CHAPTER TWO

LET'S UN-GEEK A LITTLE SMART RESEARCH TOGETHER

We talked in Chapter 1 about why you must fall in love with the people you serve, and about how you can become famous for the people who love you and the way you love them. We went through some history and word of mouth (WOM) marketing research, and we shared our beliefs and some examples about why finding and uniting people through shared passions and experiences matter so much.

Now we're ready to learn exactly why people talk—the real research-proven reasons. If you understand why people talk, you have a far greater chance of sparking people to talk about how you fit into their lives. And then, you'll have a better chance of knowing how to inspire them to talk.

In addition to the research-proven reasons why people talk, we are also going to include some of our own heartfelt beliefs about the role passion plays in sparking conversations and creating advocacy. We've said it before but we'll say it again: We're all in marketing grad school.

The entire world is actually in one form of grad school or another, whether they know it or not. We're pretty sure you get it; after all, you're reading this book! With technology changing the way we connect and grow businesses daily, we all have to think like students. Not just any students, but those hyper-engaged, eager, wide-eyed students that sit at the front of the classroom—you know, the ones whose notes you wish you could get your hands on. We have to be engaged in lifelong learning, or we soon get left behind.

Last year, Geno and John started taking their grad school studies up a notch within the walls of Brains on Fire. Geno and John began finding and reading shiny, smart academic research about why people share. They started taking notes and drawing conclusions, and their own research began to make sense. They were making observations about the work we were doing and the knowledge they were gaining, and passing it along to others on our team. We killed a few trees as we passed around pink-highlighted, crumpled-edged, hand-scribbled versions of some really smart research. We could have emailed it to each other, but this research felt so important we wanted to hold it in our hands and study it old-school style.

Geno and John turned their findings into a presentation, which they first shared at the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) in May of 2012. By the time we submitted this book manuscript, they had put their presentation, titled “WOMology: Dumbing Down Smart Word of Mouth Research,” online, where it had been viewed on SlideShare over 90,000 times. Something had obviously hit a chord among our business peers.

Hopefully, we've already convinced you that you're in the people business. Here is one other truth we hope you'll embrace: The people business (that thing some folks call marketing) has the ability to touch and change lives in countless positive and meaningful ways.

Studying why people talk and share is key to selling more products, igniting social change, and moving people to take action and become advocates and evangelists. So get your #2 pencils and highlighters out, and we'll share what we've learned and have come to believe.

THE WORD OF MOUTH OPPORTUNITY

We believe sparking word of mouth is a problem of know-how, not knowledge.

We already know what gets people talking. However, we're not sure about how to apply that knowledge.

Lots of great academic research exists to explain the science behind WOM marketing. And now we have available a large amount of research on why people share. This base of knowledge is super smart; however, it isn't readily accessible or easily understandable.

Most marketers today are confusing hindsight with foresight, and forgetting all about insight as they develop WOM activities.

Businesses are too fixated on mimicking best practices from other companies to become their company's next practice. In other words, they've fallen victim to check-the-box marketing. Must get on Pinterest. Check. Must use Facebook to engage with customers. Check. Must Tweet fast and furiously. Check.

Too many people and organizations are putting the what before the why as they execute the how. They want to spark word of mouth with all their check-the-box marketing activities, but these conversations are not taking hold because a crucial ingredient is missing: Passion.

WHAT MOTIVATIONS SPARK CONVERSATIONS?

Academics have dug deeply into the science behind why people talk about brands. There's a trove of new research into the motivations behind WOM conversations. However, most of this research is cloaked with rigorous academic language that obfuscates understanding by ordinary people.

Despite its complicated nature, this new WOM academic research is something we all must strive to understand because it can play a very important role in how we design strategies and activities that spark and sustain conversations. In order for us to begin to use this research—and help others to do the same—we had to dig through the language to un-obfuscate the message. We rolled up our sleeves and translated all those $5 words and piles of numbers into some well-chosen 25¢ words (and … well … still a few numbers). Our hope is to make this knowledge more accessible so we can use it to create strategies that spark WOM conversations.

