Word-of-mouth marketing is not just making a good product or delivering good service, and magically your clients will tell their friends how great you are, which will, in turn, lead to a greater number of sales. While you can supercharge your word-of-mouth game by providing an unexpected experience, to achieve an epidemic you must employ some specific strategies.
Most small businesses have tight budgets which explain why many businesses choose word-of-mouth marketing as one of their principal marketing strategies. After all, word-of-mouth marketing is essentially free.
Most people think word-of-mount must be from your client’s mouth to your potential client’s ears, however, thiere is much more to word-of-mouth marketing than just his passive tactic. As we shared in 3 Free Ways to Boost Your Word-Of-Mouth Marketing your strategy should also include internet-enabled word-of-mount tactics. To encourage word-of-mouth marketing you should consider video, audio, and textual content as a tool to turn your clients into “social agents” thereby helping them spread the word about your product or service.
As related in the story “My Greatest Source of Business Was Right Under My Nose” by Andrew Griffiths the author shares how simply befriending his delivery man yielded a social agent that translated into significantly higher sales.
Malcolm Gladwell in his best-selling book, “The Tipping Point,” identified 3 archetypes that are necessary to achieve a word-of-mouth epidemic: connectors, mavens, and salespeople.
Connectors
Connectors act as the social glue that holds everyone together. They are very connected to other people. They act as a bridge between you and others in their very expansive social circles. Connectors have a special gift to be able to bring people together. Connectors may not always know the answers to your questions, but they always seem to know someone who does. They have hundreds or thousands of people in their contact database and on their social media platforms.
My neighbor, Dave Csintyan, was the CEO of See the Change USA and the CEO of our local Chamber of Commerce. He is a great example of a connector. Whenever I have an issue with an initiative gaining traction, I reach out to Dave, share my issues, and he provides me with a list of contacts that can get me unstuck. Dave is a connector.
Connectors recognize they have several levels of connections and spend considerable time and energy nurturing not only their close connections but also their weak and dormant connections as well and become rainmakers through deeper relationships with their connections.
Connectors are not only recognizable by their network size, but can be spotted by the things they say such as:
“Let me introduce you to …” “Oh, you should talk to …” “Have you heard about…”
Mavens
Mavens act as data banks where knowledge resides. Mavens have in-depth personal knowledge in a specific area. They love to initiate discussions in their areas of expertise and often go out of their way to share their knowledge with others. They are generally motivated to help others with their knowledge and readily respond to requests for assistance.
My brother-in-law, Chuck Thompson, is a great example of a car maven. If anyone in his circle ever has a question about buying a new or used car, they reach out to him for advice. When it comes to cars, he is a fount of knowledge. Ask him about any make, model, or production year and he will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about your potential car choice.
Mavens are not only recognizable by their depth and breadth of knowledge, but can be spotted by the things they say such as:
“I was researching that last month…” “Are you familiar with the research performed by…” “You should read…”
Salesman
Salesmen act as persuaders and have a knack for convincing others to their way of thinking. Salespeople have the ability to create trusting relationships with people and are great negotiators. They are charismatic and have the innate ability to make others just want to agree with them.
My late friend, Dan Nowels, was the best salesman I ever knew. He had the ability to actually make you ask for the sale, which I wrote about in a past blog titled, “What is the Balance of Your Network Deposits Account?”
