Highly Recommended: Harnessing the Power of Word of Mouth and Social Media to Build Your Brand and Your Business

Foreword v
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction xv

Part 1
Word of Mouth Recommendations: Marketing’s Holy Grail

CHAPTER 1 Stew Leonard’s and the 30-Minute Recommendation 3
CHAPTER 2 Why Angie and Her List of RecommendationsAre Worth $1.4 Billion 9
CHAPTER 3 Fixing What Advertising Has Broken 21
CHAPTER 4 A Whole New Model for a Whole New World 29
CHAPTER 5 The Power of Positive Recommendations 39
CHAPTER 6 Why, Where, and How We Recommend 47
CHAPTER 7 Some Recommendations Are More Valuable Than Others:The Oprah Effect and the Infl uencer Ecosystem 63

Part 2
The Road Map to Recommendations

CHAPTER 8 Know: Understanding Where and How Your Brand—andYour Competitors—Are Talked About and Recommended 81
CHAPTER 9 Plan: Articulating Your Shareable Story, BoostingYour Search Ranking, and Formalizing Your Paid,Earned, and Owned Recommendable Brand Strategy 95
CHAPTER 10 Identify: Discovering Those People Whose RecommendationsInfluence Your Brand’s Purchase Decisions 113
CHAPTER 11 Activate: Creating Compelling Content and ExperiencesThat Engage—The 90/10 Rule 125
CHAPTER 12 Protect: Identifying and Neutralizing DeterminedDetractors: Hear Me’s, Reputation Terrorists,and Competitive Destroyers 139

Part 3
Beyond Marketing: Operationalizing Recommendations

CHAPTER 13 Customer Service That Gets You Recommended 153
CHAPTER 14 Attracting and Keeping the Best: Becoming theMost Recommended Place to Work 169
CHAPTER 15 Creating Products and Offerings Your CustomersTell You They Will Buy: Product Innovation and R&D 187
CHAPTER 16 Tying It All Together: Becoming a HighlyRecommended Business 201
Endnotes 215
Index 219

WHAT DO YOU TRUST MORE--AN ADVERTISEMENT OR A FRIEND?

Seize the power of today's most powerful marketing tool--WORD OF MOUTH

According to Nielsen, 92 percent of consumers report that a word of mouth (WOM) recommendation is the top reason they buy a product or service.

The founder of one of today's most successful digital and social marketing firms, Paul M. Rand has been at the forefront of WOM marketing since social media and smartphones began revolutionizing the way we do business. In Highly Recommended, Rand reveals how customer recommendations in the digital space have radically transformed the way people buy--which means you need to come up with new methods to reach customers and improve your products.

Highly Recommended provides everything you need to seize the competitive edge and grow your company.

• Find out where and how your customers are talking about your brand
• Articulate your "Shareable Story" and get people talking
• Connect directly with your most influential customers
• Create compelling content to engage new customers
• Identify and neutralize negative commentary about your brand
• Build a true social business based on being the most highly recommended brand

With WOM success stories from Stew Leonard's, Red Robin, Frito-Lay, Kimberly-Clark, Amazon, and other industry leaders, Highly Recommended puts you on the fast track to taking control of the dialogue about your business that’s already taking place.

You have instant access to just about everything your customers are saying about you. You can't afford not to take advantage of this opportunity. And you can bet that your competition is working on it right now.

The power of WOM can't be overstated. It's the most important marketing tool today. Apply the lessons of one of the pioneers of word of mouth marketing to ensure that your brand is Highly Recommended.

PRAISE FOR HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:

"Highly Recommended is an understatement. How about 'Must Read'? Paul is a five-star thinker. His attentive understanding of word of mouth ethics and message integrity deserves a million Likes." -- PETE BLACKSHAW, Global Head of Digital and Social Media, Nestle, and author of Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell Three Thousand

"Paul's book turns the traditional tenets of advertising on their end and empowers us to rethink marketing for the social economy. I highly recommend this book." -- ADAM BROWN, Executive Strategist, Salesforce.com, and former Executive Director of Social Media for Dell and The Coca-Cola Company

"In Highly Recommended, Paul reveals that there is a science to being a successful social brand and lays out a compelling blueprint that separates the winners from the rest." -- ED KELLER, CEO, The Keller Fay Group, and coauthor of The Face-to-Face Book and The Influentials

"While technology has permanently changed the economy, the lessons in Paul's book are timeless in many ways. Highly Recommended is one book that I will be looking at and learning from for years to come." -- PETE MARINO, Vice President of Communications, MillerCoors

"'Would you recommend us to a friend?' It should be, 'Did you recommend us?' Paul shows why, in a time of connected consumerism, recommendations are more powerful than ever. Earn them!" -- BRIAN SOLIS, bestselling author of What's the Future of Business (WTF), and Principal Analyst, Altimeter Group

“The author advises that a new business philosophy is required for engaging customers. Content marketing is that philosophy, providing information that is valued by customers and available at a time when the customer wants it. Rand views WOM (word of mouth) as the cornerstone of content marketing and customer service. Recommended.” -- CHOICE