JAIPURIA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, LUCKNOW

Project Report OnEVANGELISM MARKETING

MARKETING MANGEMENT-II

Submitted To: Submitted By:Dr. Shalini Nath Tripathi Kaushlendra KumarSingh (066)

Kanishka Jauhari (064) Md Arif Khan (081)

Manoj Kumar Maurya (076) Navneet Kumar Singh(088)

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The satisfaction and euphoria that accompany the successful completion of any work would be incomplete unless we mention some of the persons, as an expression of gratitude, which made it possible, whose constant guidance and encouragement served as a beckon light and crowned the efforts and success.

We take this opportunity of expressing our gratitude to Dr. Shalini Nath Tripathi who has always been of immense help during the making of this project, which helped us a great deal in enhancing our knowledge by virtue of practical application. Her guidance and support carried us all through the preparation of this project.

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CONTENTS

Sr. No.

Chapter Name Page No.

1. OBJECTIVE 4

2. Genesis 5

3. Marketing Research 6

4. Research Design 9

5. Field Work 13

6. Limitations 16

7. Literature Review 17

8. Professional Opinion 21

9. Practical Examples 32

10. Findings 34

11. Discussions and Inferences 36

12. Future Implications 37

13. Bibliography 38

14. Appendix 39

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Objective

Research Objectives

To know awareness level of evangelism marketing. To study components of evangelism marketing. To seek the general perception of consumer towards evangelism

marketing. To analyze how effectively it works in present marketing scenario. To predict future implications.

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INTRODUCTIONEvangelism marketing is an advanced form of word of mouth marketing (WOMM) in which companies develop customers who believe so strongly in a particular product or service that they freely try to convince others to buy and use it. The customers become voluntary advocates, actively spreading the word on behalf of the company.

Evangelism marketing is sometimes confused with affiliate marketing. However, while affiliate programs provide incentives in the form of money or products, evangelist customers spread their recommendations and recruit new customers out of pure belief, not for the receipt of goods or money. Rather, the goal of the customer evangelist is simply to provide benefit to other individuals.

As they act independently, evangelist customers often become key influencers. The fact that evangelists are not paid or associated with any company make their beliefs perceived by others as credible and trustworthy.

Evangelism literally comes from the three words of 'bringing good news' and the marketing term justly draws from the religious sense, as consumers are literally driven by their beliefs in a product or service, which they preach in an attempt to convert others

HISTORY

Many people believe Guy Kawasaki, the former chief evangelist of Apple Computer, to be the Father of evangelism marketing. In his books “The Art of the Start" and "How to Drive Your Competition Crazy” Kawasaki states that the driving force behind evangelism marketing is the fact that individuals simply want to make the world a better place. Evangelist customers spread their recommendations and recruit new customers out of pure belief, not for the receipt of goods or money.

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MARKETING RESEARCH

Marketing research plays an important role in the process of marketing. Starting with market component of the total marketing talks. It helps the firm to acquire a better understanding of the consumers, the competition and the marketing environment.

DEFINITION

“Marketing research is a systematic gathering, recording and analysis marketing problem to facilitate decision making.”

- Coundiff & Still.

“Marketing research is a systematic problem analysis, model building and fact finding for the purpose of important decision making and control in the marketing of goods and services.

- Phillip Kotler.

MAIN STEPS INVOLVED IN MARKETING RESEARCH

Defining the Marketing Problem to be tackled and identifying the market research problem involved in the task.

(1) Define the problem and its objectives.(2) Identify the problem.(3) Determine the information needed.(4) Determine the sources of information.(5) Decide research methods.(6) Tabulate, Analyze and interpret the data.(7) Prepare research report.(8) Follow-up the study.

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Define the problem and its objectives :- This includes an effective job in planning and designing a research project that will provide the needed information. It also includes the establishment of a general framework of major marketing elements such as the industry elements, competitive elements, marketing elements and company elements.

Identify the problem :- Identifying the problem involves getting acquainted with the company, its business, its products and market environment, advertising by means of library consultation and extensive interviewing of company’s officials.

Determining the specific Information needed :- In general the producer, the manufacturer, the wholesaler and the retailer try to find out four things namely :-

a. What to sellb. When to sellc. Where to selld. How to sell

Determine the sources of information :-

Primary Data :- Primary datas are those which are gathered specially for the project at hand, directly – e.g. through questionnaires & interviews. Primary data sources include company salesman, middleman, consumers, buyers, trade association’s executives & other businessman & even competitors.

Secondary Data :- These are generally published sources, which have been collected originally for some other purpose. Source are internal company records, government publication, reports & publication, reports & journals, trade, professional and business associations publications & reports.

Decide Research methods for collecting data :- If it is found that the secondary data cannot be of much use, collection of primary data become necessary. Three widely used methods of gathering primary data are :-

Survey Method :- In this method, information gathered directly from individual respondents, either through personal interviews or through mail questionnaires or telephone interviews.

Observation Method :- The research data are gathered through observing and recording their actions in a marketing situation. This technique is highly accurate. It is rather an expensive technique.

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Experimental Method :- This method involves carrying out a small scale trial solution to a problem, while at the same time, attempting to control all factors relevant to the problem. The main assumption here is that the test conditions are essentially the same as those that will be encountered later when conclusions derived from the experiment are applied to a broader marketing area.

The Panel Research :- In this technique the same group of respondents is contacted for more then one occasion; and the information obtained to find out if there has been any in their taste demand or they want any special quality, color, size, packing in the product.

Preparation of questionnaire

Presetting of questionnaire

Planning of the sample

Tabulate, Analysis and Interpret the Data :-

The report must give/contain the following information:-

1. The title of research2. The name of the organization for which it has been Conducted 3. The objectives of research4. The methodology used 5. Organization and the planning of the report6. A table of contents along with charts and diagrams used in the reports7. The main report containing the findings8. Conclusion arrived at end recommendations suggested9. Appendices (containing questionnaire / forms used sample design,

instructions.)