In 2011, the Marketing Science Institute published a thought-provoking paper titled “On Brands and Word of Mouth.” The authors, Renana Peres, Ron Shachar, and Mitchell J. Lovett, put forth a theoretical framework to explain the motivations behind why people talk about brands.

We're going to layer this research with our in-the-trenches proof that passion plays a big role in why people talk. We have all known really shy people who come to life in a huge way when they discuss something they're passionate about. Passion takes the conversation up a notch. It motivates all of us to speak out in one way or another. Passion tips conversation to advocacy.

We took this complicated, heady stuff and distilled it down to its gist, which is:

THERE ARE THREE MOTIVATIONS THAT SPARK CONVERSATIONS ABOUT BRANDS AND ORGANIZATIONS.

MOTIVATION #1

People engage in Functional conversations about brands to get information needed to make decisions and to better interpret the world around them.

SHARE INFORMATION | FACTUAL & FUNCTIONAL

The most basic motivation for conversation is functional, one person sharing useful information with others. This allows people to make more educated decisions and better interpret the world.

The functional element explains why people share and seek knowledge about products, services, and the world around them. People have always relied on the power of WOM to understand new and complex things. New and complex things prompt us to talk to others about how, when, and where to use products that might be useful.

Here's a great example of a new service that has a lot of us talking—well, at least those of us who wear glasses. Warby Parker is righting a wrong—as they say, “Prescription eyewear simply should not cost $300+.” They have also created an entirely new way to pick out affordable frames and lenses. It's a little bit complicated: You select five pairs online. All five frames are shipped to you (without prescription lenses) so you can try them on. You have up to five days to decide which ones you'll keep. Then, you ship all five frames back (with Warby Parker's prepaid return label), and wait for your prescription glasses to arrive.

You can also opt for a virtual try-on by uploading a photo and superimposing the glasses of your choice. You can even save the pictures or share them online to get feedback from your friends. There's a functional story to tell because it is an entirely new way to buy glasses.

Warby Parker also has a charitable promise: For every pair of glasses they sell, they donate a pair to someone in need. Not only have they created a smart company, but the four founders are also giving their customers a lot to talk about—and a lot to love.

HERE'S HOW PASSION FITS IN

One of Greg Cordell's passions is building things with his hands. He's a tinkerer. If you need to know what type of drill to use for a certain project, he's your man. Chances are he'll tell you his favorite brand of drill if you're thinking of buying one. If you happen to be near his house, he might walk over to the garage, bring out his favorite drill, and show you just how great it works and how cool it is.

Robbin Phillips is passionate about hot yoga, and it turns out that people have lots of questions about hot yoga. How hot is it? Is it harder than traditional yoga? What do you wear? Our advice: unless you really want to hear a whole lot of detailed answers, don't even get her started. She'll be picking you up at 5:30 a.m. to go to a class with her if you're not careful.

People who are passionate about something share functional information about that particular something often, and with a force that sticks. They share because they believe they're adding value to another person's life.

MOTIVATION #2

People engage in Social conversations about brands to impress others, to express uniqueness and to increase their reputations.

SIGNAL UNIQUENESS | DISTINCTIVE & INTERESTING

A more involved motivation is at play when people signal their uniqueness through distinctive and interesting conversations and actions in social settings. Psychologists and biologists have a term for this; it's called social signaling. You are sending a social signal that you are unique.

Social signaling plays a significant role in driving word of mouth conversations. People will signal their individuality, expertise, and passions to society by talking about brands with which they uniquely identify.

Social signaling is a method of enhancing our sense of self. People often feel better about who they are by talking to others about preferences, hobbies, and even brands that are as distinctive and interesting as someone views him or herself to be.

According to Peres, Schachar, and Lovett in their academic study, “The higher the degree of differentiation of a brand, the easier it is for an individual to project uniqueness by engaging in word of mouth about it” In other words, brands like MINI (a car that is very unique in size and design) often signal a person's uniqueness. Geno's a huge MINI fan, and he will tell you, “Driving a MINI shows I care about my carbon footprint, I don't need a big fancy car to define me, and I love and appreciate great design.” Geno talks about his love of MINI a lot. A whole lot.

