Have you ever wondered about how to be more persuasive or influential? Certainly, an important question if you are in the marketing profession, isn’t it? It is certainly a secret to WOMM. Let me explain why.
Emotional word of mouth conversations is sparked when consumers are highly aroused. Have you noticed that people choose emotionally and then justify logically?
Fleur, a florist shop in Chicago, puts a bucket full of bright balloons by the door of their shop both inside and out, with a handwritten sign that says: “Take a balloon.” That’s all. No logos, no catch. It is just a small action to make people smile. Inside the store, it makes a pretty display, and outside the store, people are likely to ask where you got the balloon.
That’s a simple, fun way to create some emotion and get a conversation started without a marketing message. A bucket full of balloons is a bucket full of the word of mouth memories waiting to happen. It doesn’t have to be branded or a part of a larger campaign — in fact, the simpler you make it, the better.
Surprise people
Surely you have seen the tear-jerker commercials for abused or abandoned puppies or kittens. Not something you’ll often share with friends, is it?
North Carolina’s Wake County SPCA tried a very different approach to this problem. They made a lip-synching music video to ABBA’s song “Take a Chance on Me”, with the entire shelter staff and most of the adoptable animals.
A success? It was watched on YouTube over 3.4 million times the last time we looked. Just because others do the standard tear-jerking videos doesn’t mean they are popular.
Surprise your audience with original things that are fun and approachable like this SPCA did. It may even surprise you.
Word of mouth marketing examples … emotional influence
The Zillow real estate company has built an entire marketing campaign on influencing home buyers with emotional influence. Have you seen any of them? We like them so much that we have searched for them on YouTube frequently.
“Homecoming” is Zillow’s sixth TV spot, one of the latest in the company’s highly successful national advertising campaign. You cannot beat these ads. There are no better means of influence or the power of persuasion than emotion. Hands down the best, in our opinion.
Experiences that trigger our emotions are saved and consolidated in lasting memory because the emotions generated by the experiences signal our brains that the experiences are important to remember.
The homecoming commercial ending message says it all:
You are not just looking for a house; you are looking for a place for your life to happen.
This commercial focuses on emotional appeal in grand fashion. It is the secret of this commercial’s success. It creates strong persuasion in our opinion. A great example of using emotion for a successful advertisement design.
Word of mouth marketing ideas … storytelling
Have you seen the remarkable branding video design from this South African business? The Bell’s TV commercial features a father whose intrepid spirit demonstrates just what it takes to be a true man of character.
The video was created to market and build the brand. It is a very simple story. It advocates learning to read no matter your age or status in society. To us, it creates pure magic with the story, the visuals, the music and the emotion. It certainly finds and puts emotional triggers to work.
If you haven’t seen it, watch it now, it is only 2 minutes, and it will inspire you. It is certainly easily in our top 5 of all time.
Likewise, have you ever wondered why movies like Toy Story are so compelling and successful? The best writers in the world speak to universal human themes—the things that drive every one of us no matter what our worldview is.
Look for word of mouth triggers.
Compelling storylines work because we see ourselves reflected in the characters. Their story is our story. A great script looks us right in the eye and says, “I see you.” Contrast that feeling with the one you get when you’re speaking to someone at a party, who is looking over his shoulder for the next most interesting person to enter the room.
That’s exactly how you don’t want your customers and clients to feel.
Great storytellers make us feel like they’re speaking directly to us. And so it goes for great brand storytelling. The best brand stories make you feel like the company understands and is speaking just to you. The goal is to be more like Pixar and nothing like that guy at the party. You achieve that by remembering ‘the rule of one.’
Speak to one person at a time. Make that person feel like she’s being looked in the eye. That’s the foundation of a winning emotional story.
The bottom line
Emotion is the secret language of the brain … works on emotion if you want to improve your persuasion or influence.
What are some of your experiences with utilizing emotion with word of mouth marketing messages?
