Word-of-mouth marketing is a topic that gets a lot of attention these days. I suppose everyone knows why by now. The real question businesses should ask themselves is not how to build word-of-mouth tactics but how to stand out and be really remarkable, enabling equally remarkable customer experiences. And that is something you don’t entirely control in the end.
So what – and who – does and what can you do?
Bryan Eisenberg brought up many salient and important points in this regard in a post, called “The Remarkable Challenge.” This post is partially based on it. The truth is that many businesses are too engrossed in old ways of marketing, or they are obsessed with presenting things in a way they think of effective, not a way that truly is effective.
Word-of-mouth has always been important, and in a market where consumers can easily check the Internet for reviews and the opinions of others, it is only becoming more important.
Ask yourself why anyone would care
In a market like this, individuality is key. Why? Because once the potential buyer sees that one product, your product just becomes another copy.
Never let yourself be a copy. You may already have an extraordinary product, but you also need to get people to talk about it, or all you have is another product that no one cares about. Before releasing anything, ask yourself, “Who cares?” Don’t ask it in a mean-spirited way, but in a general way. Who is supposed to care about your product, and why should they? If you can’t answer that immediately, then you are in some deep trouble.
Now that you know who the product is for, you need to make it unique, you need to make it buzz worthy. Sure, maybe you took a product made for 30 year old business owners and converted it into a product for 25 year old small business owners; is this enough to get excited about? While you don’t need to be show-stopping, you don’t need to blow the roof off a building, but you need something that people actually care about.
Make it relevant AND good
It also needs to be good. You can put all the pizzazz and sparkle you want on a product, but if it’s crap, then everyone is going to see through the sparkle soon enough. Word-of-mouth ensures this. If your product is terrible, the only coverage you are going to get online is how bad it is, and probably how bad a marketer you are. Not a good position.
So your mission is two-fold: make a product people care about, and make it good. If no one cares, it won’t sell or convert. Here is a time for your inner-marketing avatar to shine through and show you the way to marketing Nirvana. You need to really look into yourself and at the market, and create a unique product. Remember, no one profits off copied ideas except the original person who made the product; because everyone will be looking at him for better products and advice.
Position yourself at the top, and then bring your product directly into the limelight. Post it all over social networks and all over the Internet. There is no reason to be shy, you want to get your product out there fast so it builds that selling virus.
Word-of-mouth is one of the greatest gifts in every marketer’s arsenal, but far too often, he doesn’t take advantage of it. Dust this tool off, give it a polish, and really start hammering away at it. If you make something worthwhile, you will be remembered for years; and that means you get sales for years. So, how remarkable are you?
