The idea Coke, Ralph Lauren, Walmart & YOU should steal from Apple!

Specialists and experts agree “word of mouth” marketing is more trusted and impactful than most if not all advertising campaigns. And in this day and age there is more user generated content in the form of ideas/art/solutions than there has ever been. Now the question posed is why all companies aren’t leveraging this knowledge? I’m talking something deeper than merely creating a hashtag or issuing a contest and is a ton more effective than re-targeting banner ads. Companies’ should use content that is native and displays the product’s service and benefits in a way that garners attention. Remember “attention is currency”!

Example: “Shot on iPhone” Campaign Leverage

Apple instead of just throwing out features like pixel counts, optical zooms, and video quality comparisons decide to present the beauty of the work. They used the social media tools at hand (Instagram, Tumblr, etc.) and uncovered beautiful photos and videos taken on their device and placed a name to them, and compiled it into a gallery. That gallery then was featured on billboards and commercials and led to a magnified word of mouth campaign. You now see short filmmakers producing whole movies, rappers shooting music videos, and photographers attaching a bold co-sign and incredible free advertising – “Shot on iPhone”.

Time for action steps. What’s unique, a benefit, or a competitive advantage that is worth talking about and leveraging? Next find the audience it will resonate with and where there are social influencers who can help champion your cause for you, usually for free!

Here are my ideas for a few companies:

Walmart: They compete heavily on price, with their mission being “saving people money so they can live better”. Who better to tell their story than the hardcore coupon clippers, single parents, large families with limited budgets, and money saving websites? Use the social tools and mine a few great influencers and people who are using Walmart to meet their savings goals and how it has effectively helped their lives. They need to show how this massive corporation is actually making life better but not from their corporate commercials but a customer’s own home via an Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook feed. Show customers actually benefiting from the "Savings Catcher" portion of your app in a big way. Walmart can win in a big way when they get this done.

Coca-Cola: With a little digging I found Coca-Cola’s recipe section but if I’m honest other than this article’s research I likely wouldn’t have come across it. It’s more powerful to let the consumer share it and you just facilitate it getting seen by more people! With the variety of uses and recipes for Coca-Cola there should be a #MadeWithCoke leveraged. Find a foodie who is making some extraordinary things with the product or even someone doing something cool with the plastic bottles/cans from their Coca-Cola products and showcase it. I think it would be a great opportunity to play with all the new live stream technology as well. Coke will win when they give us even more reason to #ShareACoke than just names on the bottle.

Ralph Lauren: America’s darling of fashion and one of my favorite brands- it’s time to let the fashionistas out there get to work, with the abundance of well targeted women and menswear blogs needing to create content, let them work for you. Have a social media analyst hunt for those “OOTD” (outfit of the day) posts that feature products from your brand and highlight them. Or integrate a section on your website that allows customers to generate and share outfit combos. Also you should dominate Pinterest, especially with your women’s line and home collection. Pinterest has such a captive audience seeking ideas to use AND share… that’s how you’ll win.

Find users who love what you do, figure out why, then put a megaphone to their voice and let them build your brand for you.

I’m always open to talking marketing- drop me a line in my inbox.

Chukwukere Ekeh is a passionate marketer wanting to leverage creativity and encouragement to change the world.