Highly Recommended: Harnessing the Power of Word of Mouth and Social Media to Build Your Brand and Your Business

by Paul M. Rand

Reach more customers and grow your business with today’s most powerful marketing Word-of-MouthHighly Recommended shows the impact of customer recommendations on businesses--transforming how people buy, how you reach customers, how you improve products, and ultimately how you can grow your company by leveraging the power of recommendations. It explains why word-of-mouth recommendations are marketing’s “holy grail,” how to get people talking, who gives recommendations, where recommendations occur, what it takes to build a recommendable brand, and how to instill WOM into every aspect of a business and at the center of any marketing mix.

Paul M. Rand is the founder, President and CEO of Zócalo Group, one of the world’s leading word of mouth and social media marketing agencies and one of the fastest growing companies inside Omnicom Group, the 2nd largest global advertising and marketing holding company. He also serves at the Chief Digital Officer for Ketchum, a leading global communications firm.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction

257 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Paul M. Rand is recognized as a visionary business strategist, entrepreneur, social and digital marketer, and public relations professional by a number of business and marketing publications. He is regularly quoted in leading business outlets and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences. Paul is the past president and board member of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA), and he currently serves on the board of the national Council of Better Business Bureaus (BBB). He is an adjunct faculty member and Vice Chairman of the Dean’s Advisory Board of DePaul University’s Driehaus College of Business and The Charles H. Kellstadt Graduate School of Business. Paul, his wife, Diane, and their three children live in the north suburbs of Chicago.

Reviews

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book from a goodreads giveaway, and by the time I finished there were post-its and bookmarks hanging out from many of the pages.

Writing a review for this book should be pretty easy because the author of a book about recommendations wrote out exactly what he hoped readers would say when they recommended his book: "the book was very readable and helped me understand what it means to have and how to achieve a highly recommended business. It's one of the best business books I've ever read."

The funny part is, it's the only business book I've ever read. While I'm finishing school (for something totally unrelated), I am working part time at a small local business and I happened to be the person who volunteered to run our business' Facebook page. While I understand how to post and things like that, I only had a basic understanding how how I was supposed to be driving the brand, engaging clients, and building an online presence that would help our sales. After a few months of only receiving a few "likes" here and there, I was frustrated because I wasn't seeing a benefit of all my time spent online. After reading this book I now have the awareness of what I can be doing better and I look forward to implementing these strategies to become successful at getting this business recommended!

This book was completely readable and is a tool that anyone who is interested in becoming more successful at social media marketing can benefit from.

[R.Z. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly Recommended by Paul Rand is written primarily for businesses, but as an author trying to market my books and other writings, I found this very relevant. Whether self-published or published by traditional publishers and sold through bookstores, authors are put into the position of having to build their platform and market their works themselves. The material presented by Paul Rand can fairly easily be adapted to the author's situation and also to the marketing needs of other entrepreneurs who want to become better known in their niche.

[Mo Buka · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would say that this book is a very good one for those who seek elevating their mindset when it comes to marketing and socializing businesses (which is nowadays is a must). I spent a little more time on it because I wanted to apply some of the advices on my private work as well. I liked the way its written & how it delivers the message in simple and easy ways. The book is rich with structured convincing tips & tools to use for everyone who’s running (or planning to) business small or big.

[Liam · Rating 5 out of 5]

"[I]t all starts with engaging my audience, not interrupting them." (17)

[Matthew Cung · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and applicable ideas!

[Diane Higgins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome

[Georgia Roybal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was another of my Firstreads wins. I was interested to read it because it discusses marketing by word of mouth and social media. I am about to retire and wanting to do some Internet marketing of art products to earn extra money.

