

Hi REM / Nancy

If you need a website to get your message across, give us a call! check out a recent project of ours: search 'eventa management' in google.

cheers,

David

[Bri]

Welcome Nancy, I like the idea, probably would like to explore it further at some stage for our business.

[REM..!]

Hi REM / Nancy

If you need a website to get your message across, give us a call! check out a recent project of ours: search 'eventa management' in google.

cheers,

David

Hi David (and everyone else who has replied) :)

We're actually working on our website at the moment (which is why it's just a single video at present) but we hope to have it up and running in the next couple of weeks.

We have been going for 15 years, so we're an established company, but like cobblers shoes - it's always everyone you work for who has the great websites, and your own gets neglected because you are so busy!

Having recently expanded, we are focusing on growing the business at present so we are working on our own PR and marketing - hence the website refit.

Thanks very much though! :)

[NetConneXions]

Welcome to UKBF :)