The Secret Weapon of Modern Brands: Experiential and Word of Mouth Marketing with Saul Colt – Founder of The Idea Integration Company (GMT079)

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Can you think of the last time you saw something and you just had to tell your friends about it? Do you remember having a great experience at a restaurant and later on tweeting about it? This is, essentially, word of mouth marketing (WOMM). It’s an organic way of spreading information that utilizes components of viral marketing, though unlike viral marketing, it spreads by more natural channels. In this episode, Saul Colt, Founder and Creative Director of The Idea Integration Company, shares how he’s built relation planned, created, and launched experiential and word-of-mouth campaigns that helped brands like FreshBooks, Xero, Nike, and more to stand out from competitors.

In episode 79, you’ll learn:

Why companies must embrace experiential and word of mouth marketing
How to unforgettable experiences that capture hearts, minds, and wallets that get people talking
How to plan and implement successful experiential and word-of-mouth campaigns

Tweet Some Quotes from This Episode

Any product can be copied, any product can be stolen, any idea. One thing you can’t steal is a relationship with your customers. – @saulcolt from @GrowthToday podcast. Get the full podcast episode 👇 Click To Tweet Customers really embrace brands that stand for something. People want to have non-transactional relationships with the brands they admire. That means you actually have to get to know them and spend time with them. – @saulcolt from… Click To Tweet Word of mouth and experiential are really the springboard to creating traditional media opportunities. – @saulcolt from the @GrowthToday podcast. Get the full episode 👇 Click To Tweet

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My Takeaways from This Episode

Do great work and make sure everyone knows that it came from you. That’s great advice from Saul. It’s something that I’m trying to do right now by investing more of my time and resources to my personal brand.
Customers really embrace brands that stand for something. People want to have non-transactional relationships with the brands they admire. That means you actually have to get to know them and spend time with them. The fact that you have a relationship with your customers is the greatest differentiator that you can have from a competitor.
Build real relationships with your customers. Any product can be copied, any product can be stolen, any idea. One thing you can’t steal is a relationship with your customers. Ads are amazing, ads work. That’s why advertising agencies are still going. But ads don’t last forever. And ads, you know, don’t create real emotional connections.

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About Saul Colt

Saul Colt is the Founder and Creative Director of The Idea Integration Company. In a previous life Saul was the first international employee of Zipcar and the person responsible for launching Zipcar into the Canadian marketplace, was a key contributor to the growth of FreshBooks.com (The #1 Cloud Accounting service for Small Business Owners) and even knows what it is like to work for a large corporation from his time in a leadership role at Rogers Communications and Xero.com. Saul has spoken at Stanford University, NYU, 92Y, CES and SXSW and offers consulting services specializing in Word of Mouth Marketing, Stunt Marketing, Social Media, Customer Experience, and Community Building. In his free time he collects Nike Air Force One sneakers, watches lots of movies and just happens to be the Smartest Man in the World.

Show Notes

8:22 – How Saul began his professional career as a comic book writer
13:06 – Why building sustained relationships with customers is the best kind of marketing
18:13 – How to give people the reason to talk about your product
28:08 – Some innovative and risky ventures Saul has tried for his clients
33:26 – What Saul thinks about the Peloton ad
38:18 – Defining success metrics and goals for business marketing campaigns