Joan Stewart recently posted to her WomenCorp site a list of top 10 tips for free publicity. I definitely applaud Joan for creating this list, because the tips are terrific and entirely valid methods of building short-term Word-of-Mouth (WOM). But free publicity (or “some quick buzz” as the client usually calls it) is inherently fleeting. To build long-term sustainable WOM, I would like to add this to the list: focus on the product/service itself.
Here are five easy ways to build something more than quick buzz by focusing on the product/service itself:
1. If you sell a physical product, include a generous book of coupons in the box for people to pass on to their friends and colleagues.
2. Start an exclusive email newsletter just for clients and customers. Include tips and other non-sales content that people will want to forward.
3. Call up 5 customers each week “just to catch up.” Listen to complaints and kudos first (and thank them for their honesty). Then ask if they’ll tell a friend or colleague.
4. Ask for testimonials from happy customers. Post them to your web site and include it in all your collateral.
5. Make sure your customer service is second to none. Return phone calls on the same day. Always be looking for improvements and ways to make your clients and customers’ lives easier. People are thrilled to talk about businesses they LOVE.
This is not rocket science, and it’s not a secret. Make people happy, and watch your publicity expand beyond quick buzz and turn into sustainable WOM.
What do you think?
I would love to hear your ideas, too, so please add them in the comments below.
Michael, you bring up good points about the lifecycle of a product/service – that’s it not just ship it and forget it – a dangerous strategy in a Web 2.0 era.
Michael: I loved all your article. I’d like to add that while most retailers don’t appreciate this their customers are extremely well connected. So if they focus on service word will spread.
Michael, great point about calling customers “just to catch up”. Most of us only have contact with the customer when something goes wrong or when we need something from them. It’s a smart way to set oneself apart from the herd.
Nice post, Michael. I like your five points because they remind us of how important it is to show customers we appreciate them and value their business. That’s something that’s increasingly hard to find. At the end of the day, customers will continue to buy products or services from the companies that treat them with respect and show them appreciation. Thanks for getting us to think about what we can do in this regard, Michael.
Michael,
This is all so true, and there are so many tangential ideas off of your original 5 that can satisfy any industry!
So much of the ‘good things’ that happen in business that ’cause’ it to make money are those same things that can ’cause’ word-of-mouth and get the ‘middlemen’ to help you grow your brand!
Your tips #3 and #5 remind me of a blog I wrote a while back (http://www.customerthink.com/blog/automation_overkill)on the importance of REAL communication with clients and customers, not just automated responses and conversations.
I think we get so caught up in efficiency in terms of the time spent doing something, but I think time spent conversing with customers and offering them the ultimate in customer service, a relationship, is time well spent.
Great post, keep up the good work.
Michael, great to included the web in a couple of your tips.
With the explosion of user-generated content and social networking, not only do we have traditional WOM, but now there’s electronic WOM – so many more opportunities to spread the word.
Your coupon book is a great idea. A compliment to that would be online coupons with a “send to a friend” link.
The other thing that’s important, as you point out, is providing useful information and listening to what your client has to say – both in the offline and online world. This can include online surveys, polls, customer blogs or forums.
Ginny I think you put it well when you said, “time spent conversing with customers and offering them the ultimate in customer service, a relationship, is time well spent.”
You’ve got to talk to them to get them to talk about you.
The best way to generate word of mouth is to give customers more than they expected.
Michael, I love your tips.
Here’s another huge mistake I see people making at their websites that’s forcing them to leave money on the table.
They aren’t capturing visitors’ email addresses. Or they have a wimply little sign-up box that visitors can easily overlook.
The box that bounces down from the top of the screen at PublicityHound.com at least tripled the number of sign-ups to my ezine. It’s effective for two reasons:
–It’s in your face.
–Because it bounces down instead of pops up, it bypasses the pop-up box filters.
Very effective. Very smart. And a very good way to build an email list of prospects you can market to over and over again until they say “stop.”
By the way, the box that bounces down is actually HTML coding. It goes by the name Hover Ad Creator or Hover Ad Generator. Just Google it and you’ll find places where you can buy it.
Michael,
Excellent article. For tip #4 on testimonials/case studies, I recommend focusing on the customer and ‘what they did’ to be successful, not just the benefits of the product or service provided. It helps prospects to envision themselves following in the customer’s footsteps. It also makes the highlighted customer more likely to share it with others.
I would add a layer green truth as well for those who like the bragging rights that their sustainable product is better than your green one.
Umbrialistens said that bloggers need to visulize the sustainable difference, which means others they are flaunting it off to can see it as well.
These are great tips. Thanks for sharing.
All great points and 3, 4 & 5 can also be done by using consumer-genrated media on the internet as well (and probably more cheaply). See http://www.asomo.net for more or contact me jon.moody@asomo.net
These are five great points, Michael. I have one more for the list. It may be old school but I still receive a terrific ROI from a simple Thank You card. In fact, handwritten cards grow more effective each passing day because they stand apart from the digital domain.
Thank you, everyone, for some terrific comments! I’m humbled at how this post has generated so much discussion.
Paul Barsch — Spot-on, 100% agreed. It’s just too darn easy to ship it and forget it when you can just click “send” or “publish”.
Joan Stewart — I completely agree that this is a missed opportunity. To really be successful, though, I think you need to actually offer people something. Even if it’s a free white paper, a coupon, or “super secret tips”, it’s a fair trade to give something in return for their email address.
Jonathan Moody — um, forgive me for asking, but when did it become cool to re-direct a conversation by spamming the comment thread?
Chris Allen — oh, I most definitely agree! In fact, I wrote about the power of “thank you” here on MarketingProfs a few month ago.
Y’all are terrific! Let’s keep the conversation going.
Ginny –
Thanks for the link back to your post. I just read … and then re-read it again. Truer words were never spoken (or blogged)!
We’re very lucky because we have tools that make simple small gestures easy to do. But a canned ‘thank you’ is probably just as bad as not giving one in the first place. That’s why I recommend picking up the phone and calling people. Everyone should do this — from the CEO to the junior intern down the hall. If you’re shy on the phone, call after hours when you’re sure to get voicemail. Just call. Make the effort.
Ginny, drop me a line at michael (at) gaspedal.com. This is a pet topic of mine, and I’d love to discuss this further with you.
cheers,
Michael
Michael is one of the smartest people I know, so it comes as no surprise that his offerings are spot-on. I do mounds of marketing and these are sure fire ways to help your cause. I must say, the last point is the most important and yet the hardest to do. Here is a tip from real experience. Keep all client care domestic and never let it out of your site, end of story. Way to go Michael.
I think getting PR out into the newsstream helps with WOM because these articles now live online and contribute to SEO rankings. So it might be worth investing in a little PR, perhaps with a pay-per-article-placed service like PublicityGuaranteed.com