We've all engaged in word of mouth conversations about brands that signal our uniqueness to others, often without even realizing it. When you see someone on the street wearing a Patagonia jacket and Tom's shoes sipping on a Starbucks coffee, you get a general impression about that person. Getting dressed every day is often an exercise in social signaling.

Social signaling turns us into connectors because we attract others to us who share our similarly unique passions.

HERE'S HOW PASSION FITS IN

Some people even go so far as to permanently tattoo a brand or cause on their bodies for the world to see. They want others to take notice of who they are and what they stand for. When you see someone with a Harley-Davidson emblem or an Anytime Fitness Fitness Rebel logo permanently inked on their body, it takes social signaling off the charts.

What drives people to proudly wear your logo on their clothes or mark their body with a tattoo on your behalf? We think the answer lies in finding the passion conversation and letting it shine. You have to get to that level of passion about what you are doing in order to inspire others to do the same. People have to know exactly what you believe in and what you stand for.

Most of John's friends view him as a beer expert. He loves to talk about craft beer and is always on the lookout for a willing set of ears. When he's with a group of friends at a bar, they ask him to make a recommendation. Some people even consider him a beer coach. Many of his friends will even go so far as to text him a photo of a beer menu to have him shoot back a recommendation. (Did we mention that he has a collection of hundreds of beers cataloged by type and stored at just the right temperature in his house?) And every time someone learns about John's love of beer in a social setting, it enhances his reputation and signals his uniqueness.

MOTIVATION #3

Brands that invoke strong Emotional feelings are more likely to be talked about.

SHOW EMOTIONS | LOVE & HATE AND SHOCK & AWE

People are more likely to talk about brands and organizations when they evoke strong, polarizing emotions on the edges of love and hate, or shock and awe.

“LIKE” IS NOT A BRAINS ON FIRE WORD

People engage in emotional conversations about a brand either because they're excited about something and love it, or they're disgusted by something and can't stand it. Brands and organizations that invoke strong emotions are more likely to incite these conversations. Think about it: We tell other people when we are overjoyed. We also tell people when we're appalled. We talk about things we love and things we hate, and we don't say much when we're indifferent about something. What's the point? We're just not passionate enough to talk about things we merely “like.” Like is not a Brains on Fire word.

According to the “On Brands and Word of Mouth” academic paper, emotions play a large role in driving word of mouth. When a person experiences emotional arousal, they share the experience with others.

Studies have shown that high-arousal emotions like amusement and anxiety inspire more word of mouth conversations than low-arousal emotions like sadness and contentment.

HERE'S HOW PASSION FITS IN

Emotions often trigger passions. And passions become a part of who we are. They find their way into our conversations. Every time anyone from Brains on Fire speaks, we tell the story of Love146. And while you may have read about it in our first book, the work they do and the stories they tell are the kind that deserve to be repeated over and over.

Love146's growing community of abolitionists is an example of passionate, emotionally triggered sharing. Rob Morris and his team from Love146, which was formerly called Justice for Children International, came to us in 2007 with a problem. It seemed that a group of lawyers in Texas had trademarked the name “Justice for Children International,” and Rob had until the end of that year to find a new name for his organization. After he told us his mission—to end child sex slavery and trafficking throughout the world—we knew we had to help him figure out what to rename this amazing group.

So Rob and some others on staff came to visit us. Upon sitting down together, the first thing we asked him was: Why was he doing this? The story that followed that question floored us. In Rob's words:

As you can imagine, there wasn't a dry eye in that meeting. And from the telling of his story, we found the new identity for the organization: Love146.

Every time Rob, one of his team members, or one of us tells that story, it sparks a lot of emotions. People cry. They get angry. They tell others. They raise their hands to get involved. They give money. They go to the website to learn more. No one just likes or dislikes that story. They have an incredibly passionate reaction to it.

