Effective Word-Of-Mouth Tactics – Part XVI

All four of my grandparents fled oppression in Eastern Europe around the turn of the 20th century and came to America as children, not speaking any English and with basically no money to their name.

I love the fact that people from all over the world vote with their entire lives year after year that America is The Greatest Country On Earth, and I have always been extremely pro-immigration.

In case you haven’t noticed, there’s been lots of talk recently about a “Border Crisis,” with estimates that around 150,000 Central Americans have entered our country illegally over the past year or so.

Critics call this “an overwhelming flood” of immigrants.

Here’s another way of looking at it: That’s less than one-half of one-thousandth of the total U.S. population. In other words, for every 2,000+ Americans, there is now 1 extra illegal immigrant.

Does that sounds like a “crisis?”

It’s not as if we have no physical room for such “an overwhelming flood” of people. Quite the opposite is true, of course.

(The mainland of the United States is nearly three times the size of India, yet has less than one-third of the population. It’s only slightly smaller than China, yet that country has about four times as many people.)

Instead, the tremendous anti-immigration anger stems from the fact that we have little financial room for these people, thanks to the fact that the U.S. is now a welfare/entitlement state, with massive debt, trillions of dollars of unfunded future entitlements, high unemployment and a weak, stagnant economy.

And thus, Big Government rears its ugly head again.

My grandparents came here with no expectation — nor means — of receiving government handouts; they came to work hard and help contribute to the growing American economy, which they did.

Thanks to Big Government, that isn’t the case today. And that is very unfortunate, for everyone both now and for the future of our great country.

Regardless of how you feel about the current “Border Crisis,” the whole situation is another excellent example of the power of Word Of Mouth.

As Florida Senator Marco Rubio explained in a recent television interview:

“The leading reason why this is happening is Word Of Mouth is spreading that if you make it to the U.S. as an accompanied minor or as a family with children, you’re going to be treated differently than adults who are traveling by themselves… You’ve now created a Word-Of-Mouth incentive for others to do the exact same thing.”

Now, your own business’ Word Of Mouth campaign may not ever cause tens of thousands of people to risk their lives and travel thousands of miles to do business with you, but I have a feeling you’d be satisfied with success on a MUCH smaller scale.

With that in mind, let’s bring to a close our months-long series on how to plan and execute your own powerful Word Of Mouth marketing campaign…

Last week I gave you a laundry list of 40 tips and tricks you can use to make your Word Of Mouth marketing program work for you.

Hopefully you’ve taken a look and decided which ones are the best fit for your company, products, services and target market, so you can put them to work in your own Word Of Mouth campaign.

Now I’m going to wrap up this 16-part series by giving you a review of specific strategies and tactics you can use to create a successful Word Of Mouth campaign. As you go through this list, think of a saying people that know me hear me say over and over: “I live in an AND world — not an OR world.”

In other words: How many of these can YOU use to spread positive Word Of Mouth about you, your company and your products or services?

• Seed the market. Find some way to get your product or service into the hands of key influencers.
• Provide a channel for the influencers to communitcate and get all fired up about your product.
• Offer plenty of demonstrations, testimonials, success stories and other forms of “proof.”
• Form an ongoing group that meets on a regular basis, both online and in-person.
• Create fun events to bring users together and invite non-users.
• Record and post videos to your own website and video hosting sites like YouTube, featuring enthusiastic customers, clients or patients of yours talking with other enthusiastic customers, clients or patients of yours.
• Create custom online videos, CD’s and/or DVD’s for each potential customer, client or patient.
• Hold seminars and workshops — both online and in-person.
• Create a club with membership benefits.
• Pass out flyers.
• Tell friends.
• Offer special incentives and discounts for friends who tell their friends.
• Use various social media sites.
• Do at least one outrageous thing to generate Word Of Mouth.
• Empower employees to go the extra mile.
• Encourage networking and brainstorm ideas.
• Run special sales.
• Encourage evangelism with the use of a strong referral program.
• Use a script to tell people exactly what to say in their Word Of Mouth communication.

These are all amazing ways you can get the word out about your products and services and start a Word Of Mouth campaign that takes on a life of its own.

Now before you release your Word Of Mouth campaign out into the world, you should go through this checklist to make sure you’ve covered all the essentials:

• Are all of your communications sending the same simple message? If it can’t survive Word Of Mouth, it’s not a compelling story.
• Is your product positioned as the only one in a certain category? For example: “A dandruff shampoo that doesn’t dry your hair.”
• Are your examples outrageous and interesting enough to be shared?
• Do you enhance your materials with success stories from real people?
• Are you using experts effectively and in an objective manner?
• Have you created mechanisms so people can follow up on the Word Of Mouth they hear, as well as simple ways of inquiring, ordering or even just becoming a part of your list for follow-up?
• Have you made the decision process easy for your prospects?
• Have you created follow-up systems so that your prospects are continually educated about your product, and it’s easy for them to try or buy when they’re ready?

All of these are essential elements for you to keep in mind before launching your Word Of Mouth campaigns. Make sure not to cut corners, so you can experience the very best results possible.

I hope you’ve found this series on Word Of Mouth to be a great resource, and I sincerely hope you’re getting ready to put it into action for your own products or services.

And I hope you never feel you have to pay a drug dealer thousands of dollars, or ride on top of a train through dangerous territory, or sleep in a packed, disease-infested holding cell to get to your own personal state of freedom.