Spieling about health

A fascinating article in today's Times ''Spiel at the wheel?'' discusses how taxi drivers are being harnessed as word of mouth marketeers, with an interesting example about one cabbie promoting the delights of a holiday in Bangkok following a 5 days all expenses trip to Thailand! And - as people become more and more overwhelmed by traditional forms of advertising confronting them in every aspect of their day to day lives - new and different approaches such as 'word of mouth' marketing are having increasing appeal.

This is absolutely our experience at The Campaign Company. In our work with NHS organisations - particularly foundation trusts - we have done considerable work helping Trusts build their membership communities. (Working with over 50 Trusts we've recruited over 160,000 public members - about 1 in 5 of the current public membership) We've found that traditional forms of advertising - the leaflet, the poster, the join on-line form have limited impact. People are much more responsive to a direct ask - particularly one-to-one. And we take this a step further by encouraging 'member get member' recruitment and the development of 'Membership Champions'. Someone who has already joined will be be a powerful advocate to their friends, family and those in groups and organisations they belong to. They'll know how and when to get attention and be able to hone the message to the person they are talking to - because they know them well. And they will be listened to - because they are trusted and known to them - the 'word of mouth' approach in the FT context!

And in their foundation trust members, NHS Trusts have a fantastic resource at their disposal - these people are so well placed to become the 'word of mouth' advocates not just about membership but about the Trust itself - health marketeers! And as 'Patient Choice' becomes more of a reality - Trusts must embrace their FT members as a key element of their marketing mix. These are the people out there in the community; they are the people in the pubs, clubs, workplace, playgroups, bus queues, school gates. Of course - not every member is a 'word of mouth' marketeer - the trick for the Trust is to learn more about it's members - segment and stratify - and find those who are. Then it's about building the relationship - giving them the information and then sinply 'getting them talking'!

And taking this a step further - these people are just so well placed to pass messages back - let the Trust know about the things going well - but more importantly provide quick feedback about things not going so well.  Bad news always spreads so much faster than good news - so Trusts need as many mechanisms as possible to get that valuable 'early warning'!