Follow-up the study :- The researchers, in the last stage, should follow up this study to find if his recommendation are being implemented and if not, why

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Research Design

1. Research Objectives

awareness level of evangelism marketing Seek the general perception of consumer towards evangelism marketing To find the performance of evangelism marketing

2. Information requirement

First, I had to know about evangelism marketing.

Before going for the survey I had to know the origin of evangelism

marketing

Since evangelism marketing is an upcoming trend I need to know which

organization is using them

3. Choice of research design – alternatives & choice

Despite the difficulty of establishing an entirely satisfactory classification system, it is helpful to classify marketing research on the basis of the fundamental objectives of the research. Consideration of the different types, their applicability, their strengths, and their weakness will help to select the type best suited to a specific problem.

The two general types of research are:

EXPLORATORY RESEARCH

Exploratory research seeks to discover new relationship, emphasis on discovery of ideas.Marketing researches devote a significant portion of their work on exploratory studies when very little is known about the problem being examined.

CONCLUSIVE RESEARCH

Conclusive studies attempts to determine the frequency with which something occurs or the relationship between two phenomenons. Usually conclusive studies assume certain under underlying characteristics of the market or have some precise statement of research questions/hypothesis.

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4. RESEARCH INSTRUMENT USED - DETAILS & WHY?

If one wants to know what type of dentifrice people use, what they think of, television commercials, or why they buy particular brands of cars, the natural procedure is to ask them. Thus, the questionnaire method has come to be the more widely used of the two data collection method. Many consumers are now familiar with the telephone caller who greets them with “We are making a survey”, and then proceeds to ask a series of questions. Some interviews are conducted in person, others by telephone, and others by mail. Each of these has its special advantages and disadvantages and limitations. The questionnaire method in general, however, has a number of pervasive advantages and disadvantages. Discussion of particular variations will be more meaningful if these characteristics of the general methods are brought out first.

A questionnaire consists of list of questions to be asked from the respondents and the space provided to record the answer / responses. Questionnaire can be used for the personal interviews, focus groups, mails and telephonic interviews. The choice among these alternatives is largely determined by the type of information to be obtained and by the type of respondents from whom it is to be obtained.

The common factor in all varieties of the questionnaire method is this reliance on verbal responses to question, written or oral.

Questionnaire in the project consists of:

Multiple choice questions Dicthomus

MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS:

Questions of this type offer the respondents an alternative to choose the right

answer among others.It is faster, time saving and less biased. It also simplifies

the tabulating process.

OPEN END QUESTIONS:

In this type respondents are free to answer in their own words and express the ideas they think are relevant, such questions are good as first questions or opening questions. They introduce the subject and obtain general reaction.

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DICTHOMUS:

These are the questions which are Boolean in nature. These answers are straightforward and respondents have to answer them in a straight way. That means the answer can only be either ‘Yes” or ‘No’.

5. SAMPLING TECHNIQUE USED & SAMPLE SIZE - WHY?

Sample design is a definite plan of obtaining some items from the whole population. The sample design used in this project is two state sampling i.e. Cluster and convenience. In the probability sampling methods, each items in the sample is chosen one at a time from a complete list of universe elements. In marketing research practice, it will sometimes be more expedient to select clusters or groups of universe elements, rather than to choose sample items individually.

Sampling methods in which universe elements are chosen in groups ---- rather than individually -- are called cluster-sampling methods. They are widely used in the sampling of human populations. When no complete universe listing exists, a type of sampling is called area sampling may be the only practically feasible form of probability sampling.

NONDISGUISED, STRUCTURED TECHNIQUES

The non structured techniques for attitude measurement are primarily of value in exploratory studies, where the researcher is looking for the salient attributes of given products and the important factors surrounding purchase decisions as seen by the consumer. Structured techniques can provide a more objective measurement system, one which is more comparable to a scale or a yardstick. The term scaling has been applied to the efforts to measure attitudes objectively, and a number of useful scales have been developed.

SAMPLING METHOD

Sample design is a definite plan of obtaining some items from the whole population

CONVINIENCE SAMPLING

This type of sampling is chosen purely on the basis of convenience and according to convenience.I visited management colleges.

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SAMPLING

1. Sampling Technique :Non probability sampling (A non probability sampling technique is that in which each element in the population does not have an equal chance of getting selected)

2. Sample Unit : 1 Individual

3. Sample size : 200 respondents

4. Method : Questionnaire.

5. Data analysis method : Graphical method.

6. Area of survey : Lucknow

7. Timing of survey : 9.00 am to 03.00 pm

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FIELD WORK- METHOD USED FOR DATA COLLECTION

Questionnaire was prepared keeping the objective of research in mind.

Questions were asked to respondents as regards to there willingness .

The help of questionnaires conducted direct interviews, in order to get accurate information.

In order to get correct information I had to approach consumers ranging from 15 yrs to 65 yrs.

In order to collect accurate information I visited to colleges, each and every question was filled personally by the respondents.

People were not willing to answer, when they were contacted between 1.00 pm to 5.00 pm, the time when most of the people take rest during the scorching heat.

Theoretical data was collected from internet.

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Questionnaire Infernces

[1] Did you know about evangelism marketing? yes______ no ______

Response

Yes, 9

No, 91

Yes

No

Inference :- The awareness level of evangelism markrting is not good

[2] Did you know about word of mouth marketing?

yes          no         

Response

Yes, 73

No, 27

Yes

No

Inference :- Awreness level of word of mouth marketing is far better than evangelism marketing.

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[3] How effective is evangelism marketing ?

