(Word of Mouth) "Marketing is Easy"

Excerpted from " Marketing Profs Daily Fix Blog": MarketingProfs Conference Coverage: Marketing Profs Daily Fix Blog

MarketingProfs Conference Coverage: Marketing Is Easy

Word-of-mouth guru Andy Sernovitz's presentation yesterday at the MarketingProfs B2B Forum was a double whammy: A high-energy, humorous speaker delivering insightful content.

Among the many ideas I took home with me is this simple framework. Andy explained there are three basic reasons why other people talk about your company:

• It's about YOU - they think your company is great (or not-so-great)
• It's about ME - it makes the talker feel good
• It's about US - it's about being part of a group

To maximize your advantage your company should simply be more remarkable. Employ tactics that make you more forward-able, more worth talking about.

To capitalize on ME, you should give folks whatever they need to make themselves feel smart or helpful when they offer advice to others.

And to leverage US, you could invite people to participate in group activities.

Word of Mouth Marketing Manifesto

1. Happy customers are your best advertising. Make people happy.
2. Marketing is easy: Earn the respect and recommendation of your customers. They will do your marketing for you, for free.
3. Ethics and good service come first.
4. UR the UE: You are the user experience (not what your ads say you are).
5. Negative word of mouth is an opportunity. Listen and learn.
6. People are already talking. Your only option is to join the conversation.
7. Be interesting or be invisible.
8. If it's not worth talking about, it's not worth doing.
9. Make the story of your company a good one.
10. It is more fun to work at a company that people want to talk about.
11. Use the power of word of mouth to make business treat people better.
12. Honest marketing makes more money.

My Take

If you are a local business that's been around a while, you are already doing at least some of these things - intentionally or unintentionally.

YouGottaCall.com will soon be able to power your company's word-of-mouth sales leads. Capture more of the leads that your customers WANT to give to you. Improve your customer relationships and benefit the community.

If you are interested in being a beta test site, let me know!

- - Tim

Friday October 5, 2007 - 11:51am (EDT)