Andy Sernovitz Keynote Speaker Shop.org

'Word of Mouth Marketing' How Smart Companies Get People Talking

Here we are 'Proud as Peacocks', Author, Andy Sernovitz and me, Jeanine Arnopoulos, New Fan with autographed book in hand!

Shop.org-'Plan The Future Today'-The Strategy and Innovation Forum taking place January 22-24, 2008 at the Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Orlando Florida-"The first 200 registrants receive a copy of Andy Sernovitz's Book, 'Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking.'" I was one of the first to register for the forum and receive my free copy. The autograph came after Andy's incredible Keynote Address that was truly motivating.

I first met Andy Sernovitz at the Shop.org Opening Reception while I was talking to Mitch Joel. He was comparing his very sheik custom black shirt to Mitch Joel's since they were both couture fashioned by the same Singapore tailor. We were joined by Andy Nulman and one by one other speakers. At the time I found myself in the midst of keynote speaker custom couture. It reminded me of the opening scene of 'Broadway Danny Rose', one of my favorite movies, where as the scene unfolds one comedian after the other joins the group and they start to talk about their different venues and routines.

I was in such distinguished company, I felt like Shirley MacLain meeting the Rat Pack for the first time. I like to think of them as the Cat Pack, intuitively independent and passionate about marketing and new media. As Mia Farrow's character, Tina Vitali, describes Broadway Danny Rose, played by Woody Allen, 'Your a smooth talker.' I was in the company of some smooth talkers. Then, Mitch Joel introduced me adding, 'Jeanine works for God.' The religious cat was out of the bag. Resisting the urge to proselytize between the appetizers and bar, I smiled and the movie Two Mules For Sister Sara came to mind starring Shirley MacLain and Clint Eastwood. The movie is a must see, definitely about conversion.

Larry Joseloff, Shop.org Senior Director Content & Education, joined us. He greeted everyone and touched base with most of them about their talks. For me, Larry is always a friendly face, or as I like to think of him as the friendly red beard, in the crowd. In April 2007, at the first Shop.org Marketing Workshop I attended he convinced me that I would learn so much and meet other marketers. He would be at the receptions and I should look for him, a man with red hair and a red beard for help. And so I did. Tonight was no exception, I asked him where I could get a Cherry Coke. Saying my good bye's to the Cat Pack was very difficult, but since I did not know anyone, I needed to continue my Shop.org networking introducing myself one table at a time.

One of the reasons for attending the Shop.org workshops, summits, and forums is to network, sharing who you are and what you do. It is not always easy to spend time with people you do not know. In order to grow out of your own fishbowl it is important to share ideas with other people who have similar interests. At Shop.org the focus is ecommerce, so everyone attending have the same interests clients and business. I must admit Pastor Paul's Club is somewhat unique which is all the more interesting. Because Pastor Paul's Mission represents a very large community, currently, 14,924 registered households averaging 3.5 per household, I find the new media and social networking I have learned here to be invaluable.

Working my way to the bar to get a Cherry Coke, I stopped by a table that included Austin Wilson, Microsoft, Director Windows Product Management, Kelly Sieben, Microsoft, Escalation Policy & Incident Response Lead, and Jeff Pape, WrestlingGear.Com, Owner. I introduced myself as did they. A little puzzled about what Kelly and Austin did, I began to tell them that I built pastorpaul.org website with no commuter experience by using the FrontPage 2003 Inside Out manual. They seemed impressed-kind.

The real conversation developed when I started to share with Jeff, that we had very similar interests. Come to think of it I did neglect to tell him that I use to put boys in a headlock (kind of a tomboy) who gave me a hard time, it was probably better that I left that out. I asked him about his business and he said he sold all kinds of wrestling gear to high schools nationwide. I told him I went to (Friendly) Fridley High School, and at that time the Fridley Tigers won the State Wrestling Championships. He was familiar with the school and the team. He said they are still winning today.

Then I went a few years back to when I was in elementary school. My grandpa, who I called Papa, when I was young and Pop when I was older, took me to all the wrestling matches. I would get autographs ringside. Before the match kids would run up to their favorite wrestler's corner and get their autograph, very cool. So I ran some wrestlers names by him: Vern Gaughna (spelling?), Larry 'Pretty Boy' Henning, Mitzu Aurukauwa (spelling?). Well, we hit our bump in the road. He had not heard of them. Then I pulled out my aces-Mohammad Ali and Joe Frazier.