Need some help in capturing more customers from your marketing strategies? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with potential customers?
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy improving your marketing, branding, and advertising?
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 blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find them on G+, 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.
More reading on marketing strategy from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
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 sellingpoint 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?
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.
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.
Customers appreciate saving time.
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.
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?
Call today for a FREE consultation or a FREE quote. Learn about some options to scope your job.
Call Mike at 607-725-8240.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step. Call today.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy to improve your marketing, branding, and advertising?
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?
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.
More reading on social media marketing and advertising from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Is your marketing strategy focused mostly on word of mouth marketing? It definitely should be. It is the best marketing technique in my mind, hands down. The key to its success is the way to get people to talk about you and start the buzz. These are called word of mouth triggers and word of mouth marketing examples will be the focus of this article.
The first thing you need to know about word-of-mouth marketing is this: generating consumers to talk about your business isn’t as random as you think. There’s a science to creating a marketing buzz, and it’s something you can learn to do.
Remember, 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 word of mouth marketing is your most important marketing campaign tool.
Word of mouth marketing takes consumers by surprise, makes an indelible impression, and pops up where and when people least expect it. It often has a large targeted audience and often can be accomplished at reduced cost.
By being a little more clever and unpredictable, you challenge consumers who appreciate a little fun in their products.
Let’s examine some excellent ways others have created a marketing buzz. Many of these can be easily copied by your company.
Word of mouth marketing examples … weird experiences
At Catbird Creamery in Maine, when you order a conventional flavor, they’ll insist that you sample something a little more adventurous. And even if you’re going to order vanilla anyway, they want you to at least try the strawberry balsamic, or green tea ginger. Catbird knows that anyone can make a good vanilla, but what makes them stand out is helping their customers see all of the other fantastic flavors they also make.
They’re giving their customers an experience to talk about. Even if the customer doesn’t order the hot pepper flavor they just sampled, they will likely tell others they tried it.
Headsets.com sells headsets and phone accessories, but they are most likely remembered for adding Tootsie Rolls to every order they ship. It’s a great word of mouth tactic and they like feedback. They use it to do something even more special. When customers thank their operator for the Tootsie Rolls received in an order and mentioned their favorite flavor, you can guess that information is noted for the next time.
Little actions to surprise and delight your customers can easily be created all the time. Follow Headsets.com example and treat feedback like a well-oiled machine, carefully gathering the information and doing something about it every time.
Word of mouth ads … mystery
Are you mysterious? Do you think you can be? We looked at how people delight in the puzzle-solving aspect of pattern recognition. Now, let’s go a bit deeper and explore what drives this pattern seeking behavior: curiosity.
Great storytellers know how to turn an ordinary event—say, a trip to the grocer—into a suspenseful one by withholding information. In new relationships, flirtation often involves some element of playful teasing, whether through conversation or more sensual revelations.
And newsrooms have made a science out of crafting irresistible headlines: “Your PC might be infected!” or “Are you prepared for the tax law changes?”
We are captivated by unanswered questions. So try and put this mystery to good use.
Make people feel special
Comodo restaurant in New York encourages customers to snap pictures of their meals and contribute them to an “Instagram Menu” by adding #ComodoMenu to their posts. It’s a great way to collect all of their recommendations and photos in one place, but more importantly, it makes those contributors feel like a part of the restaurant.
Customers are often going to take Instagram photos of their fancy dinners. Why not make the most of that word of mouth by making those customers feel special?
Fleur, a florist shop in Chicago, puts a bucket full of bright balloons by the door of their shop both inside and out, with a handwritten sign that says: “Take a balloon.” That’s all. No logos, no catch. It is just a small action to make people smile. Inside the store, it makes a pretty display, and outside the store, people are likely to ask where you got the balloon.
That’s a simple, fun way to get a conversation started without a marketing message. A bucket full of balloons is a bucket full of word of mouth memories waiting to happen. It doesn’t have to be branded or a part of a larger campaign — in fact, the simpler you make it, the better.