Very effective _____

Effective _____

Cant say _____ Not effective _____

Response

very effective, 27

effective, 46

cant say, 7

not effective, 20 very effective

effective

cant say

not effective

Inference :- respondent has positive response towards enagelism marketing

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LIMITATIONS

No time available for interviewing the respondents. As a result of this it was not possible to gather full information about the respondents.

When I interviewed management students, sometimes they use to give answers under the influence of their friends.

As the questionnaire were filled during lunch time sometimes student are less interested in filling up questionnaire.

Non-cooperative approach and rude behavior of some respondents.

If the respondents answer does not falls between amongst the options given then it will turn up to be a biased answer.

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Literature review

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What is customer evangelism?

When customers are truly thrilled about their experience with your product or service, they can become outspoken "evangelists" for your company. This group of satisfied believers can be converted into a potent marketing force to grow your universe of customers.

Authors Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba explain how to convert already loyal customers into influential and enthusiastic evangelists. The year-long research project that led to "Creating Customer Evangelists" outlines the framework for developing evangelism marketing strategies and programs. The ultimate goal is to create communities of influencers who drive sales or membership for your company or organization. From their research into the best practices of some of the most forward-thinking companies with legions of evangelists who spread the word, McConnell and Huba outline and explain the six basic tenets of creating customer evangelists:

1. Customer plus-delta: Continuously gather customer feedback.

2. Napsterize knowledge: Make it a point to share knowledge freely.

3. Build the buzz: Expertly build word-of-mouth networks.

4. Create community: Encourage communities of customers to meet and share.

5. Make bite-size chunks: Devise specialized, smaller offerings to get customers to bite.

6. Create a cause: Focus on making the world, or your industry, better.

McConnell and Huba profile highly successful companies to illustrate these tenets and prove how solid customer relationships build and sustain companies through good and rocky times. These in-depth company profiles provide real-life examples of evangelism marketing at work, including the opportunities and pitfalls of specific campaigns.

"Creating Customer Evangelists" explains how organizations as diverse as Southwest Airlines, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, The Dallas Mavericks, IBM, and others successfully built their customer base and created targeted marketing programs to involve their biggest fans. These programs have produced legions of unofficial salespeople and a cost-effective and powerful marketing force.By deepening customer relationships, successful organizations create communities that generate grassroots support and value for their products and services. "Creating Customer Evangelists" focuses on this ultimate marketing approach. McConnell and Huba demonstrate how you can convert good customers into exceptional ones who willingly spread the word.

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Customer Evangelism

A customer evangelist tells your story and tells it to everyone. He purchases your product, believes in your business, recommends it to friends and colleagues, supports you even when you make a mistake, and provides feedback even before you ask.

Alternative Marketing Techniques for Entrepreneurs

This action and belief is based on an emotional connection the customer has with your product, service, or company.

Customers become evangelists when they are so pleased with their experience with the product or service that they want to tell others and even want to help the business succeed. People love to talk about their experience with products and especially like to be the one that pointed out a great product that everyone subsequently adopts.

Customer evangelism is such a strong form of marketing for a number of reasons. First your customers know your target market very well because they are your target market. Since they know the target so well, they can translate the customer value proposition into language that is familiar and easily understood by the target market. Second, they are seen as being genuine and impartial sources of information. Unlike paid endorsements or product placements, these evangelists have little to gain by singing your praises and they are therefore trusted. Finally, customer evangelism is a very inexpensive marketing method. It doesn’t require expensive air time, glossy flyers, or creative advertisements. Most critical to successful customer evangelism is developing an incredible product or service that fills a customer needs, is easy to use, and ultimately makes the customer’s life better. Only products that are this satisfying will gain a following strong enough to turn short-term buzz into committed evangelism. TiVo, the personal video recorder, is a great example of such a product. It offers consumers the ability to pause and rewind.

Television, easily record shows without fighting the cryptic VCR interface, and is incredibly easy to use. While people without a TV don’t completely understand its value, those with a TiVo readily and frequently extol its virtues. Being able to pause a movie in order to tend to a crying baby and fast-forward over commercials and rewind a fantastic sports play certainly makes the experience of watching television better.

In Creating Customer Evangelists, Ben MacConnell and Jackie Huba describe 6 tenets of customer evangelism:

1. Customer Plus-Delta

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Rather than gathering customer feedback only at discrete points like focus groups or satisfaction surveys, gather feedback continuously. This is more advantageous for small businesses anyway because it is less expensive that running formal research. While this feedback can primarily come from direct customer interaction, it should also include investigating what people are saying about you on the web, gathering feedback on your website, third-party customer interviews, and even creating a customer advisory board. The two questions you are looking to answer, signified by the “plus” and “delta” respectively, are “what is working well” and “what needs to be improved.”

2. Napsterize your knowledge

Give away the information you have. Let customers share and exchange information and let them try before they buy. By giving away your knowledge, you help spread the word on your company, product, or service. This also makes it easier for your customers to share information about you with their friends. In addition, it may lead to other opportunities like partnerships, product extensions, and new markets.

3. Build the buzz

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While buzz happens between consumers, there is much that even a small company can do to help it spread. Give your customers something worthy of mention, and give it to them often. Start by focusing on the “hubs”, people that can spread the word for you the fastest. And provide them with tools to help them spread the word, whether it be flyers, coupons, samples, or examples.

4. Create community

People want to feel that they belong to something. Providing a vehicle for your customers to connect with each other will offer benefits to all involved. While customers can share experience and advice, they will also become more loyal consumers. Whether it be face-to-face or online clubs, discussion groups, or newsletters, connect with your customers often and help them connect at the same time.

5. Make bite-size chunks

By offering a trial or introductory version of your product or service, you can eliminate many of the hurdles to the buying decision. Consumers can taste, touch, or experience your offering with little commitment, then be more confident in their decision to follow-up with a buy. In addition, it gives you a much larger army in your target market to spread the word on your product.

