Seth Godin once said: Products or services that are remarkable get talked about. Do you know the secrets to stimulate wom marketing? Not really secrets, but you’d be surprised how few businesses put them in action. Seth knows. It is in his quote. Be remarkable and you will be remembered and talked about. Sounds simple, right? But not that simple. What are your best ideas to stimulate word of mouth marketing?
The main goal of your business is not just to create customers. It is to create customers who then will also create customers (that is, customer advocates). This is the perfect marketing solution for 99 % of all businesses and is why we believe a word of mouth marketing is your most important marketing campaign tool.
Keep reading these ideas: Press Coverage … 9 Actionable Ways to Get Good Coverage
So how do you achieve this solution? By influencing customers in a way that they want to talk about you. Consider these ultimate ideas to inspire customers to talk about your business:
Wom marketing … create curiosity
“No rails to damage your tires.” That was the headline on one car wash’s sign that made them different from the three other car washes on the same street. Did you know that car wash guide rails could damage your tires? Probably not. But it makes you curious about what it is all about, doesn’t it? It’s that one simple sentence that tells everyone why that business is different.
So what is the lesson you say? Before this car wash put their selling point on their sign, they probably got a lot of questions like “Where are the guide rails?” Are you listening for these opportunities to explain what small details make you better?
Word of mouth marketing examples … build social relationships
Marketers don’t need to tap into mysterious powers of influence to make an idea spread. In reality, what’s essential is a good story and a density of social relationships.
In his bestselling book, The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell provided an explanation for viral hits like the Reese’s Pieces meme. A special class of rare people, he reasoned, can give a spark to an idea due to the influence they have on the rest of us. He called his “Law of the Few,” which he formulated as:
The success of any social epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of people with a particular and rare set of social gifts.
These gifts, Gladwell explained, came in three distinct flavors: “Connectors” are social butterflies, traveling between diverse groups of people and seeding ideas. “Mavens” become a trusted resource for collecting knowledge and sharing it freely and “salesmen” have almost magical powers of persuasion.
Unique products and services
Being different in your products and services is one of the best ways to get talked about. This is especially true if your differences match up with your target customers wants and needs. Do you know what your target customers put a high priority on?
Give customers value
It seems like another cliché doesn’t it? But as customers, we see companies breaking this rule every day. This happens when we focus on selling rather than helping. It happens when we make suggestions before knowing something about our customers. It happens when we don’t listen well. It happens when we push products or services on customers because of our quotas or commissions. Keep it simple by knowing what your customers consider valuing.
Surprise customers
Want to know one of the most effective examples that some businesses use to build its marketing and create reciprocity with its customers?
Word of mouth marketing strategy … employ emotion
Effective word of mouth conversations is sparked when consumers are highly aroused. People choose emotionally and then justify logically.
If your brand can:
- Spark amusement/humor
- Create amazement and awe
- Stimulate anxiety
Then it stands a far better chance of being talked about by more people.
The higher degree of emotion creates the more differentiation and makes it easier for your brand to project uniqueness and its word of mouth messages.
Emotion is the secret language of the brain … work on emotion if you want to improve your persuasion or influence.
By surprising them!
People like getting things for free and like them, even more, when they are viewed as ‘favors’. But even more, they love receiving these favors as surprises.
Be best at convenience and saving time
It is simple … customers put a high priority of being simple and convenient. Do what you can to help them on this.
More to learn: 19 Top Marketing Initiatives We Should Be Discussing
Customer service that goes above and beyond
Do you go the extra mile with your best customers? That extra mile is very often lonely but does get easily remembered and talked about.
Give customers reasons
You can have all of the fantastic features you want, but if your customers don’t know why they’re fantastic, those features mean nothing. You have to give them the “why.” You have to say “because…”
For example, Maker’s Mark claims to be “purposefully inefficient” with how they make bourbon. They use a roller mill to break up their grains instead of the modern hammer mill most distilleries use. It’s slower, but it doesn’t scorch the grains like the hammer mill. That’s a tiny detail that would probably go unnoticed if Maker’s Mark didn’t point it out in their newsletter to their customers.
To most people, the difference between hammer-milled and roller-milled grains means nothing. But Maker’s Mark helped their potential customers make better decisions by telling them why they make their bourbon the way they do.
Focus on what customers do with the product
A beer glass is a beer glass is a beer glass. Even if it’s a fancy beer glass. So how do you get people to talk about something like a beer glass? You focus on what people talk about over the beer glass instead of the product.
Give it away
Stop clinging so tightly to your stuff. Some of the best word of mouth marketing happens when you let people have it — whether that’s by giving away some content, donating something important, or letting people take some ownership of your brand.
Make it remarkable
Remarkable always gets talked about. Marketing starts with having products and services that are better than the competition, making them remarkable and worthy of being discussed by your customers.
For example, can you imagine how hard it is to make packing tape remarkable? There’s a lot of tape in the world — lots of different colors, sizes, and tools to go with it. But to make tape worth talking about, The Rip Cord looked at the problem differently.
Keep focus here: 19 Top Marketing Initiatives We Should Be Discussing
They focused on the most frustrating part of packing tape: getting it off the box. They created a packing tape with a cord down the middle to help you remove it without any hassle. It makes moving a little less painful, and it even means that more cardboard gets recycled because customers can cleanly and easily pull the tape off. Sheer genius, isn’t it?
So while other companies are figuring out ways to make tape stickier, stronger, or clearer, The Rip Cord focused on the remarkable way of pulling the tape off.
Customers buy what they need
Customers not only buy what they need, but they also buy what they want. Gather as many insights as possible by observing what they do. Asking them is not as valuable as observing them.
Tell awesome stories
Good marketers’ best way of conveying their messages. By far the best are by telling stories.
In summary, the game of marketing has changed significantly over the past decade. It’s not price … it is relevancy, difference, and value.
Now it’s your turn. What are the creative word of mouth marketing ideas from your business?
Have you ever wondered about how to be more persuasive or influential? Certainly, an important question if you are in the marketing profession.
The bottom line
Remember this:
You just can’t say it. You have to get people to say it to each other.
– James Farley, CMO Ford
It is not what advertising does with the consumer; it is what the consumer does after reading the advertisement. After looking over these ideas … how many can you put to work for your marketing?
Need some help in capturing more customers from your marketing strategies? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with potential customers?
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Call Mike at 607-725-8240.
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Do you have a lesson about making your marketing strategy better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on G+, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed how reasonable we will be.
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