We have seen this story repeated over and over again, and it's been spread primarily through word of mouth. The website gets hundreds of thousands of hits a month and donations have risen. Other like-minded organizations have joined forces with Love146 to help raise awareness, and more people, including President Obama, are talking about the issue and taking action. It's definitely a passion conversation, just do a web search for Love146 and you will find tons of images of people who have tattooed that nameless girl's number on their bodies.

KEEP EMOTION TOP OF MIND

Professor and author of Contagious, Jonah Berger, also found through his research that items we see often and in public spaces spark conversation. Its not just interesting stuff that gets talked about. Cheerios and Coke are two of the most talked-about brands in America, in part because they do have great products that people love, but in part because we see them all the time. It's been proven that visual cues spark conversation. So how can you use this knowledge to find ways to keep your passion, cause, product, or brand visible?

CREATE MEANINGFUL CONVERSATION TOOLS

One of the greatest conversation tools we've seen is a simple cloth patch with the red number 146 on it. No logo, just the number 146 in red. Like the one the little girl wore in Rob's story. Less is more when it comes to conversation tools. You have to fight the urge to tell your whole story on a tee shirt or pin or anything wearable. No one wants to be a walking brochure. You want something that invites a question or a conversation.

Thousands of people in a few short years have bought or worn the Love146 patch. These people send a social signal about their emotional involvement by wearing it on their book bag or sewing it on their clothing. The band Paramore wears it on their guitar straps and clothing, and tells this young girl's story every time they perform. Many of us at Brains on Fire travel and we often have the patch pinned to our backpacks or luggage. We all have stories of face-to-face conversations sparked by wearing her number.

STORIES ARE EASIER TO REMEMBER AND SHARE

Love146 is also an example of the power of story. The fact that people are more likely to remember stories and share stories is not a new concept. It's pretty basic WOM knowledge. Facts and figure don't stick. Like authors Chip and Dan Heath informed us, stories stick. And here's why: We internalize stories. They become personal to us, because we can imagine experiencing them ourselves. When you hear the story of Love146, you can see yourself standing in that dark and dirty brothel looking through the window into that little girl's eyes. Honestly, it's hard to hear her story and not have a physical or emotional reaction.

Close your eyes for a minute and see if you can re-tell the story of Love146. Short, powerful stories stick.

ANOTHER WAY TO CREATE EMOTION AND SPARK WORD OF MOUTH? DISRUPT SOMEONE'S SCHEMA

Steve Knox, who shared his wisdom in Chapter 1 about marketers being in the people business, made a lasting impression on many of us when he spoke at our 2010 Fire Session on the power of disrupting schemas. Steve explained that one way to spark word of mouth is to create disruptive experiences. It works in this way: The brain uses schemas, which are essentially shortcuts that we (often unwittingly) use to help us quickly analyze and assess our environment. Steve pointed out that two things happen when you create a disruptive experience that doesn't fit into people's preconceived schemas:

1. They're forced to stop and think.
2. They're forced to talk about it.

The example Knox shared with us was the “Miracle on the Hudson” in 2009, where a US Airways flight crash-landed in the Hudson River. Steve showed us a picture of the front page of a Seattle paper that had a picture of the plane in the Hudson, with passengers walking on the wings into rafts that would take them to safety. Bet you can see that photo in your mind as you read these words. Think of all the schemas that were shattered with that one photo:

• When planes crash, they are destroyed. (The US Airways plane landed on water, and wasn't substantially damaged.)
• When planes crash, people die. (No one died from the Hudson crash.)
• People don't walk on water. (The photo shows them walking on the wings of the plane, and it appears as if they are walking on water.)

Many years later we're still talking about the Hudson airplane crash because the outcome was unexpected. It challenged all the above schemas, and forced us to think and talk about what was happening.

This doesn't always work, and the disruption still has to appeal to ideals about the brand, person, or idea that we believe to be true, or that could be true. For example, Las Vegas tried to rebrand itself as a family-friendly vacation destination a few years ago. That's disruptive, but since the message wasn't consistent with what people believe to be true about Las Vegas, it didn't register. Another example was Diet Coke offering a version with vitamins. This was also disruptive, but didn't work because people don't consider Diet Coke to be a healthy drink, and don't buy it for health reasons.