6. Create a cause

When customers form an emotional bond with your company, they are much more likely to evangelize and to remain loyal. The most effective ways to encourage that bond are to adopt a cause or sell a dream. A cause can be a charitable organization or a commitment to community service. McDonald’s Ronald McDonald House is an extreme example of a cause, but small companies have many opportunities as well. A sporting goods store can sponsor a little league team and a woman’s clothing store can donate proceeds to breast cancer research. Stonyfield Farms, a producer of all-natural organic yogurts and ice creams, has leveraged a number of these tenets to become a successful organization. In the early 1990’s, with around 5 employees, Stoneyfield introduced the “Adopt-a-cow” program which allowed customers who made frequent purchases to receive an adoption certificate, photo, and biography of an actual cow on the farm. This created quite the buzz and gained the company significant PR exposure. In addition, the company sends out a “Moosletter” to keep a continuous dialog with customers. They donate 10% of profits to causes that help protect the earth and they are dedicated to environmental and socially responsible business practices. During this time, Stonyfield has grown from $6 million to $100 million in sales.

Customer evangelism does have some drawbacks.

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First, when you rely on others to communicate your message, you lose some control over the message itself. You cannot carefully craft the feature list, the differentiators, or the vocabulary. You cannot even guarantee that the evangelists are spreading positive opinions of you and your product.

Second, you cannot make customers tell your story. Your product must be different or exciting enough for them to want to talk. Customer evangelism is based on the business’s loyalty to the customers and the customer’s loyalty to the business. Finally, the spread of your value proposition is limited by the number of evangelizing customers you have and the frequency of these one-on-few interactions the evangelists have with other prospects in your target market. Therefore, growth for a small business using this method is likely to be slow.

While customer evangelism is an effective method for marketing to new prospects, it is also a great way to keep those customers you have. It is expensive to acquire new customers, so the entrepreneur must also focus on keeping existing customers. By creating customer evangelists, the business is also creating loyal, long-term customers.

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Professional opinion

People often frown when I state my company’s name – Mission Centenarian (MC). Not many people have heard of it, and it’s likely neither have you. I don’t market large scale (there aren’t enough people in Pakistan who take their health seriously), in fact I have no marketing expense AT ALL. The company is marketed by customers who are so satisfied and taken by the programs that they can’t help but spread good words about it with friends, family & co-workers. I have my own personal (unpaid) PR team delivering positive messages in the most powerful manner possible – word of mouth, from a trusted source. The company has been around for nearly 3 years now, so I assure you, start taking Evangelism Marketing seriously.

With the boom of social media & most of my clients being SEC A avid users of facebook, friendster, MySpace, twitter etc – it’s even easier now than ever, to make your product or brand something it’s users will help spread. When UPL lost a contestant on a reality show, the world knew within hours and a firestorm started (without mainstream media).

A post recession business needs to find cost effective methods of marketing without extensive expenditure. Online evangelism, which costs next to nothing, is one way to advertise your products.Personally, you could call me a Brand Evangelist for Engro because of all the good they do (Read the Engro CSR Report 2007), they’re a Pakistani Company (this is as patriotic as I get) and they’re products are great. I promote Engro Food’s “Omore”, Hilal Food’s “Fresher” & several other home bred brands as part of the MC meal plan.

For an ambitious company, it’s critical to read blog posts, forums & tweets that relate to your brand, so you can find the people who voice the positive and negative aspects of the company and brands they offer. Using the data you can work towards mending your errors and getting to the heart of the complaint.Like countless others, it’s likely your company has a Facebook page, so you can identify your brand evangelists. You can also subscribe to service-specific alerts or use a conversation search engine to see comments across social media.

The next step costs little or nothing – contact the brand lovers and haters. Haters can give you unedited feedbacks without a filter which will help you determine why that market is pushing away. This is two-fold; you get constructive feedback and you gain their trust because unlike your competitors, it appears you want to provide value for money.

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As for the evangelists, you need to find out what aspects of the product or service they really like after which you should sign them up to be entitled to perks such as upcoming product info, sampling gigs & gift certificates – provided they up the ante on public praises. Of course you must be thinking, “why reward them, they’d do it anyway”, but I think you should as this keeps them around in the long run. Remember to have them agree on a non disclosure agreement if you plan on giving them access to upcoming products & their subsequent lines for obvious reasons.

To avoid any hiccups in the long run, make sure there’s transparency about the evangelists renewed relationship with the company – incase there’s a leak, it could look very bad if customers found out you “paid people to deceive” (which would be the mainstream media spin unless you’re a huge company is Pakistan). The practice is no doubt deceptive & questionable by many consumer groups (BoltaConsumer.com) but by having supporters today, they will indefinitely serve as backup when you’re under fire.

At some point, you may have to consider getting a form of surveillance on your evangelist – just to make sure they represent the brand consistent with the way you do. You might have to go so far as provide a form of training about brand practices/culture in order to save your evangelists the humiliation of coming across as dense folk promoting you without pay.

To keep your costs low, send in an entry level employee, MT or intern (a popular practice of SME’s) as the point of contact who can directly correspond with the evangelists, keep an eye on blog posts and other social media they use. This way you have outsourced what would have been the promotion & brand maintenance aspect of the marketing teams’ job, clearing their work load to concentrate on innovative projects and campaigns.

Evangelism Marketing is a great way to promote your brand, product or service as it empowers your customers & encourages others to follow suit with positive discourse positively. It doesn’t cost much and the rewards last a lifetime. Cost<Benefit = Enough Said!

Babar Javed is Owner & Managing Director of Mission Centenarian, a health & fitness company founded in 2007, which comprises of a network of personal trainers in Karachi. He was most recently the chief marketing officer at Élan Guides & has worked with GlaxoSmithKline & UBL Fund Managers as well. Currently pursuing an undergraduate degree in Marketing from SZABIST, his key interests lie in social media, brand activation & advertising.

