Effective Word Of Mouth Tactics – Part V

I’ve read over a dozen of Seth Godin’s books, and seen him speak in person a few times.

I finally got the chance to meet him after he spoke to over 3,000 business owners recently at Infusionsoft’s “ICON14” annual event in Phoenix.

I told him how after seeing him a few years ago, I started modeling all of my own presentations after his by using as few words on my slides as possible and including lots of fun, interesting images.

He replied, “And you shaved your head, too!”

What a wise guy!

(*NOTE: I’ve always thought it sad that people consider being a “wise” person to be a negative. Kind of like how the villains in superhero movies are often successful, wealthy business owners.)

Yes, Seth Godin is quite “wise” – in fact, he’s a genius business thought-leader.

One of the many brilliant points he made in his ICON14 presentation was that Twitter was built into a multi-billion dollar company without a single dollar being spent on advertising (and the same goes for Facebook).

Think about it: If you have a Twitter (or Facebook) account, it’s not because you saw a paid advertisement.

It’s because someone (and maybe a whole bunch of someones) invited you to start using it.

In other words…

These two multi-billion dollar businesses were both built purely on Word Of Mouth advertising.”

How about your business? Are you leveraging the power of Word Of Mouth as well as you possibly could?

Here are 40 Ways To Harness The Power Of Word Of Mouth (*I know I only promised you 30 in last week’s post, but I like to over-deliver!).

I’ve grouped them into 6 general categories for you…

1. Use Experts

Experts can come in many forms, and all of their opinions should be taken into consideration when putting together a Word Of Mouth campaign. Some experts to gather information from include:

• Your own customers
• Your own salespeople
• Your own suppliers
• Recognized experts, authors and authorities in your field
• Members of “Experts’ Selling Groups”
• Participants in “Expert Roundtables”

2. Seminars, Workshops & Speeches

These venues are a perfect opportunity to gather information. People who attend these types of events are used to giving feedback, so you can use a survey or other method to gather information you can look over later. Some events to attend and leverage are:

• Speakers’ programs
• Seminars and Workshops
• Group selling events
• Dinner meetings
• Peer selling groups
• Guest Experts on tele-seminars and webinars
• Trade show events and opportunities

3. “Canned” Word Of Mouth

The concept of “canned” Word Of Mouth is using physical and online products to get feedback and offer information at the same time. Some ideas for these are:

• Webinars
• Tele-seminars
• Google Hangouts
• Email campaigns
• Surveys
• Coaching programs
• Online forums
• Facebook groups
• Linkedin groups
• CD’s & DVD’s

4. Referral Selling

As I’ve mentioned before, a referral program can help you build your business in a variety of ways. By using some of these tactics and opportunities, you can find out exactly what you need to do to generate positive Word Of Mouth:

• Testimonials
• Networking
• Referral Sales Programs
• Affiliate Marketing

5. Using Traditional Media for Word Of Mouth

Using traditional media is a great way to get feedback. These are still considered mainstream ways of interacting with the public and consumers. Some traditional media outlets are:

• Customer service
• Public relations
• Consumer Hotlines
• Product placements
• Events
• Promotions
• Word Of Mouth in ads, sales brochures, direct mail, etc.
• Salesperson programs, sales stars or peer training
• Word Of Mouth incentive programs (“Tell-a-friend” programs)
• Customer gifts they can share with their friends (articles, videos, reports, how-to manuals)

6. Internal Word Of Mouth

• Encourage employee Word Of Mouth and sharing feedback with family, friends and others
• Offer rewards or commission for Word Of Mouth success

As you can see, there are many, many ideas you can work with to increase your level of positive Word Of Mouth marketing.

And you don’t even have to shave your head to make them work.