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Andy Sernovitz | Damn, I Wish I\'d Thought of That!
Damn, I Wish I\'d Thought of That! – Andy Sernovitz Blog – Unusually Useful Ideas for Smart Marketers. A great, practical blog that will help you use word of mouth marketing, social media, viral marketing, blogs, buzz, evangelism, and more.
Cow Chip Cookies in Seattle has giant rolls of free stickers by the cash register.
Customers can grab one, stick it on something … and advertise the store every day.
This is a classic of free word of mouth marketing: Make it really, really, really easy for your fans to talk about you.
Next time you spend a nickel on a web ad, stop and think if there is a better use for that money.
Lesson: How can your fans brag about you? How can you make it easy and spontaneous?
Jeremiah is a top analyst at Forrester Research. He makes a good living selling expensive research. But he has fans because he gives it away too.
The best part: Jeremiah does a great weekly summary on his blog that is perfectly designed for the busy reader. It delivers just what you need to know, in a variety of formats based on how busy you are. Take a look:
I’m respecting your limited time by publishing this weekly summary, read the summary, then quickly scan headlines, read the bullet, then click to learn even more.
I’ve created a category called Digest (you can see archives) where you can start to track and access these going forward. Quickly scan the succinct and categorized headlines, read summary for analysis, and click link to dive in for more. You can subscribe to this digest tag only, which filters only these posts tagged digest.
Need to make decisions about your web strategy? I’m here to help: subscribe to my blog, sign up for emails (right nav), follow me on Twitter, I’ll add you back.
The lesson: Want more readers? Make it easy for them to read how, where, and what they want.
Thanks Andy! I’m glad you noticed. Some other tips include using easy to understand language. Focus on formatting and the fact that users will scan you posts, not read them word for word.
Andy,
I like your blog format–I wish I would have thought of that. 
I hope to stop by often now that I’m following you on Twitter.
Andy,
Found you via visual word of mouth tweet by Jason Falls – the pilots eating tacos.
Anyway, Jeremiah shared a bunch tips about doing summaries –
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2007/10/nptech-tag-summ.html
I really like the concept. I manage four blogs for very different audiences. One is simply a compliation of ideas from other sources. So the weekly summary really lets the reader pick only those posts most relevant to them.
The feedback has been very positive.
Lorraine Ball http://www.roundpeg.biz
Jeremiah is a tremendous resource for sure. I met him at a Web 2.0 conference a few months ago. If you have the opportunity to meet him, do it!
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My book, Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking, is full of practical, how-to tips on how you can get more people talking about you tomorrow. Book site | Amazon
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Andy,
Good reminder that we should often think, not just do the same-old, same-old.
I do have a question about your example: Have you ever seen anyone take a CowChip Cookie sticker or have you seen them anywhere?
Yes, it’s an easy way, but is it used? Just because it’s easy, doesn’t mean it’s good. Of course, if you *have* seen it use, then I guess it is good!
-Mike
Stew Leonards (a local chain here in NY/CT) also has stickers. Not sure how good the advertising aspect of it is, but it helps keep the kids busy for at least a minute or two while you’re trying to pay. They also have a wall where they put up pictures people submit of themselves holding a Stew’s bag while on vacation (i.e. so they get exposure all around the world).