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THE CUSTOMER EVANGELISM MANIFESTO

“ We are encouraging our clients to fly Southwest Airlines. We are buying more stock…and we stand ready to do anything elseto help. Count on our continuing support. ”

— Southwest Airlines customer Ann McGee-Cooper, in an October 2001 letter to Southwest President Colleen Barrett

Ann McGee-Cooper is a Southwest Airlines customer who stands by a company she loves.

After the 9/11 attacks, which crippled and jeopardized airlines for months, McGee-Cooper wrote Southwest a letter. She said she was persuading clients, friends and family members to fly Southwest Airlines. She was purchasing tickets on their behalf. She bought the companyʼs stock. Perhaps most tellingly, she included a $500 checkwith her letter, saying that the airline needed the money “more than I do.”

She is more than a loyal customer; SHE IS A CUSTOMER EVANGELIST.

Airlines often consider loyal customers as those who accumulate the most frequent flyer miles. This is true for other businesses too, such as grocery stores, clothing stores, pipe-making companies or furniture manufacturers…they may define loyal customers as those who purchase repeatedly. But this loyalty may be driven by convenience or low prices. In effect, they are repeat customers, not necessarily loyal customers.

Repeat customer are not necessarily loyal customers

Relying on a frequent-purchaser model exclusively presents lost opportunities. A frequent purchaser may not recommend you. He may even bad-mouth you to friends, colleagues or customers in line or online for any number of reasons.

A customer evangelist not only purchases from you regularly, she feels compelled to tell others. Ann McGee-Cooper honestly considers Southwest part of her family. This doesnʼt mean that Southwest is for

everyone; it has its share of detractors who donʼt care for its policies of no-reserved seats and low frills.

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But your business isnʼt for everyone, either.

What makes Southwest and other companies with dedicated armies of evangelists stand apart from their competitors?

They have crossed the emotional chasm that separates most businesses with customers. Their customers believe.

They donʼt do it with trickery, or by having the lowest prices, or the fanciest web site. They do it by being authentic.

Southwestʼs executives boil it down to “doing business by the Golden Rule.” In almost every example weʼve found, itʼs the opposite of what most people consider a professional “corporate” relationship.

TO UNDERSTAND HOW A CUSTOMER EVANGELIST BEHAVES, HERE ARE SOME CLUES:

• They passionately recommend your company to friends, neighbors and colleagues.

• They believe in the company and its people.

• They purchase your products and services as gifts.

• They provide unsolicited praise or suggestions of improvement.

• They forgive occasional sub-par seasons or dips in customer service.

• They do not want to be bought; they extol your virtues freely.

• They feel part of something bigger than themselves.

The lessons from the original evangelists—the religious believers who roamed the back ways of the world to spread the word of their faith — teach us that beliefs are based on emotional connection, deep-seated convictions and the promise of a better way. Strongly held beliefs compel many of us to tell others. The root of the word “evangelist” is based on “a bringer of the glad tidings.”

But this manifesto is not about religion. Itʼs a diatribe against traditional marketing practices. They no longer work. Theyʼre being

usurped by customer-driven referrals as the valuable new currency in an organizationʼs growth.

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“THE WORLD IS CHANGING”.

Technology has leveled the playing field to make quality less of a competitive advantage. Product and service saturation is rampant. Weʼre drowning in a sea of media. In a world with so much choice, how do people even make decisions anymore. By relying on trusted friends, colleagues or family members.

Empirical evidence shows the best indicator of year-to-year revenue growth is the organizationʼs net number of customer evangelists. The more people who recommend your product or service, the more likely sales will grow.

In the new world of marketing, evangelists act as key influencers on future customers. The ideal scenario is when a customer has been made on your behalf well before they hand over their credit card.

WHAT’S WRONG WITH MARKETING TODAY?

“Whos to blame/for this state of distress?

Its the Marketing Director! We all confessed.”

If its not the messenger that companies shoot first, then its the marketing director.

In 2001, Harpell, a Massachusetts ad agency, surveyed prospective technology marketing managers to discover their pains. Respondents said, “My budgets been cut but I have to produce more.” “Im on my way out the door.” “My staffs been cut.” It was a bleak report.

As part of a marketing campaign to promote its services, Harpell produced an oldtimey, saloon-style, song with plunky piano about the trials and tribulations of a marketing director who is continually blamed for lackluster sales. Harpell reminds us that whether its the marketing directors fault or not, she usually takes the bullet for disappointing sales.

Why? Lets examine the current marketing environment.

“MARKETING TODAY IS BASED ON 1960S PRINCIPLES”

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Most college marketing classes still teach the 4 Pʼs: product, place, price and promotion. E. Jerome McCarthy introduced the 4 Pʼs in 1960. Forty-four years later, most marketing education programs are still based on the 4 Pʼs. Promotion, the fourth of the four, is all about advertising, sales promotion, public relations, and personal selling. Most college marketing textbooks today cover very little, if any, about word of mouth and customer evangelism.

“MARKETING IS ADVERTISING.”

The next time youʼre at cocktail party, ask someone for their definition of marketing. Chances are theyʼll say its advertising. Worse yet, your imbibing test subject may define marketing as telemarketing, which is more like caveman marketing — hunt random fields of prey and beat the ones you can catch into submission.

Unfortunately, the common definition of marketing is what we are bombarded with everyday: advertising. Author David Shenk surmises the average person is exposed to more than 3,000 advertising messages per day. Our senses are under continual assault, much of it by bad or meaningless information.

Which marketing professionals are glamorized in the media? Ad executives. Remember the devious ad agency owner played by Heather Locklear on the television show “Melrose Place?” How about the lead characters on the show “Thirty something?”

