How to Create Brilliant Word-of-Mouth Marketing Campaigns
Marketing campaigns? The best marketing techniques in our minds are word of mouth marketing campaigns, hands down. The key to its success is the ways to get people to talk about you and start the buzz.
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.
Related: 12 Lessons from Ben and Jerry’s Marketing Strategies
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 this is why we believe word-of-mouth marketing is your most important marketing campaign tool.
So what’s the difference between word-of-mouth marketing and traditional marketing?
The difference is that word-of-mouth marketing is to get people talking about your brand – not just to make people aware that your brand exists.
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 a reduced cost.
By being a little more clever and unpredictable, you challenge consumers who appreciate a little fun in their products.
Word-of-mouth marketing was made for small business owners. It requires creativity, flexibility, and a willingness to take a little risk. We use Guerrilla programs usually when a client says to us, we don’t have much budget but we’d really like to get some media attention.
A small business should ask themselves, what’s their essence–what’s the core message that can be distilled into a 5-second exchange or in a clever installation?
To get a better idea, let’s talk more about generating marketing buzz.
Most people think it’s something that happens by chance, but that is certainly not the case in most instances. Let us begin by discussing some material from the book Buzz marketing by author Mark Hughes.
In his book, he talks about how buzz can be generated by following a few basic principles. Businesses that follow these principles are much more successful at getting people talking about their brand than businesses that only use traditional marketing tactics. So a good place to begin, yes?
So how can you apply these basic principles and generate brilliant word of mouth for your business? Here are some ideas to consider:
Principle of buzz marketing
A good starting place is learning the fundamental principle of buzz marketing. It is pretty simple. It states if you want to generate buzz, you need to give people something special that they will remember and want to tell their friends about. Sounds simple, but just the opposite is the norm.
To do so, you need to learn the types of topics that get people talking. Yes, people talk about a lot of things, but there are particular conversation starters that get people talking more often than other topics.
So how do you apply this principle, and what are some examples of businesses that have used them effectively? Let’s discuss those topics.
Taboo topics
Taboo is a big buzz topic. The basic idea here is that people have a tendency to talk about things they shouldn’t talk about. There’s just something in our nature. As an example consider the parents of toddlers who can’t resist bringing up topics like diapers and “accidents” at a dinner with other parents. It’s a terrible topic for the dinner table, but parents can’t resist talking about it.
In order to apply this principle to internet marketing, you want to do things that are edgy and controversial. You don’t want to cross the line and create enemies, but blog posts and other controversial content will get people talking more than content that’s safe and boring.
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 its selling point on its sign, it 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?
Awesome customer service gets the attention
Mention.com analyzed 1 billion brand mentions in a recent study. What they found is somewhat surprising: 76% of brand mentions on the web and social media are neither positive nor negative.
What does this mean? On social media, neutral mentions blend into the background. When 76% of brand mentions are basically ignored, the positive and negative mentions stand out.
So how can you turn a neutral into a positive? One way is to provide excellent customer service. Use your website and other platforms to let customers know they can find you on social media when they have customer service needs.
Use the unusual
When it comes to unusual or unique topics, your objective is to create content that is unique to stand out from the crowd. Using sameness won’t stand out, and you won’t get people talking about your product or service. Doing something different will often get noticed and get people talking.
Make your content entertaining
Here’s the unfortunate truth: No one spends time on social networks for advertising. However, 82% of consumers do enjoy content from a brand as long as it provides personal value—usually in the form of humor.
In fact, Pew Research shows that 35% of men and 43% of women are on Facebook to see entertaining or funny posts. If you’re not afraid to get creative, you have a huge opportunity right in front of you.
Go for the remarkable
Another way to stand out and get people talking is to do something remarkable. Like Seth Godin’s Purple Cow. Average and ordinary don’t get people talking but remarkably do.
The goal here is do something extremely well with very high quality. If everyone else is creating average content, you need to create something above the average. If a hotel gives decent service, no one tells their friends about it, but if a hotel goes beyond what is expected, people will talk.
The obvious online business that comes to mind here is one brand that we write a lot … about Zappos.
Their insane “365-day” returns policy and stellar customer service are still unmatched in their space. Zappos goes above and beyond status-quo expectations which makes their brand something easy to talk about.
The beauty of this Zappos’ technique is: its marketing is built into company culture values that make it work so effectively.
Give customers value
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 valuable.
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 customer’s wants and needs. Do you know what your target customers put a high priority on?
Surprise customers
Want to know one of the most effective examples that some businesses use to build their marketing and create reciprocity with their customers? Use the element of positive surprise.
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.
Employ emotion
Effective word-of-mouth conversations are 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 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 … works on emotion if you want to improve your persuasion or influence.
Be best at convenience and saving time
It is really simple … customers put a high priority on being simple and convenient. Do what you can to help them with this.
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 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.
In defining guerrilla or viral marketing, many creative descriptions have been put forward.
At its core, this form of marketing is simply the “spread of an idea” that helps market your business or cause. It’s putting material out there that by its very nature attracts attention and is talked about.
The best method to look at the practice of guerrilla marketing is to examine the research of some highly intelligent folks who have dedicated years to deciphering the elements of its content.