earthfaves – Your positive location recommendation network – build your own trusted good life network with friends and colleagues, about favorite places for leisure, lifestyle, savoir vivre, travel and sustainable products

A very interesting source for all of you interested in growing your business through word-of-mouth and through growing the number of promoters in your customer base: net promoter. It is based on the book “The Ultimate Question” from Fred Reichheld, the essential book about the power of recommendations and growing the number of people that recommend you honestly to others. If you do so, no matter how big your company is, you will gain market share.

Read the interview “The Inside Word on Word-of-Mouth Marketing” with Dave Balter, founder of BzzAgent, one of the first Word-of-Mouth Marketing Agencies, published on Guy Kawasaki’s Blog “How to Change the World”. Very much worth reading! Download the Manual as pdf here!

My favorite quotes:

“Word of mouth happens for companies of all sizes.”

“…for those companies that guide or inspire word of mouth by empowering consumers, respecting their opinions, thanking them for sharing their input, and making changes based on consumer counsel … in those cases, word of mouth marketing is successful all the time, every day.”

Anne M.Schüller ist eine der renommiertesten Expertinnen im Bereich Loyalitätsmarketing. Ihr neues Werk “Zukunftstrend Empfehlungsmarketing” ist sehr zu empfehlen. Gerade für diejenigen unter Ihnen, die in naher Zukunft beabsichtigen, ihre Kunden via earthfaves zu Promotern zu machen, liefert es zahlreiche Gründe, die dieses vorhaben unterstützen. Hier der Auszug aus ihrem Blog und das Inhaltsverzeichnis:

“Weitersagen! Kostenlos zu neuen Kunden
Eine Werbeform so alt wie die Menschheit erobert die Welt, on- wie offline. Ob man es Mundpropaganda, Buzz- oder Viral-Marketing nennt – gemeint ist: Empfehlungsmarketing. Aus Begeisterung und Überzeugung werden Produkte und Dienstleistungen aktiv weiterempfohlen. Glaubwürdigkeit und Akzeptanz dieser Empfehlungen führen zu immer neuen Kunden und Empfehlern. Eine Kettenreaktion die geradewegs zum Erfolg führt. Doch wie macht man aus Kunden begeisterte, durch und durch aktive Empfehler? Was sind die Zutaten für empfehlungswerte Anbieter, Produkte und Services? Die Antworten stehen in der aktualisierten und erweiterten Fassung meines Buchs: Zukunftstrend Empfehlungsmarketing.

Zukunftstrend Empfehlungsmarketing:
Das Inhaltsverzeichnis zum Buch

1. Ihr größter Schatz: aktive, positive Empfehler
Empfehlungen sind die bessere Werbung
Ãœber positive und negative Empfehler
Eine Rechnung, die aufgeht: Der Loyalty Value
Was Mundpropaganda und Empfehlungsmarketing unterscheidet
Die Bandbreite des modernen Empfehlungsmarketing

2. Nur Spitzenleistungen werden weiterempfohlen
Mit sieben A’s zu Spitzenleistungen
Marken sind gut fürs Empfehlungsgeschäft

3. Nur Spitzenleister erbringen Spitzenleistungen
Wie aus Mitarbeitern Spitzenleister werden
Vor der Kundenfokussierung steht die Mitarbeiterorientierung
Sich selbst zum Spitzenleister machen

4. Empfehlungsgeschäft ist Vertrauensgeschäft

5. Begeisterung ist ein Turbo für den Empfehlungserfolg
Wie Begeisterung entsteht
Von der Kundenbefürchtung zur Kundenbegeisterung
Dienstleistung neu erfinden

6. Die richtigen Fragen stellen
Die Empfehlung stimulieren
Empfehlungsfokussierte Kundenbefragungen
Die Empfehlungsrate ermitteln

7. Schritt für Schritt: Ihr Fahrplan in eine empfehlungsstarke Unternehmenszukunft
Schritt 1: Die Analyse
Schritt 2: Die Strategie
Schritt 3: Maßnahmenplanung und Umsetzung
Schritt 4: Kontrolle und Optimierung

8. Aktionsprogramme für Ihren Empfehlungserfolg
Ins Gespräch kommen
Zum ‚Talk of the town‘ werden
Schriftliche Verstärker
Testimonials und Referenzen
Mundpropaganda via Handy & Co.
Empfehlungen geldwert belohnen?
Neue Formen der Mundpropaganda

9. Das Internet als Empfehlungsplattform
Ein globales Dorf
Virales Web-Marketing

10. Mundpropaganda durch Guerilla-Marketing

11. Die Presse als Empfehler
Positive Schlagzeilen
Negative Schlagzeilen

12. Geschichten erzählen – zum Weitererzählen
Wie man Unternehmensgeschichten macht
Geschichten für drinnen und draußen
Erzählstoff durch Mitmach-Marketing

13. Wie aus Reklamierern positive Empfehler werden

14. Am Ziel: Ihr Empfehlungserfolg

Weitere Infos hier.

