The woman next to you in the coffee shop, typing madly on her laptop, just might be determining the ending to next year's block-buster film or how quickly the hottest new PDAT hits store shelves. In homes, dorm rooms, waiting rooms, planes and trains around the world, millions of people are exercising enormous influence on what we buy, even though they have no official connection to those products and services.

Who are they? What motivates them? Marketing experts Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba explore the ramifications of social media in Citizen Marketers. As everyday people increasingly create content on behalf of companies, brands or products, they are collaborating with others just like themselves and forming ever-growing communities of enhusiasts and evangelists. From the rough to the sophisticated, the ""user-generated media"" of blogs, online bulletin boards, podcasts, photos, songs, and animations are influencing companies' customer relationships, product design, and marketing campaigns, whether they participate willingly or not.

Citizen Marketers is the first book to document this phenomenon, examining some of the early winners and losers in this new genre, as well as some of its most noted constituents. With their exceptional knowledge of brands, products, companies and industries, the citizen marketers are democratizing traditional notions of communication and marketing, even entire business models.

Features:

Research on social mediaCase studies of people and organizations fueling the growth of citizen marketingClarifies the context and importance of technological and societal shifts that are changing the nature of customer expectations and relationships

When customers are truly thrilled about their experience with a product or service, they become outspoken “evangelists” for a company. For most businesses, customers are loyal to people, not brands. Creating a culture of not only loyalty but belief is the formula for creating authentic and powerful word of mouth.

By researching companies with dedicated groups of outspoken, buss-spreading evangelists, authors Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba distill the formulas of the successful companies into the six tenets of customer evangelism. Creating Customer Evangelists explains why many traditional loyalty programs fail and how organic word-of-mouth programs often create communities of influencers who accelerate a company’s success.

Creating Customer Evangelists is the bible for any business hoping to convert good customers into exceptional ones who willingly spread the word.

When customers are truly thrilled about their experience with a product or service, they become outspoken “evangelists” for a company. Savvy marketing professionals know that this group of satisfied believers can be leveraged as a potent marketing tool to increase their customer universe.

Authors Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba know how to take a company’s best customers and turn them into influential, loyal, and enthusiastic evangelists. Creating Customer Evangelists shows how to develop evangelism marketing strategies and programs that will create communities of influencers who can expand and drive sales for a company.

By deepening customer relationships, successful companies create customer communities that generate grassroots support and value for their products and services. Creating Customer Evangelists can convert good customers into exceptional ones who willingly spread the word.

Updated material for this edition includes

* New research about the effectiveness of word of mouth

* Updated case studies

* How blogs, podcasts and other social media affect the six tenets of evangelism

* Preface about the growth of customer evangelism, fueling a ""word of mouth marketing"" industry

Through in-depth research and interviews, authors Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba document the inspirational stories behind large and small companies that have produced legions of unofficial salespeople and a cost-effective and powerful marketing force:

· Krispy Kreme

· Southwest Airlines

· Dallas Mavericks

· Build-A-Bear Workshop

· IBM

· O’Reilly & Associates

· SolutionPeople

Written for marketers, entrepreneurs, and leaders who know that solid customer relationships build and sustain companies through good and rocky times, Creating Customer Evangelists is a must-read guide to building an influential, loyal, and enthusiastic volunteer sales force.

The woman next to you in the coffee shop, typing madly on her laptop, just might be determining the ending to next year's block-buster film or how quickly the hottest new PDAT hits store shelves.  In homes, dorm rooms, waiting rooms, planes and trains around the world, millions of people are exercising enormous influence on what we buy, even though they have no official connection to those products and services. 

Who are they?  What motivates them?  Marketing experts Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba explore the ramifications of social media in Citizen Marketers.  As everyday people increasingly create content on behalf of companies, brands or products, they are collaborating with others just like themselves and forming ever-growing communities of enhusiasts and evangelists.  From the rough to the sophisticated, the "user-generated media" of blogs, online bulletin boards, podcasts, photos, songs, and animations are influencing companies' customer relationships, product design, and marketing campaigns, whether they participate willingly or not. 

Citizen Marketers is the first book to document this phenomenon, examining some of the early winners and losers in this new genre, as well as some of its most noted constituents.  With their exceptional knowledge of brands, products, companies and industries, the citizen marketers are democratizing traditional notions of communication and marketing, even entire business models.

Features:

<ul><li>Research on social media<li>Case studies of people and organizations fueling the growth of citizen marketing<li>Clarifies the context and importance of technological and societal shifts that are changing the nature of customer expectations and relationships