As Knox explained, the disruption has to be “faithful to the foundational truths” of the brand in order to be effective. He cited an example from his Procter & Gamble days of a deodorant that was activated by moisture whose product claim was, “The more you sweat, the better you smell.” That statement disrupts our normal way of thinking and gets us talking about the product.

So how can your business create something disruptive?

1. Figure out what your brand or business's foundational truth is. If you don't know, ask your customers.
2. Ask yourself what schemas are already at play. What do customers already think about you and your brand or organizations? What are their preconceived notions?
3. What would disrupt those schemas? What would make people stop, think, and talk about you?
4. Are there blends that would make sense? Can you play existing schemas about your brand off each other?
5. So how do you get started? You listen to your customers, remain open to schemas other than your own, and test and verify your results.

Knox also shared this wisdom with us that day: “Victory in marketing doesn't happen when you sell something, but when you cultivate advocates for your brand.” He thinks disruptive schemas are at the core of why conversations start, but a disrupted experience alone will not get you advocacy. There must be a relationship associated with that disruption or the advocacy will not spread.

PASSION TIPS CONVERSATION TO ADVOCACY

Remember this line from Chapter 1? Let's take this earlier statement and mash up some of our thinking with Knox's wisdom.

And since we're studying some academic stuff, let's review:

• People are motivated to talk for functional (share information), social (publicly expresses uniqueness), and emotional reasons (delighted or disgusted).
• We talk about things that are in front of us, things we see often and in public settings.
• Visual cues work best when they invite a conversation.
• Stories make things sticky, easy to remember and repeat.
• When our normal patterns of thought are disrupted, we talk.

Conversation (word of mouth) has more impact when it's coming from someone you have a relationship with, and who's very passionate about the subject.

NOW, HERE'S WHERE ALL THIS ACADEMIC LEARNING GETS REALLY INTERESTING

The reasons we share offline are completely different from the reasons we share online, according to the “On Brands and Word of Mouth” study. Emotion is the main reason behind our face-to-face conversations, which we know tend to be more intimate. And we are more apt to share our emotions like excitement and anxiety when we're in the same room with another person (or even on the phone). We are also very likely to share functional nuts and bolts information about brands face-to-face. Interestingly, we are less likely to signal our social uniqueness face-to-face because most of these conversations are intimate, and not of a broadcast nature.

When we're online, of course, we're often “broadcasting” to people out in the open on social networks. Because these conversations are in the open, online word of mouth is used more as a channel to socially signal our uniqueness to online friends and followers. Factual and functional information is the second trigger behind why we share online. While emotion is the main driver of our face-to-face conversations, it's the least likely driver of our online conversations. It's far more difficult for us to express a full range of emotions using words online rather than speaking words with physical expressions in face-to-face conversations. The tonality of our emotions gets lost in translation when we write how we feel and that's why it's the least likely trigger of our online conversations.

OFFLINE MOTIVATION

ONLINE MOTIVATION

THIS LEADS US TO ASK THE QUESTION: CAN THE CONVERSATION CHANNEL ITSELF—WHETHER ONLINE OR OFFLINE—SHAPE WHAT PEOPLE TALK ABOUT?

There are so many ways to have a conversation these days—on a blog, by email, on the phone, in person, by text, in reviews on forums, tweeting a comment, posting pictures on Instagram … we could go on and on. All those places present opportunities to connect as humans, and to give or receive word of mouth recommendations.

ANOTHER IMPORTANT POINT ABOUT ONLINE CONVERSATIONS: THEY ARE INTERMITTENT AND SPORADIC

The conversations we have with people on Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and through texting happen in spits and spurts. This means that we can think (or at least most of us do) before we respond. People have time to select and craft what they say, and give some thought to how they can be more interesting. And research shows we tend to talk online about products that are more interesting. Therefore, if your goal is to have people engage in more online conversation, you need to tell interesting, surprising, and awe-inspiring stories.