Dear business owner, are you successful? Do you spend your money on the right stuff?

It is known for a long time: with traditional advertising, you waste money, everyday.

Now we even heard: traditional advertising is dead!

Check the numbers here:

Obviously, traditional advertising is an enormous, irresponsible waste of money. Therefore STOP wasting 3-digit billions for useless stuff like TV ads, Print ads, Flyer, Yellow Pages, Direct Mail, NO ONE READS THESE MESSAGES!

OK? Good. Thank you.

But what are you going to do now?

Some ideas: hire more people, pay higher salaries, work less, spend more time with friends and family, enjoy nature, donate money, save the rain forest, protect animals, invest in new green technologies, live a happier life…

“Sounds good”, you think, “but what happens with my business?”

Your business will grow even better if you focus on recommendations. Turn every customer into your promoter. Recommendation marketing is not another “hype” – it defines the way businesses interact with their customers in the future.

You can start today: offer great products, be nice to your customers, ask them to recommend your services to others, listen to them, give them what they want, build things they like, reward them for their honest input and their recommendations.

The Buzz about the Buzz:

| View | Upload your own

It has scientifically been proven: a 1 per cent increase in word of mouth advocacy (= positive recommendations) equated to £8.82m extra sales! Read more in this study from The London School of Economics (LSE).

But:

How can you make every single recommendation permanently visible, so that hundreds, thousands of people can read it, even months later?

How can you track who is recommending your business to others?

How can you reward your promoters for the great job they do?

Can you show prospects your list of highly satisfied customers?

Can you prove that you have more satisfied customers than your competition?

Can you communicate with all your promoters and ask them for new product ideas?

You will be able to do so, soon…via earthfaves.

Stay tuned.

“Increasingly, the Web offers tools that enable travelers to get customized information for trip planning.” writes Jane Wooldridge.

In her article, customized information refers to the extra bells and whistles (services) that booking sites are offering in addition to the standard “find me the cheapest rental car or flight.” Information like, “where do I get cheaper gas?” or “where’s the next BK?” And of course, those hot mobile services for road warriors with Smart Phones and PDAs that enable then to get real-time information about hotel room availability and the like.

We have a different slant on the meaning of customized information. We like to think of it as information organized AROUND YOU meaning your experiences, interests and social network. Imagine you could check ALL the location recommendations you ever got – IN SECONDS, NO MATTER WHEN AND WHERE YOU ARE? All in one place: recommendations you read about in a newspaper, your favorite magazine, a travel guide, all tips from your friends, colleagues, family – maybe even from experts or pop stars! Wouldnt that be a great help and inspiration source?

Think of it like when you’re going out to buy new golf clubs. Naturally, you have have a different swing than the next guy/gay and that standard set of expensive Titleist irons may not be your best bet. Ever heard your golf pro say, ‘ You should check out customized clubs that fit your height and swing type.’

blog reader thinks: “My golf swing vs. my travel profile…nice try, Barrett…I don’t even play golf.”

OK, OK…wait…indulge me for a minute, then I’ll quit it. earthfaves allows you to “pin” your favorites places on a freely accessible digital map. Let’s say you’ve “earthfaved” 20 places. You’re golf swing is starting to develop. Three months down the road, you’ve earthfaved 120 places. You’re swing has slightly matured, you’re not just hitting balls at the range anymore. Now you’ve advanced to the Par-3 course. Six months in, you’ve pinned up over 300 earthfaves. “Nice swing, Scotty, let’s take a look at those clubs” says your Pro. Over time, by continuously adding your earthfaves, you essentially build your earthfaves profile and lead us to provide you with better information based on what your interests are; just as developing your golf swing over time leads your golf pro to help you select the best customized golf clubs. But that is not even the best aspect: imagine your 50 best friends do the same. They all add 300 earthfaves all over the world in half a year. If you add someone as friend at earthfaves, you can instantly see and browse through all his recommendations – and the earthfaves of her/his friends! That makes 300×50 = 15000 recommendations only from your friends already in six months! Guess what: you will never use any other guide than YOUR earthfaves to find your way!

Don’t you hate it when you end up some place you don’t like (and you picked it), plus, you know you could have done more research beforehand? What about this one, even more painful: making a travel decision that was an educated one, and the experience still turns out to be a disappointment. Man, that really gets my goat. How do you avoid that?

Do I dare answer?

Sign up for our beta launch at http://www.earthfaves.com and find out!!