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Newsletter #910: The “Lessons from CiCi’s Pizza” Issue

[Welcome back to the Damn, I Wish I’d Thought of That! newsletter. This is text of the great issue all of our email subscribers just received. Sign yourself up using the handy form on the right.]

You can get people to take notice, talk about you, and share your stuff if you make your customer love public, make your talkers happy, and make it personal. CiCi’s Pizza knows all of this and capitalizes on it with some simple yet brilliant tactics. Here are some lessons we can learn from them:

1. Enable your best talkers
2. Make it sharable
3. Share the love
4. Check it out: Cat Bounce

1. Enable your best talkers

Most word of mouth comes from groups, not individuals. That’s why teachers are great talkers. They tell their class, the students tell their parents, parents tell other teachers, and the cycle continues. If you can make a teacher happy, you can spread a whole lot of word of mouth. How does CiCi’s do this? Field trips. Their Lunch and Learn program invites classrooms to come learn about math while students make their own pizzas. They also give teachers kits full of worksheets and certificates to give to their students.

The lesson: Find a way to make groups happy and put something in their hands worth passing along.

Learn more: CiCi’s Pizza

2. Make it sharable

Every pizza on CiCi’s online menu has its own like button. CiCi’s fans can share their love for their strange — and most popular — pizzas like the “Mac & Cheese.” That’s much more interesting than liking a pizza restaurant. Because social media is a reflection of the talker, they’ll share your stuff when it says something about their personality. Think about it. What says more about a person: that they like your restaurant or that they like your “Hog Fest” pizza?

The lesson: Let your customers show off their love for every part of you, not just your brand.

3. Share the love

Everyone gets letters of appreciation from their customers. CiCi’s puts theirs online for the world to see with “WOW Stories of the Week.” That’s much more impactful than pinning them on a bulletin board next to the restroom — it’s also great for employee morale. Are you hiding your thank you notes on a bulletin board or in a drawer? If so, get them somewhere they’ll be seen. You can create a special page on your website, post and tag the message on Facebook, or share them with your followers on Twitter.

The lesson: How can you make your customer’s appreciation more visible?

Learn more: CiCi’s Pizza

4. Check it out: Cat Bounce

Yep. It’s exactly what it sounds like.

Check it out: Cat Bounce

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