I remember watching Cassius Clay vs Sonny Liston early 60'sand then in the 70's the infamous Mohammad Ali vs Joe Frazier fight with Pop in 1971, the year I graduated from high school. We watched by satellite TV at the Minneapolis Armory Auditorium. Dancing like a butterfly and stinging like a bee, Ali went down and got up right away, but the 15th round decision fight went to Joe Frazier who did not slow down for the entire fight. The excitement in the air was indescribable. What a fun conversation. It was time to meet some more people, get the Cherry Coke and get a start on Andy Sernovitz's book, 'Word of Mouth Marketing-How Smart Companies Get People Talking'.

Bright and early, book in one hand, Earl Grey tea in the other, I found my seat front and center in the ballroom. I was joined by Eric Nadler, Vice President, Sales and E-Commerce, Danskin, and Au-Co Mai, Empress of Bling, emitations. It was nice because we kept these seats throughout the day so between speakers we could share information about our companies. I told Eric I loved Danskin and as a matter of fact I was wearing dresses that could have been the brand. They happened to be Jones New York and Chico's, but with the style of Danskin (I wore the tights as well) really comfortable. He said they use to manufacture dresses, but not any more. I tried to convince him to pass my recommendation on for future Danskin Dresses. I for one would be a valuable customer because I would help create the brand, buy the brand, sell the brand and market it by word of mouth marketing. ( Last night I got a start on Andy's book and I know about the business card luggage tags)

Au-Co Mai, the Empress of Bling, emitations, and I had met at the Shop.org Merchandising Workshop in July. She had asked Dottie Mattison, Vice President and Chief Merchant, Walmart.com a question after Dottie gave her Keynote. Au-Co shared with the audience what good customer service Walmart gave her when she purchased furnishings for an entire house at one store. Later we talked in the hall. It was good to see her and find out more about her company, imitation celebrity jewelry. I told her I wanted the diamond Richard Burton gave Elizabeth Taylor after they filmed Cleopatra (and a splint for my arm).

Let the Keynote Address begin, Scott Silverman, Executive Director, Shop.org, introduced Andy Sernovitz-'The Circus is in Town', it was exciting! He jumped on the stage, acknowledged the introduction with the deepest humility. Andy Sernovitz had shed his couture sheik black shirt for the most incredible tye dyed shirt I have ever seen in my entire 54 years of life! (Born about a decade before the primal 60's Hippie movement), I have come to appreciate unique tye dyed togs. I had to get a picture and an autograph.

Andy's presentation focused on the Five Ts of Word of Mouth Marketing. He handed out WOM White Paper #8, a worksheet adapted to his book. The steps include the Five T's are Talkers, Topics, Tools, Taking Part, and Tracking. He gave examples of what each step did, some examples that inspired you to think about your own plan of action. For example: Talkers are people who will talk about you and some examples are fans, volunteers, customers, and bloggers. I guess I am a perfect example of a talker! Topics give people a reason to talk. I am talking about Andy's book because I read it and it is full of practical advice and easy to understand.It is a good guide that helps you prepare your own plan of action. The Tool I am using is Pastor Paul's Blog. I am Taking Part by posting this information to the blog so others are able to make a comment and join the discussion. An example of Tracking is measuring what people are saying about WOM Marketing on message boards, and listening to feedback. Your comments continue the discussion.

For me the take away in Andy's book, 'Word of Mouth Marketing', is:

HONESTY IS THE ESSENCE OF WORD OF MOUTH

'The one truth about word of mouth is that the truth always rises to the surface. The truth about your company, products, services, and people-your stuff-is all that matters now.

You can't hide a bad product behind a great media campaign.
You can't hide a bad service behind a big brand.
You can't lie to yourself, and you can't lie to your customers.
Word of mouth and the newly empowered cutomer voice mean that marketers that sell poor products or don't respect their customers can't get away with it anymore.' pg 51

After Andy had finished his presentation, I handed my camera to an onlooker just after I had Andy autograph my copy of his book, and I remember saying to the volunteer get a good shot of Andy's shirt. Taking a closer look focusing on Andy's shirt, you will have to agree that tye dyed shirt is the cooolest. If you have ever tye dyed shirts you know how difficult this pattern must be. It is truly incredible. I told Andy I loved it. He said he loved it too. He saw someone wearing the shirt at a concert and actually bought the shirt off their back. I immediately asked him, 'For how much' (I had some ideas of my own) He couldn't remember.

Andy is so nice he seems like the type of person who would give you the shirt off his back...Believe me I had my eyes on that one!

Listen To Tye Dye Difficulty:

This is the T-shirt Jenasea, my granddaughter, and I discuss in this recorded conversation about the difficulty of tye dying and the importance of squirting alot of dye! Pastor Paul and I are celebrating his 75th Birthday at 'It's Greek To Me'. We gave him our first T-shirt. He was overjoyed! Check this video out. It is our tye dye procedure (without the headbands).