Dustin Hoffman was the beleaguered father and ad agency executive in the Oscarwinning film “Kramer vs. Kramer.” The Darrin Stevens character from the popular Bewitched TV sitcom was an ad man. Ad execs, all of them! When was the last time a customer service manager was the hero of a blockbuster film? Donʼt answer that.

“POWER GOES TO THOSE WITH THE BIGGEST BUDGETS”

How do some marketing managers measure their success in the corporate hierarchy? By the size of their advertising budgets. Bigger ad budgets are often more about coalescing internal power; the bigger the budget, the more influence you wield internally and with external partners. Helping customers solve problems is not necessarily at the top of the list. At some large companies, you had better spend your annual budget completely or youʼll receive less money next year. Whatʼs the fastest way to spend money? Mass advertising. Ambitious marketers are given few incentives for creating customer evangelists and word-of-mouth programs that cost

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dramatically less than mass media budgets. Unfortunately, many company marketers are promoted and hired based on the size of the budget they grew and managed, not on the results they delivered.

“MARKETING MUST PRODUCE RESULTS NOW, DAMNIT”

Our technological society demands instant gratification. We want our food fast and our Internet connections blazing. Why save up and pay cash for something when you can have it now on credit? So it goes for marketing.

The stock market rewards companies for growing revenues and profits quarter by quarter. Wall Street has no interest in long-term investment. The Street does not want to hear about money spent on customer evangelism and loyalty programs. Investment bankers care only about one thing: the number of new customers you will generate in the next 12 weeks.

Revenues down? The Street wants to know what actions you will take now. It rewards layoffs with a stock-price bump. If sales are slipping, panicked CEOs often order marketing directors to throw more money at print materials for the field sales force. Or create a new and more aggressive telemarketing campaign.

“MARKETING IS DESPERATE”

The globalization of commerce has produced an economy rich with choices. How do we decide, really, between 165 cereal products and 85 different breakfast bars?

Every day, we are inundated with ads on television, buses, under computer browser windows, in the waiting rooms of physicians and dentists, on phone cards, on the backs of lottery tickets and on banners towed by noisy planes circling around crowded beaches, annoying people trying to get away from it all. At 3,000 advertisement exposures per day, thatʼs 188 messages per hour, three per minute, every minute of every day.

With so much competition, mass media ads must scream louder and more often just to squeeze through the clutter. In 1980, ad agency pioneer David Ogilvy argued that ads must run at least nine times before a future customer grasps your message. Of course he would. He was an ad executive who made money from the size of your ad budget and the number of times you ran your ad. With this desperation

marketing the mass advertiser pleads with you to please, please, please… nine or more times, actually…buy!

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“Creating customer evangelists and word-of-mouth programs….cost dramatically less than mass media [advertising]”--

Continuous repetition of mass media ads is like adding water to the ocean.

If a company cannot differentiate its products or focus on a specific target audience, then it usually settles for advertising “the lowest price,” the last refuge of a company that has lost its way.

“Acquiring a new customer is five times more expensive than keeping a current customer happy”--

Itʼs the thrill of the chase. The opening scene in “Kramer vs. Kramer” shows Dustin Hoffman accepting congratulations from his ad agency peers; he says that landing the coveted $2 million Revlon account was “one of the five best days of my whole life.” Landing new customers is sexy, like cavemen slaying a gazelle on the grasslands. Keeping current customers, like gathering nuts and berries and growing a garden, is hard work.

“MASS MARKETING IS DYING”--

Response rates for several campaign tactics continue their inevitable decline. Measures of the average Internet banner click-through range from 0.005 to 1 percent. The average direct mail response rate is 1-2 percent. Response rates for television and print advertising remain unclear. Measures such as “brand awareness” and “purchase intent” are vacuous at best.

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“Landing new customers is sexy…keeping current customers…is hard work”--

Traditional message platforms are so crowded theyʼre no longer effective. Marketing principles are from a vastly different world. Exponential growth of a media-driven culture, the ubiquity of information sources and since 1994, the advent of the World Wide Web have made mass media effectiveness inert. Continuous, mind-numbing marketing repetition is clogging the arteries of trust and attention every day.

Thereʼs evidence for the decline among traditional advertising and the rise of word of mouth for making future purchases:

HOW PEOPLE GET INFORMATION ABOUT………………………………..

WORD OF MOUTH ADVERTISING

Restaurants 83% 35%

Prescription drugs 71% 21%

Hotels 63% 27%

Cars 58% 36%

Computers 40% 18%

Financial services 57% 12%

Napsterized knowledge:- Make it a point to share knowledge freely--

How do we evolve from the primordial ocean of advertising? How do we help our best customers become our best sales people?

We find there are six common strategies among organizations that benefit from remarkable levels of customer evangelism. We call these strategies the six tenets:

How do you employ these tenets? Here are a few ideas.

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1. Customer plus-delta--

Understand what evangelists love by continuously gathering their input. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is a feedback machine. He conducts mini-surveys with nearly every fan he meets, asking how to improve the fan experience (the “delta” in plus-delta). His email address shows up on the American Airlines Arena scoreboard. Build-a-Bear Workshop, the interactive retailer where children can build their own personal stuffed animals, uses a “Cub Advisory Board” as a feedback and decision input body. The board is made up of twenty 8-12 year olds who review new product ideas and give a paws up or down. Maxine Clark, the companyʼs Chief Executive Bear, says that after 6 years in business, 99% of products in the store are customer ideas.

2. Napsterize your knowledge--

The original Napster, the file-sharing service that turned the music industryʼs distribution system on its ear, taught us that sharing your knowledge freely increases the perceived and actual value of knowledge by making it more accessible. The more knowledge you share with the world, the more that people will tell others about it. Fans around the world devote dozens of hours weekly to their product or company websites and weblogs. Embrace them. Invite them to meet your back-office team. Give them plenty of statistics, photos, and anything else they need for their websites. For companies that primarily sell to other companies, discover routes to sharing more

information among all of your trading partners so the experience of being a customer becomes more valuable. The more knowledge you share… the more that people will tell others about it.

