Accelerating Word of Mouth in the Online World
It takes consistency, creativity and persistence to use a word of mouth
campaign to make your message “stick?. The cheapest and best way to do
it is online.
If you haven’t read The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell buy it right now. If you have read it then you know Gladwell talks about the mechanism that makes an idea “sticky? using examples from Paul Revere’s famous ride to the resurgence of Hush Puppies. Most of us would love to accelerate the speed our core messages travel via word of mouth. Sometimes called a viral campaign (usually by marketers who want to charge more with a sexier term that means the same thing) word of mouth marketing programs can yield spectacular results. Most of the time they fail because we’re too busy.I’ve included a few articles that describe in more detail some of the actual channels you’ll use. But here are a few tips to get started. Pick one or two of these things or try them all. They’re easy to implement. 1. Hire an intern or a virtual assistant (VA) to conduct the campaign. I love interns because they’re usually in their early 20’s and are much more familiar with the medium. VA’s that are online savvy often have the experience from other clients. (You think I do more than just write this? I’ve got , you can pay some interns to work those discussion boards and chat rooms for you. For some reason teens and 20-somethings that are “paid ambassadors? are welcome on those sites. All of these things can easily be done by an intern or virtual assistant. They could even be a good job for your computer savvy kid.
About the author
agency for small business. She also operates waxcoach.com, a DIY
marketing and PR site for entrepreneurs. Bonnie can be reached at
bharris@waxmarketing.com.
Tags: ambassadors, bonnie harris, core messages, discussion boards and chat, good job, hush puppies, interns, malcolm gladwell, marketers, marketing programs, paul reveres famous ride, persistence, pr agency, reason teens, resurgence, spectacular results, tipping point, virtual assistant, word of mouth, word of mouth marketing