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Great companies seize opportunities to help out and make the day for their customers, their fans, and their communities. A few examples of it here:
Sometimes all you need is a few nice, kind words to make someone’s day. Women’s clothing retailer ISIS has been known to hide little notes in their coat pockets, saying things like, “You are a goddess!” — and while ISIS isn’t flashy or highly public with how they try to make someone’s day, it’s just as effective when these new fans blog, tweet, and tell all their friends about their experience. Try hiding some nice little surprises in your products, your invoices or your website and watch how it helps fans talk about you.
The Lesson: You don’t have to be noisy about being thoughtful. If you do it right, your fans will take care of telling everyone.
If you have the chance to make the day for a whole community, why wouldn’t you do it? Tone Brothers, a spice producer based in Ankeny, Iowa, donated 18,000 pounds of garlic salt to their local community during a major ice storm to help de-ice more than 400 miles of roadways. Other than having the effect of making a few public workers hungry, it also made for a great story that earned national headlines. You might not have tons of salt at your disposal, but you do have industry expertise and a bunch of employees that might love the chance to volunteer.
The Lesson: The more people you can help with your smarts and your generosity, the better.
According to research from the University of Washington, a customer who is made to feel grateful most likely becomes enduringly loyal as a result. It’s this kind of thinking that helped inspire Hyatt Hotels to start rewarding customers with “random acts of kindness” — like picking up the tab for hotel massages or bar drinks. If you were to test out going above and beyond once in a while for the customer, what would happen?
The Lesson: Hyatt shows us it doesn’t have to be a complex or detailed rewards program — a little random love for fans now and then can create some powerful word of mouth.
When you’re making the rounds at your local mall this holiday season, you might consider saving your children some childhood trauma by avoiding any Santas that would make this list.
Ready for amazing word of mouth? We’re bringing together an all-star group of word of mouth marketers for Word of Mouth Supergenius: The “How to be Great at Word of Mouth Marketing” Conference on December 16 in Chicago. We’ll feature 12 how-to classes, 12 real-world case studies, and 6 brilliant authors. You’re going to learn practical, hands-on techniques to get people talking about you the next day.
Our lineup of speakers includes word of mouth supergenius John Jantsch, author of Duct Tape Marketing: The World’s Most Practical Small Business Marketing Guide. Here John shares a few of the ideas he’ll be discussing in his author session:
It’s about connecting, not automation. The best companies are using the latest communication tools not for automation or as “just another tactic,” but to truly connect and create relationships with customers.
Study first, spend later. Before you pull out your wallet on a big campaign, John recommends testing on small scales with cheap (or free) tools to find what works.
Focus on meeting the customer’s best interests. Doing so — even when you’re on a tiny budget — forces you to be more creative, and often as a result, more authentic.
Hear John’s live Supergenius preview (and check out our Facebook page to see all our interviews):
As part of Make a Referral Week,
I joined John Jantsch for a podcast where we talked about a bunch of word of
mouth topics, including:
The difference between referrals and WOM
How word of mouth happens
How to create a word of mouth campaign
Simple examples of small business word of mouth success
Make a Referral Week ran from March 9-13 and was all about putting a dent in
the recession by shining a light on the efforts and impact of one small business
helping another. A big thanks to John for all his work in encouraging folks to
promote some of the truly fantastic businesses out there that show love for
their customers every day, regardless of the economy.
I’m pledging to make a referral to a business I want to help as part of a national campaign to make 1000 referrals March 9-13.
The week-long event features a killer list of referral experts providing valuable marketing advice (including me). Sign up to hear me interviewed on March 11.
I’m passionate about solutions like this because I truly believe that we each have the power to grow our business and grow our friend’s business. It takes creativity, generosity, and guts. I applaud John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing for putting this together.
Make a Referral Week is an entrepreneurial approach to stimulating the small business economy one referred business at a time. The goal for the week is to generate 1000 referred leads to 1000 deserving small businesses in an effort to highlight the impact of a simple action that could blossom into millions of dollars in new business. Small business is the lifeblood and job-creating engine of the economy and merits the positive attention so often saved for corporate bailout stories.
Do your part to stimulate the economy by telling your world about making referrals and Make a Referral Week – you’ll be in good company.
John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing organized Snackfest: 2009, predictions for small business from Seth Godin, Bryan John Battelle, Tim Ferris, Dan Pink, me, and many others.
Seth Godin, author of Tribes said . . Run/grow/compete like mad because the big bad companies that have been slowing you down are in such disarray.
Dan Pink, author of Whole New Mind said . . . think boldly and push frontiers while the big guys run scared and retreat to safety.
David Meerman Scott, author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR said . . . stop spending $$ on marketing. Instead create interesting information people WANT to consume.
Guy Kawasaki, author of Reality Check said . . .Stop believing that Wall Street and investment bankers are any smarter than they are.
Ann Handley, chief content officer for Marketing Profs said . . .Swell in ranks. Corporate downsizing spawns a host of new businesses. Many decide to cut their own path, as traditional paths close up.
One more bit of advice: Inviting a bunch of famous bloggers to be featured on your blog is a great marketing tactic.
John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing has an amazing idea: Have a Testimonial Gathering Party:
Why not create an event around gathering testimonials. Invite your best customers for a networking social happy hour. Promote the event as a chance to network, swap stories and star in the creation of new marketing materials for your company. Give it a Hollywood theme. (This probably isn’t something you would do large scale, this is for those customers that are advocates already.)
Hire a videographer and photographer and then throughout the course of the evening, let your customers cycle through the video seat to tell their story of success with your firm. Most people enjoy being on camera once they do it and the whole group will be entertained by the event and feed off of each other’s energy. (This is something you should be doing anyway so why not do it all at one time.)
Ron Richards shares advice on how to get and use quotes. Ron runs ResultsLab and is the guru of increasing response to web pages. He’s given us great advice, and he’ll do the same for you.
There is a way to consistently get great quotes. I find the best starting point to be the same place I’d look for great strategy and compelling language in general — in-depth research interviews of your product’s “rational evangelists” — those who love your product and can articulate why.
Skillful interviews and creative work can uncover the “hot issue” and a valid argument that shows how your product helps purchasers avoid a disaster and achieve a breakthrough.
So, staying loyal to the interviews, draft some “dream quotes” to dramatize the news story. Then go back to your interviewees and say “In talking with you and others, we’re hearing:…”
If you’ve tapped your product’s greatness, they’ll say “Yes, that’s exactly how I feel.” Ask permission to quote them, and confirm it by faxing the release and the quote to them, asking them to fax it back initialed.
The result can be compelling language. In a moment, I’ll demonstrate by creating “dream” examples that show the elements of great quotes.
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