Summary : Word Of Mouth Marketing – Andy Sernovitz

Integrate tell-a-friend forms right into your Web site– and then get your site to send you a report each time the form is used. Look at the topics being discussed for clues on what is a hot topic at the present time.
Encourage everyone to get out there– especially your senior management team. If your CEO has his or her own blog, that sends a good signal to everyone else they should follow suit. If the site then has plenty of people from inside your company responding to genuine requests from outside the company, you’ll have a very robust way to talk with your customers rather than merely pushing advertising at them.

Put all your information in an e-mail– so people can easily forward it on to others. Sometimes you can get people to forward an e-mail by inviting them to do so while at other times if you add a warning “PRIVATE: DO NOT FORWARD” this will almost guarantee they send it on to all their friends.
Add a tell-a-friend link to every page on your corporate Web site– so you make it very easy and painless for word of mouth to happen. You can even allow them to add in a personal message if they want but this isn’t absolutely essential. This is how a site like YouTube became so big so quickly. It was super-simple for one user to be able to spread the word to their friends.
Try and multiply the sharing– by offering two-for-the-price-of-one deals. This gets more people involved in spreading the word. Make it easy for people to involve their friends.
Give people interesting stuff to share with their friends– whether this is electronic stuff ready to cut and paste, handouts in shopping bags, coupons for more great deals in shipped packages, etc. Make it easy for people to refer their friends and they often will.
Set up some blogs– where customers can say whatever they want. Provide a forum where great raves can be made available. Resist the urge to censor because negative comments provide authenticity and credibility. Just respond to each negative comment as best you can, and people will respect that.
Create your own message board on your corporate Web site– where people can come to swap stories and generally discuss what’s going on. A message board generates a community of like-minded people. It also creates an archive of feedback which can be very useful for future word of mouth initiatives.
Use exclusivity, secrets and surprises to good effect– because these are all powerful word of mouth tools and techniques. Create a VIP club who receive privileges not available to the general public. Make inclusion in this

Five T’s of great word of mouth marketing:
T-1 – Talkers – find people who like to talk
T-2 – Topics – give them something to discuss
T-3 – Tools – help the message travel farther
T-4 – Taking part – join the ongoing conversation
T-5 – Tracking – study what people are saying

Create a communications channel you can use to reach your talkers regularly– basically a plan to reach the right people and invite them to have some hands-on involvement. It may help if you sit down and write a one-page memo which profiles your talkers, what they are already talking about, who they typically interact with and how best to contact them. Once you have their profile in mind, you can then develop a detailed plan for reaching them and enlisting their aid. You may choose to create an e-mail newsletter specifically for them or invite them to a chat room or blog developed just for them. Make sure you can connect with these people on an ongoing basis.

Create a communications channel you can use to reach your talkers regularly– basically a plan to reach the right people and invite them to have some hands-on involvement. It may help if you sit down and write a one-page memo which profiles your talkers, what they are already talking about, who they typically interact with and how best to contact them. Once you have their profile in mind, you can then develop a detailed plan for reaching them and enlisting their aid. You may choose to create an e-mail newsletter specifically for them or invite them to a chat room or blog developed just for them. Make sure you can connect with these people on an ongoing basis.

Come up with a buzzworthy topic. Keep it simple.
Put something by your front door to remind people to talk.
Let your talkers sign up for a private newsletter.
Pick one easy way to track word of mouth.
Put a tell-a-friend form on every page of your Web site.
Put a special offer in an easily forwardable e-mail.
Add a small gift and word of mouth tool to everything you sell.
Have a private sale for your talkers.
Partner with a charity and do something unexpected and nice.”
– Andy Sernovitz

12-point marketing manifesto for the Internet era of business:
The best form of advertising that exists are happy customers. Do everything you can to make your customers happy.
Marketing is actually quite easy to understand. Earn the respect and word of mouth recommendations of your customers, and let them do your marketing for you.
Ethics and great service come first because they lay the foundation for everything else you want to do.
You are the user experience – not what your ads say and not what your PR

department hopes. Give customers memorable experiences.
Negative word of mouth is an opportunity to learn what you need to fix. Don’t be offended. Listen and learn.
People are already talking about you, your company and your offerings. Your only viable option is to join the ongoing conversation.
Be interesting or you automatically become invisible. You risk fading into the general background of business unless you do something noteworthy and exceptional.
If it’s not worth talking about, it’s not worth doing. Stand out from the crowd.
Make the story of your company one worth talking about to other people.
It’s always more fun to work for a company others are talking about than it is to work for a boring company.
It’s smart to harness word of mouth productively to make businesses treat people better. Customers deserve a better deal. Give it to them.
Honest marketing about what you are will always make more money than dishonest marketing which tries to paint a different picture. Be yourself.

Here’s what you can do right now, today, to start a successful word of mouth campaign:
Look on the Web for people talking about you.
Decide who will join those conversations, starting today.
Create a blog.
Ask: ‘Is this buzzworthy?’ in every meeting.

The six big ideas of word of mouth marketing:
1. Customers are in control – Get used to it.
2. You are the user experience. Make it great.
3. The Web creates a permanent record.
4. Honesty is essential for word of mouth.
5. Word of mouth changes the maths of business.
6. Word of mouth is wildly profitable.