I really learned a lot from this book. Traditional marketing and advertising are being swamped by word of mouth recommendations via social media. I also learned that, despite the fact that it's online, it is a very interactive and pretty democratic form of marketing. The author outlines how to encourage recommendations from your customers, how best to interact with them, how to interact with critics and transform them into supporters. He outlines various audiences that need to be addressed such as fans, industry eminents, peer influencers and detractors. He points out that understanding your detractors is of equal importance to understanding your fans. He suggests systematizing your interactions via social media, and even goes so far as to recommend setting up an online suggestion process. He feels that listening to our customers is the most important way to improve our products. He feels transparency is paramount and extends all of his thoughts to employees of the company: they need to feel listened to, part of the process, and should be looked to for recommendations of your company as a good place to work. (This inclusion of employees was important to me, as I am currently working in a very bureaucratic setting in which employees are not listened to or valued much at all.)

The one critique I would have is that occasionally the book sounds like a traditional marketing format: i.e., analyze, analyze, analyze so that you can outsell your competitors. (I helped a friend working on an MBA do a paper on marketing, so I am somewhat familiar with traditional marketing techniques and terminology.)

The main benefit of this book is that it helped me examine my own buying habits. I HATE traditional advertising-it has misrepresented products (the example in the book that struck me was tobacco being touted as healthy by the industry). This has led to a massive distrust on my part (and others) of advertising. That is why word of mouth is becoming a primary source of information on what to buy or not buy. Also, I often respond to e-mail or advertisements which offer giveaways, sweepstakes, or contests. One of my personal behaviors in regard to this is that I respond to these via e-mail, but I don't put them on Facebook because I have to look at them daily on Facebook. On my e-mail I can delete them, I can't on Facebook. Thus, the only ones I respond to on Facebook are ones I like seeing everyday.

This word of mouth trend in marketing is a very positive one to me. I feel that advertising is for the purpose of informing people honestly about a unique or interesting product you are offering, not to bully you or shame you into buying a product that is falsely represented or not that interesting or unique. I feel it is a game of informed choices on the part of the consumer.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good as far as "how to communicate in the social media era" guides go. As the title suggests, Rand focuses on the metric of being highly recommended. This is useful in several ways. First, it encourages the creation of content that's useful for the reader as opposed to being just a steady stream of spam. Beyond that, it loops customer service into communications planning, which is great, as that's the way many customers want to engage you on these platforms anyway.

Like many of its ilk, the book can be a little tiresome in stressing how "everything has changed." But Rand focuses on strategies instead of buzzwords, and the book is both carefully thought through and doesn't overstay its welcome.

I was happy to see Rand point out that the sensationalistic, click-bait headlines favored by many new media gurus are actually the embodiment of old-school "interruptor" marketing. His ultimate point is that successful brand communication needs to be built around sustained engagement. A thoughtful read, with some good suggestions for anyone in the field (or more so, perhaps, for their bosses).

[Natalie DiPietro · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a great deal of these types of books and this book really summarizes one basic principal. All someone has to ask is, "would you recommend X" and if the answer is yes, chances are they'll buy it, read it, watch it, hire it, book it, etc... If you answer no, they won't. Period. It doesn't matter if you've stayed at a hotel a hundred times. If you wouldn't RECOMMEND it, your friend won't stay there. I highly recommend this book.

[Polly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book from Goodreads First-reads.

Highly Recommended is absolutely highly recommended for anyone using social media in the business world. An easy read, yet packed with information to help build your brand. Be sure to have a system for note taking when you start reading.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

"True influence drives action, not awareness"
Identify your brand fans and have them spread the message for you
Follow the 90/10 Rule: Spend 90% of your time engaging/informing/educating/entertaining/listening & 10% of your time actively sharing brand messages
Forget about 'BUZZ'!
Identify and use your industry experts

[Martin Bihl · Rating 2 out of 5]

to see my review, please visit theagencyreview.wordpress.com/highly-...

[Lynne]

I won this book for free through Goodreads First Reads. Looking forward to reading it. Thank you.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

nothing new herer

[David Hersh · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are in a service industry - this is a must read.

[Chad Holdorf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good stuff. Like the concepts on how to build a recommended business. Like the 90/10 rule. Going to read tipping point to see if I can put it all together.