3 . Build the buzz--

Customer evangelists are often information junkies. Theyʼre influencers who spread the latest news through their networks. That provides them stature and authority. Theyʼll use many mediums to spread buzz about products or companies, whether itʼs face-to-face with friends and family, or huge audiences via email, online forums or chat rooms. Shepherd your evangelists into a special program, where theyʼre given a backstage pass to try new products or meet the rock stars of your company.

4 . Create community--

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Provide like-minded customers the chance to meet one another. PAETEC, a telecommunications company that provides services to hotels, universities and other companies, hosts informal customer dinners around the country. Current customers and key prospects are invited for food and good company. No boring PowerPoint presentations here; just customers talking about their telecommunications challenges and how much they love PAETECʼs service and support. Prospects are sold on the company by other customers. When customers meet one another underneath your umbrella, the value you deliver as a vendor increases exponentially.

5 . Make bite-size chunks--

Even if a customer doesnʼt purchase, she may spread favorable word of mouth because she could try before buying. Bite-size chunks of your products and services reduce risk, sales cycles and offer up-front value. Those are three key qualities evangelists seek out.

[Give] your customers…a backstage pass to try new

products or meet the rock stars of your company--

6 . Create a cause--

Companies that strive for a higher purpose – like supporting “freedom” as Harley-Davidson and Southwest Airlines do — often find that customers, vendors, suppliers and employees naturally root for its success. A well-defined cause can change the world, no matter how big or small. Customer evangelists crave emotional connection and validation; a well-defined cause generates strong emotional attachments.

.

“THE WORD OF MOUTH REVOLUTION IS UPON US!”

Todayʼs always-on information has turned competition in a 24-hour playing field. To compete now and in the future, focus your energies on creating a loyal following of passionate customers who support them and evangelize everyone who will listen. Fan the flames of customer love. Demonstrate that you appreciate their support in good times and bad. Give them meaningful, authentic reasons to work harder for you; the investment is repaid by evangelists like Ann McGee-Cooper.

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Practical Examples

Evangelism marketing is an advanced form of word of mouth marketing (WOMM) in which companies develop customers who believe so strongly in a particular product or service that they freely try to convince others to buy and use it. The customers become voluntary advocates, actively spreading the word on behalf of the company.

Apple Inc.

Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and manufactures consumer electronics and computer software products. The company's best-known hardware products include Macintosh computers, the iPod, and the iPhone. Apple software includes the Mac OS X operating system; the iTunes media browser; the iLife suite of multimedia and creativity software; the iWork suite of productivity software; Final Cut Studio, a suite of professional audio and film-industry software products; and Logic Studio, a suite of audio tools. As of January 2010 the company operates 284 retail stores [2] in ten countries, and an online store where hardware and software products are sold. Apple inc. use evangelism marketing also to market their productsGuy Kawasaki, the former chief evangelist of Apple Computer, to be the Father of evangelism marketing.Apple Inc. is known for its innovation and product quality .People have faith in their product quality ,this is the reason why evangelistic market benefit Apple Inc.

Network TwentyOne Network TwentyOne, also known as N21 or Network 21, is an education and training company supplying Professional Development Programs to Independent Business Owners (IBOs) working with the Quixtar and Amway network marketing business opportunities. Network TwentyOne operates in more than 36 countries. It was founded in 1989 by Americans Jim and Nancy Dornan, IBOs in Amway and Quixtar. The Dornans were Founders Crown Ambassadors in Amway as of 2006

This organization also build evangelistic networks for the IBOs .they form network of such people who trust their product and encourage other to try their product.

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Amway

Amway is a direct selling company and manufacturer that uses multi-level marketing to sell a variety of products, primarily in the health, beauty and home care markets.[3][4][5] Amway was founded in 1959 by Jay Van Andel and Richard DeVos. Based in Ada, Michigan, the company and family of companies under Alticor reported sales growth of 15%, reaching US$8.2 billion for the year ending December 31, 2008.[1] Its product lines include home care products, personal care products, jewelry, electronics, Nutrilite dietary supplements, water purifiers, air purifiers, insurance and cosmetics. In 2004, Health & Beauty products accounted for nearly 60% of worldwide sales.[6] Amway conducts business through a number of affiliated companies in more than ninety countries and territories around the world.[7] It is ranked by Forbes as one of the largest private companies in the United States[8] and by Deloitte as one of the largest retailers in the world.

Amway also uses evangelism marketing to marketing thier productBecause they are direct selling organization . evangelistic network help them to spread awareness among mass.

Telebrands India

Telebrands is the largest telemarketing, mail order and wholesale organisation in India. they enjoy the privilege of loyal brand of a strong brand loyalty and will always remain a trust-worthy name as it delivers to perfection its promise of Quality, Value & Service.A great deal of Telebrands success and competitive edge can be attributed to the creative presentation and high quality of shows and print advertisements. An extensive range of telecasting channels are utilized for effective presentation of shows including networks like Doordarshan, Star Plus, AXN, The Discovery Channel, Home TV and many more.Apart from a prominent presence on Television, Telebrands effectively uses more than 350 publications in various languages. To name a few: The Times of India, Bombay Times, Hindustan Times, New Woman, Cosmopolitan etc.

Telebrands also take help of evangelistic network because they are selling product direct to consumer showing demos only on television.consumers are not able to get live demos ,so evangelism marketing is very essential for Telebrands.