Have you ever tried to create conversation starters? Consider this technique by Krochel Kids Intl. Every product they make has a tag that is signed by the person who made it. They are not the standard garment tag. They are large and prominently displayed on the outside of the clothing. It makes each product one of a kind that makes the clothing stand out.
With this kind of visual message, your customers don’t have to bring up the subject because their friends usually ask about it.
Word of mouth marketing examples … demonstrate synergy
Synergy is a quality that often gets overlooked, isn’t it? But it can be a very valuable tool in many ways. You don’t have to be a genius to know that student housing is frequently in demand. Likewise, you’d guess that seniors in nursing homes like to have companionship. So to solve both problems, one nursing home in the Netherlands provides a place to stay for college students, rent free, in exchange for visiting with the elderly for 30 hours per month.
Not much in common, you say? At least they have similar needs. Perhaps your customers who seem very different may have more in common than you think.
Surely you have seen the tear-jerker commercials for abused or abandoned puppies or kittens. Not something you’ll often share with friends, is it? North Carolina’s Wake County SPCA tried a very different approach to this problem. They made a lip-synching music video to ABBA’s song “Take a Chance on Me”, with the entire shelter staff and most of the adoptable animals.
A success? It was watched on YouTube over 3.4 million times the last time we looked. Just because others do the standard tear jerking videos doesn’t mean they are popular. Surprise your audience with original things that are fun and approachable like this SPCA did. It may even surprise you.
The typical thrift store or vintage shop isn’t all that glamorous. But they do have one thing on their side when it comes to fashion: lots of rare and one-of-a-kind clothes. Goodwill capitalized on that concept by revamping some of their stores to look like upscale boutiques instead of the place you drop off your oldest clothes. Their new Rare by Goodwill stores are smaller, and they collect some of the more trendy vintage or antique stuff their regular stores have to offer.
Perhaps your business has more in common with your upscale competitors than you think, yes? What can you learn from them about attracting new customers?
Learn more: Small Business Trends
Do something different
Restaurants have a lot of overhead: plates, utensils, pots, pans, glassware, and the like. And this doesn’t last forever either. As table cloths wear out or coffee mugs chip, restaurants have to replace them. But at Cotogna and Quince, two neighboring restaurants in San Francisco, they use this aging inventory as an opportunity. They set out this type of used material for their annual “Smallwares Sidewalk Sale” and invite the community to shop, catch some brunch, and help them clean house.
Now that’s a fantastic way to address a standard problem and turn it into clever marketing. They’re saving a little money, bringing people into their restaurant, and getting rid of stuff they don’t want all at the same time.
When several guys had to give up the 1957 Land Rover they bought together in college, they were disappointed. So when Land Rover saw the boys’ ad for the sale, they bought the car and restored it down to the smallest of details.
But before surprising the guys with the return as a gift, they created a video commercial. Each place in the commercial reflected a memory of a car adventure from the group.
Your customers will often surprise you with many more great memories than you can build yourself. Look for them and put them to good use.
Learn more: Brains on Fire
The bottom line
The triggers of word-of-mouth marketing are all around us. All we have to do is be open-minded in how we look.
Our world is in flux. There is no part of the consumer experience that is untouched. Digital technology is disrupting the marketplace, while changes in our understanding of the psychology of decision-making have overturned centuries of conventional wisdom. Even a brief summary such as this one can make the challenges seem overwhelming.
So what to do? First, start somewhere. It can be one place or the other, but at least start. The change will be unfolding for years and everyone else is as confused as you are.
Now it’s your turn. What is the creative word of mouth marketing ideas from your business?
Need some help in capturing more customers from your social media marketing or advertising? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with your customers?
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy to innovate your social media strategy?
Do you have a lesson about making your advertising better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way.
More inspirational stories from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on G+, Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, and LinkedIn.
