Word of meow-th (2/2)

In part one, Resonates consultant Alice described a negative customer experience at the hands of an individual working at the RSPCA.

But the charity also gets a lot of things right to elicit positive word of mouth. Let’s take a look at how some of its activities address word-of-mouth guru Andy Sernovitz’s ‘five Ts’ framework for ensuring positive recommendations.

Talkers

The people who will spread your message... The RSPCA has many volunteers and fans online and in the streets, spreading its messages about rehoming and preventing animal cruelty.

Topics

Positive things for people to talk about... Since 1824 the RSPCA has promoted its mission through shocking campaigns. Images of starving, injured and abandoned animals are high-impact and communicate with the audience effectively by conjuring feelings of sadness, guilt and anger.

Tools

Media to help spread your message... The RSPCA reaches its audiences through a variety of media. More and more people are using social networking forums such as Facebook to discuss campaigns, learn about the adoption process and share experiences.

Taking part

Having a dialogue with your audiences... The RSPCA has many ways of engaging its audience, including merchandise, memberships, volunteering, donations, and fundraising events.

Tracking

Measuring the results... The RSPCA rehomes 70,000 animals each year at a cost of £82 million, so it is vitally important that it checks the success of its campaigns to calculate their ROI.


Clearly the RSPCA has a lot of the pieces in place to support positive word of mouth. Perhaps all they need to do now is ensure their internal marketing gets through to their customer service staff. A customer satisfaction survey would help to highlight any acute problems.

If you would like to discuss word of mouth marketing, or find out how to generate positive word of mouth for your products and services, please contact us.

 

Back to stuff