Earlier this week, I was writing an article for my newsletter; all about how to generate valuable, word of mouth recommendations and have the marketplace saying great things about you. I was writing the article, whilst sat in the lounge of a London hotel, where I had been staying for a couple of days.
Word of mouth marketing
Whilst writing article, a fellow guest asked me if I knew where there was a power supply, so he could plug in his laptop. I told him that I didn’t, because I was using a netbook, which has around 7 hours battery life.
I explained how I charge it in the morning and that I don’t need a power source for the rest of the day. After looking at the machine for 5 minutes and asking a few questions, he asked me for the model number, which I gave him (it’s a Samsung NC10) and promptly got his office to order him one!
It struck me afterwards, that I must have recommended the NC10 to around 20 people, since getting it just over a week ago. This is a great example of the power of word of mouth! By the way, I have no association with Samsung or anyone who sells their products. The reason I have told so many people about the NC10, is that I know how valuable that amazing battery life is to people like me; who often work away from their office and not always within reach of a power pocket.
Remarkable
It also struck me that in the 12 months I have owned my other laptop, I have never recommended it to anyone! My other laptop is bigger, faster and does everything really well. However, unlike the Samsung, with its amazing battery life, the other machine doesn’t do any one thing that is REMARKABLE.
‘Remarkable‘ is the key word here. People will only remark on you, your product or your business if you are remark-able in some way!
Just like my older laptop, which does everything really well, a business needs to offer more than a good quality service if it wants to attract stacks of word of mouth recommendations. People EXPECT a business to offer a really good service, so it’s not remarkable when they get it.
That great service you offer your clients / customers is extremely valuable – it will help you to keep their custom and encourage some of them to recommend you to their friends.
However, if you want to have thousands of people or tens of thousands of people shouting your name from the rooftops, you also need to get creative and offer YOUR marketplace, YOUR version of the NC10’s amazing battery life!
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Hi Jim,
Great example. Many times we buy things just because someone told us how great the product is and how it saved him a few times. For example I was watching yesterday a video review on YouTube for Aaron Wall’s SEO Book and after seeing the review and the summary of the book I decided that I want to have it. I know many things that are discussed in that book but I considered to be a great way to check if what I know is also right (because I learned everything on my own). So, yes, word of mouth really worked on my but if that review would’ve been boring I don’t know if the effect would be the same.
Thanks
Jim:
This is a very good example how brands can actually benefit from having good products with one (or more) unique feature(s).
In the older days of Marketing we learned that you should have a USP; that’s in your case the one remarkable thing on your new Samsung notebook.
Additionally you should have a competitive advantage: “If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete” (Jack Welch).
Sometimes it occurs to me, that marketers forget these basic facts. But without them, one will not be able to have a successful word of mouth “campaign”.
Oliver.
I may have missed your point because I pulled up the Samsung website mid-article to start ordering one…
“Being good” isn’t “good enough” nowadays!
“Good is a given” with today’s sophisticated and sales savvy buyers.
They even yawn at “good”!
Yet how many times do we hear of companies say that they “offer great service”, “are professional” etc etc yawn yawn yawn!
Everyone comes out with those “USP’s”. I put that in quotes because they are not really USP’s they are “givens”
So, make sure that you stand out and are truly UNIQUE and word of mouth will follow!
So, please don’t be good – you need to be far far better than that!
Sean
Some great comments here – thank you!!
Jim
Great post Jim, nowadays word of mouth is overlooked by so many, it stills boggles the mind at how easily we let opportunities slip from our grasp.
Without a distinctive feature or theme in a product or service, most brands fade into the background as they are outdone by the Samsungs that every once and a while take the competition by surprise.
Great post Jim, I think that there is something to be said for negative word of mouth as well as people are often more inclined to spread negative opinion of a product if they have recieved less than remarkable service.
Thanks Jim! Word of mouth / referral business is the easiest to convert all the time!
Customers believe customers. One good sentence from a customer is better than 10 great sentences you try to push into a prospect’s mind.
Great post, it reminds me of using my Levenger Circa notebook…the things seem to sell themselves as soon as someone sees them.
What a great post. Your example of only recommending something (or someone) that is ‘remarkable’ is something everyone needs to think about. Maybe all of us need to work on being ‘remarkable’ instead of trying to be ‘good’ at everything. Nice post Jim.
Ben,
Thanks for the kind words. Always nice to get positive feedback!!
I’m just getting around to reading so older posts since I have been really busy. Hooray!!
You are so right on this. There are a couple of good books on this subject as well. Seth Godin’s Purple Cow and Ken Blanchard’s Raving Fans. Lots of good nuggets you can get from these books as well as your great blog
You just have to make sure it’s remark-able and not re-markable!