Word of mouth a key influencer

A recent McKinsey survey found that word of mouth, either direct or through social media, is a strong influencer, especially in developing markets. Using the purchase of a mobile phone as an example: in mature markets, during stage 1 initial consideration, the three most influential media are advertising (30%), previous usage (26%) and word of mouth (18%).

During stage 2, the active evaluation stage, the influences are internet information (29%), shopping (20%) and word of mouth (19%). During stage 3, the moment of purchase, the influencing factors are internet information (65%), shopping (20%) and word of mouth (10%).

In a developing market, word of mouth is the biggest factor at each stage, accounting for 18% initially, 28% in the active evaluation stage and 46% at the moment of purchase.

Source: McKinsey Quarterly, April 2010, ‘A new way to measure word-of-mouth marketing’, www.mckinseyquarterly.com

Gen Y isn’t listening

If you need to communicate with Gen Y, you will find you have a tough job getting them to focus on messages. A recent survey found that only 33% of under-25s agreed with the general statement ‘I don't like interruptions,’ compared with 62% of over-25s. A total of 49% of people under age 25 say they don't mind being interrupted by electronic messages during meals, and 11% say they don't even mind such interruptions during sex, according to a study by Retrevo, a consumer-electronics shopping site. Now, could I just interrupt for a moment to bring you this SMS from Cutting Edge PR e-News ...

Source: Harvard Business Review Daily Stat of 25 May 2010

Firing up again…

After a gap of three months, Cutting Edge PR e-News hits the internet again! I’ve been so flat out, 7 days a week, that I haven’t had time to write the newsletter since April. Each issue takes some time and effort to research, write and format, and unfortunately, I haven’t had that time in recent months. But the hard slog is over, and the newsletter is up and firing again. It’s satisfying to feel active once more and sharing information with you after this extended break.

The words take shape

The last 12 months have been tough, especially the last 6 months. But at long last I’ve finished writing the draft update of my book, Strategic Public Relations. A total of 858 pages of manuscript or 345,000 words – most of them new. Phew!

It’s been a major project occupying every waking hour on top of my full-time job since December. The end result will be a totally new edition of my book, comprising about 700-750 pages and produced by publisher Palgrave Macmillan, who contracted me to do the writing. Previously my consultancy published the book.

Like many things in life, there’s no simple, clean final date, because having finished the writing, I’m now heavily into proofreading the page layouts. The production process will take another couple of months, but at least it’s not going to be a slog like the past few months.

This edition of the book is more academically oriented because universities are the bulk purchasers and users, but I’ve been at pains to keep the content reader-friendly and relevant from a practical point of view. And I’ve learnt a lot from accessing more than 400 academic journal articles. They’ve been great for giving more insight into knowledge that leads to better practice. Hoping the end result will be well received – very happy with the content, and I just hope it is liked enough to be adopted for courses. :)

So, here we are, back into Cutting Edge PR e-News! I’m glad to have picked up heaps of useful material to share with you. This newsletter will be back to a more regular routine now.

Until next time,

How to improve the decision making process