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CONCLUSION

Detailed Findings from the study

Currently we live in a very technological and extremely different world than even as little as a 2-3 years ago, let alone a decade. It seems as though the traditional marketing years are losing their dominance rather quickly. Although, it is true, the traditional marketing strategies will never go away. The question we really need to ask ourselves is difficult as we are individuals from all sorts of groups, such as marketers, advertisers, search marketers, SEO experts, evangelists, etc. etc. So, what is this difficult question that we speak so highly of?

Where is marketing going?…and..Who are the real evangelists?

This question has really to deal with a couple major techniques and we will explain this. But, really, we are talking about Word of Mouth Marketing, Viral Marketing and Customer/User Evangelism at it’s best.

Let’s look at digg.com. The site is a breeding ground for open source evangelists that are really technologists at heart. This is a prime example of viral marketing strategies that are really driven by the customer. Well, in this case open source software, it would really be the user.

Another example with digg.com, is Apple. Apple’s customer base is really expanding at a dramatic pace. Yes, they do have those extremely comedic commercials on TV and traditional marketing techniques, this much we know. What we want to delve into is the number of evangelists they have developed around the world that continuously tell others about their products. We’ll even give you a personal example, anyone that asks me whether to buy a Mac or PC, I recommend the Mac. This is an example or word of mouth marketing and customer evangelism at its best.

So, why is this important to the rest of us and why is this important to marketers?

Well, the answers to these questions are quite simple. We need to learn as marketers and brand marketers to really build around our customer base. Create an outlet to ensure that our customers are becoming evangelists for our organization. Just like the traditional marketing tactics, we will not see an end to internal company evangelism roles, this is in-escapable. There is though a great opportunity, now, more than ever, our customers, employees and clients are becoming evangelists and marketers on our behalf. Thus, we are enlisting volunteers to speak highly about your company’s products and services without any internal campaigns or effort.

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So, we have address the what’s, the who’s, the why’s. But, really, how do we get this done and how do we execute on this.

Truthfully, the answer is right at your fingertips. As we mentioned above about Apple and digg.com. Find out where your users/customers are going and doing and really ensure that they have an avenue to speak highly of you. Creating catchy and sticky products and campaigns will also give your customers an opportunity to spread the word. Learn your social media sites and how you can use them to your advantage.

From a search engine optimization and/or marketing standpoint, you can use blogging to increase rankings and readers. Most people really relate blogging to blogging for dollars, but in this case, blog for your brand. Ensuring that your blogging is very well optimized for word of mouth and viral techniques, like email this, digg this, share on facebook, etc. is highly critical. Gives your brand a massive growth opportunity without you even lifting a finger. Make this all highly accessible and let your customers spread the word for you, because, like the saying goes, “If you build it, they will come.”

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Discussions and Inferences drawn

Customer – evangelism is crazy today in every sphere. Due to amplification in various promotional media, it is essential for marketers that they encourage their old customers to behave like their sales force and public relation managers. Evangelism marketing is one of the tools to turn the devoted customer into selfless sales force and public relation manager of the company.

Wikipedia defines the evangelism marketing as “an advanced form of Word of Mouth Marketing(WOMM) in which companies develop customers who believe so strongly in a particular product or service that they freely try to convince others to buy and use it. The customers become voluntary advocates, actively spreading the word on behalf of the company”.

The word “evangelist” comes from Greek word eu-angelos, meaning “Bringer of good news”. The customer bhakti or evangelism is nectar for the organization. These days, the customer –evangelist marketing has become talk of circle; that is why SEO specialists at Round Square Interactive say “in past few months and recently I have heard more about evangelists to enthusiast evangelism that I have in my entire life. From technology evangelist to Enthusiast evangelists to Consumer- evangelists, everyone seems to be promoting evangelist lately”.

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Future Implications of the trend on the dynamic marketing scenario

In May 2006, Marketing Sherpa's research team partnered with the folks at CNET's business network (they publish such sites as ZDNet andTechRepublic) to ask business execs what marketing had directly influenced a technology or services purchase decision in the past 12 months. This had to be a purchase they’d already made or authorized.Guess what? All of the top three answers were … offline.

That's right. Word of mouth was number one at 48.3%. Conferences and trade shows were number two at 41.9%, and print magazines were number three at 40.6%. (Folks could give more than one answer, so this added up to far more than 100%.)

Seems that prospects don't trust vendor sites or marketing materials these days. They certainly trust the trade press and analysts a bit more—especially if these are in print (ah, the power of ink and paper you can hold in your hand). When it comes to a high-priced technology purchase decision, however, most executives trust their colleagues and peers more than anyone else.

This says something a bit sad about the state of trustworthy voices coming from b-to-b copywriters and marketing communicators these days.

But, on the other hand, it opens a giant field of opportunity. What? you ask. Evangelism marketing. Chances are your competitors are working so hard on generating new business from all the typical channels—ranging from direct mail to search—that they've ignored the power of word of mouth.

But in the meantime, shouldn't more of your budget and staff time be devoted to the marketing medium that's proven—by this study at least—to be the most powerful one for directly influencing business buying decisions?

Why not start an evangelism marketing brainstorming session at your company today? One quick tip: Throw out any ideas about bribing word of mouth. Only genuine unforced enthusiasm works in this med

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. www.wikipedia.com

2. www.marketing.com

3. www.google.com

4. www.marketresearch.com

5. www.marketfundas.com

6. Research Methodology. ( Harper W.Boyd, C. R. Kothari )

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APPENDIX

QUESTIONNAIRE

I am a student of PGDM from JAIPURIA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, LUCKNOW conducting a survey on Evangelism marketing.

[1] Did you know about evangelism marketing? yes______ no ______

[2] Did you know about word of mouth marketing?

yes _______         no ______         [3] How effective is evangelism marketing ?

Very effective _____

Effective _____

Cant say _____ Not effective _____

[4] Future prospect of such kind of marketing

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