Conversational Capital (Review and Analysis of Cesvet, Babinsky and Alper's Book)

Book Presentation:

Conversational Capital

by Bertrand Cesvet, Tony Babinski and Eric Alper

Summary of Conversational Capital

(Bertrand Cesvet, Tony Babinski and Eric Alper)

Book Presentation:

Conversational Capital

by Bertrand Cesvet, Tony Babinski and Eric Alper

Book Abstract

MAIN IDEA

Conversational capital is the art of bringing together all the requisite elements to craft positive word-of mouth endorsements from the ground up. It’s about injecting intensity into ordinary products and services to turn them into experiences consumers love and rave about to others. In effect, conversational capital is the Holy Grail for any business which aspires to leadership.

Brands which have high degrees of conversational capital always outperform those which do not enjoy this competitive advantage. When consumers are so enamored of what you have to offer they make you an ongoing part of their own stories, tremendous things can happen. This is especially true in modern media markets where mass communication is losing its effectiveness. Consumers have become suspicious of the traditional top down style of communication. They respond far better to the horizontal (peer to peer) messages or those which bubble from the bottom up. These messages are considered far more genuine and therefore more authoritative than paid advertising.

"Word-of-mouth is valuable currency. Like any currency, we believe that its value can be managed. Build it properly and you have an asset that increases the value of your brand. Ignore it or spend it unwisely and you have a liability – even if you’ve invested millions above the line. Because word-of-mouth advocacy is organic and democratic and because consumers control so much of its power, it can appear scary and unpredictable to marketers. It shouldn’t be. What we’ve seen, time and again, is that positive word-of-mouth happens when a certain number of key factors are present in a