OFFLINE CONVERSATIONS, HOWEVER, ARE FLOWING AND CONTINUOUS

When we're speaking to someone in person or on the phone, there is less time for us to be selective about our conversation topics or comments. We tend to talk about what is right in front of us. Think about how often we discuss subjects like the weather or a restaurant. The weather is always a visual constant in our lives, and food cues are all around us causing us to talk about food a lot when we are face-to-face. If your goal is to get more meaningful face-to-face conversation, then you want to find a way to create conversation tools and triggers. We'll explore examples in the love stories to come.

WHEN DOES CONVERSATION BECOME ADVOCACY?

Saying “Geez, I wish I had a Coke” when we see someone walking by with one in their hands is one kind of word of mouth that matters for brands. But why do people advocate on behalf of a brand? What moves it from conversation to advocacy? What makes Greg go out of his way to show you the brand of drill he loves so much and why? What creates a lifetime customer? We all know people who are so loyal to a brand that they would never switch. How can we go from being that brand people mention in passing to one that they love? How can we help our advocates find us and connect with us?

PEOPLE TALK ABOUT THINGS THEY ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT

On a scale of 1 to 10, people talk about and go out of their way to advocate on behalf of their 9's and 10's. This is the whole premise for the Net Promoter Score's effectiveness, a tool we often recommend to our customers.

A lot of companies and organizations will tell you that it's all about relationships, but those are just silly, empty business buzzwords unless you're ready and willing to take the time to understand your customers' passions and connect them to your organization's shared passions.

Finding shared passion is one of the greatest tools to developing meaningful relationships and sparking word of mouth.

Guy Kawasaki writes in his book Enchantment about two social scientists whose studies found the best negotiators spend 40 percent of their preparation time finding shared passion between the parties involved in the conflict.

Do you invest this much time with your employees (and yes, it often starts with your employees), your advocates, your customers, your donors? How do you find the shared-passion conversations that are true to who you are as a company?

You listen.

And as we implored in the previous chapter, don't dare ask, “What is your passion?” Nor should you look at data and demographics in isolation. You might review data; that's ok. But you have to dig deeper. You have to get up close and personal, observe and participate in customers' lives. You go to their parties. You share a meal with them or rebuild a car or go fishing all day. A storyteller friend of Brains on Fire said, “Give me a day, a boat, and some fishing gear and I can tell you anyone's story.” You have to love your customers so much you want to go to dinner with them. You don't mind spending a day with them.

You have to connect as humans.

HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF THE LOVE STORIES YOU ARE ABOUT TO HEAR

In the next four chapters we are going to let you inside the walls of Brains on Fire, and share four stories that are full of humanity and passion and love. While creating these strategies with our customers we didn't hold up the academic research we've just shared with you as a guideline, but we do believe you can see them at play. We are truly grateful to have connected with some of the most amazing and courageous people on the planet—our customers and their customers—and we don't take lightly the work they have allowed us to be a part of.

Each story is full of lessons learned. Ed Keller and Steve Knox will also give you their takeaways at the end of each story. Ed has a word of mouth researcher's perspective and Steve has worked on some very big brands, helping them spark word of mouth. We believe you'll gain a lot from their insights.

In an effort to help you apply those takeaways to your business, we're going to give you three possible assignments (called Passion Explorations) to do with other people inside and outside of your organization. Please go beyond the marketing silos for these assignments and instead seek out people who have contact with your customers. In fact, grab your customers themselves. Put them in a room together. Have fun. Laugh. And keep in mind that while working with real people and emotions is wonderful work, it can get messy—so embrace messy; it's okay. Take photos and send them to us. There are no right or wrong answers. Our hope is that we will help you to get outside of your normal marketing grooves and find new ways to touch lives, celebrate people, fall in love, discover passions, have fun, and grow your business in the process.

BE OPEN TO FINDING YOUR CAUSE

By the way, it's interesting to note that of the four stories we're sharing from four different companies, only one company is a not-for-profit, even though they all four feel very cause related. This reflects something we know for sure: It is possible for both for-profit businesses and not-for-profits to find their cause, and in the process, find their purpose, their why, and their passion conversation.