Around 240,000 people will benefit from the most recent Annual Appeal from World Bicycle Relief. If you don’t know them, WBR is a smart and well-run non-profit that provides sustainable transportation to help people go farther, carry more and cut their travel time considerably.

You can see our full case study here.

A lot of hard work and strategy went into this endeavor – a true team effort between Stalelife and the Communications and Development groups at WBR. Our approach was integrated with old and new tactics, and the results will make us stronger for years to come.

In the end, we surpassed initial goals by 25%, raised the total donation amount and nearly doubled the amount of advocates on the WBR lists. But most important, we helped the group that helps so many. And that feels good.

One of our favorite partners frowarded this video to our attention. It was created by Geert Desager, a Marketing Manager with Microsoft.

All too often we only know our consumers as statistics on a spreadsheet. When, in fact, the new idealism found in pace-setting companies is all about communication.

When you think about advertising and direct marketing and even website building, every facet of your company could provoke comments and communication from your consumers. Choose to listen and adjust, and you set the pace.

Public perception might not matter to a super established brand like IBM – wait, no, they really want people to like their products and services too.

Mid-sized companies, they need it.
Same with the SMBs.

So how can you improve perception? How can you show yourself as a company that cares, a business that has a human side that makes prospects and competitors say out loud “you know what, I really like them.”

Try social media.

It can be tricky – there are a lot of rules to it. Your presence has to be fun and upfront, caring, compassionate and you’ll need to contribute to your community. Your product or service must be up-to-par and able to withstand criticism (sounds like a general rule to me).

But the end results far outweigh the budget – social media is cheap and should be apart of your marketing plan. Especially if you’d like to find brand advocates who tell their friends why they enjoy what you bring to the table.

It’s almost like FREE advertising.

Here are some additional tips:

• Track your campaigns. All major blogging software can provide results on FREE Google Analytics pages. Plus sites like LinkedIN, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter also have tracking or search available. You can even create links that people can share with others, and you can track the usage.

• Let people comment and talk about you. Think about cultivating, not controlling. Encourage discussions on this two-way street.

• Watch the goodwill spread. It will take some time – you won’t see immediate gains. But like any part of a campaign, it needs to blossom to help build your name and your brand.

Here’s one example using something we love, the bicycle. The companies involved are MASH, an innovative cycling products company, and Mellow Johnny’s, a bike shop in Austin owned by Lance Armstrong.

Yeah, that Lance.

We’re not sure who started this conversation, but somehow these two places got together and before you know it Lance is riding a fixed-geared bike all over the city of Austin with guys from MASH. The only real sign about the shop is his hat, but it’s in there.

And once the video was up, it spread like gangbusters. Blogs. Forums. Twitter. 25,000 people saw it on YouTube. Eventually people all ended up at MASH and probably said, “what is this company?”

Now they know. And they think it’s once cool place, that’s for sure. Who knows, they probably even bought an innovative new product or signed up for email alerts.

The idea du jour was that the brand far outweighed real benefits. It was always pure justice when our measurable creative was tested versus a heavy brand approach and won (a good 100% of the time, seriously).

Enter the mid-2000s and now marketers are starting to see, the WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) theory has reached epic proportion. Social networking allows customers to talk and give their opinion, just like your neighbor telling you about a great oil change joint, or the horrible service at the local greasy spoon.

There’s no place to hide these days, and there’s no way to “counter” bad news except with superior service.

Here’s an example – Son & Heir clothing, a boutique sports t-shirt shop. We recently ordered and the package contents looked like this:

The shirt arrived on time. It was exactly as ordered. AND they gave us a Dum Dum Pop and a note to say thanks:

Small things, sure. But the small things lead to much more. For instance, we’ve already told many sports-nut friends who might be interested in their sweet design offerings.

Transparency in the modern age is real. If you rely heavily on advertising to sway opinion – or your company is constantly seen in a negative light – it’s time to re-direct your funds and your attention to your customers. Make sure the user experience is something worthwhile, and you will be rewarded time and again.

After all, your customers are talking to anyone who will listen (and read), because nowadays it’s easier than ever to do.