Who is the Easiest Client?
Word-of-mouth marketing is taught there as “find ways to do what you do so well and so uniquely that your customers cannot resist telling lots of other people about you.” At the Disney Parks this principle is implemented in the forms of cleanliness and authenticity.
Word-of-mouth advertising is the most powerful, effective type of advertising there is but it’s the only kind you can’t just buy by the page or by the minute. It has to be created, stimulated and nurtured with truly creative techniques.
Most businesses take whatever word-of-mouth advertising they get but I’m here to tell you that you can exert a considerable degree of control over this type of advertising and marketing.
The reason that word-of-mouth advertising is so valuable is simple. Nothing you could ever say about you, no matter how well you say it, can have as much impact and credibility as something someone else says about you – especially an enthusiastic customer or client.
Also there are some things you simply can’t say graciously about yourself that others can say.
Artificial word-of-mouth advertising is still the most effective form of TV commercial. It’s called ‘Slice of Life’ and you’re very familiar with it. It shows a scene with one ordinary person telling a friend or associate how good a product is. Laundry soap, personal computers and hundreds of other products and services are still sold this way.
Far better though is real word of mouth advertising and there is a single, basic secret to stimulating a high rate of word-of-mouth advertising. I first discovered the secret from studying the Disney Companies.
Word-of-mouth marketing is taught there as “find ways to do what you do so well and so uniquely that your customers cannot resist telling lots of other people about you.” At the Disney Parks this principle is implemented in the forms of cleanliness and authenticity.
When first time visitors to Disneyland and Disney World are surveyed and asked what sticks in their mind most about their visit the overwhelming number one answer is the cleanliness of the parks. The number two answer is the authenticity of the environments.
Disney marketing pros then understand how this translates into real life. Harry and Marge go back to Dubuque and tell their friends, “You can’t believe how clean the parks were.” Then four more families from Dubuque pile money into motor homes and bring the money to the mouse.
Because they understand this, the Disney people think of park cleanliness as marketing, not just maintenance. They use this to stimulate referrals. Any business can also find ways to stimulate referrals. To stimulate word-of-mouth advertising often by doing things that should be done anyway.
In a retail type business excellence and creativity in the store environment and in customer service are most likely to stimulate referrals. I know a dentist, for example, who ten timesed his practice in just twenty-four months without increasing his external ad budget by even a dollar.
He identified seven hundred different things to change in the office environment and in patient communications and those changes were responsible for developing a very high level of word-of-mouth advertising.
Author Info: Dan Kennedy is internationally recognized as the ‘Millionaire Maker,’ helping people in just about every category of business turn their ideas into fortunes. Dan’s “No B.S.” approach is refreshing amidst a world of small business marketing hype and enriches those who act on his advice.
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