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16 Wicked Easy Word-of-Mouth Marketing Tactics

Ann Handley Chief Content Officer, MarketingProfs Recent Posts

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September 9, 2009

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“Oops. It's a typo: That's "have a private ...”

Ann Handley

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My friend Andy Sernovitz sent me a proof of the revised edition of his 2006 book, Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking . The revised edition has plenty of new stuff in it: New case studies, new worksheets, and new chapters about B2B word of mouth and how to deal with negative feedback.

But what struck me as a paged through the revised edition was how solid the original was, especially for small business trying to figure out how to generate good buzz. Andy’s book remains an easy-to-read, digestible primer: You can read it on a Saturday afternoon, and start implementing stuff on Monday.

So herewith is Andy’s list of 16 “Sure-Thing, Must-Do, Awfully Easy” word of mouth techniques. There’s tons more in the actual book, of course. But you knew that.

1. Search the web for people talking about you.
2. Assign someone to join those conversations.
3. Create a blog.
4. Make a new rule: Ask “Is this buzzworthy?” in every meeting.
5. Come up with one buzzworthy topic. Keep it simple.
6. Put something on your front door (if you have one) that reminds people to tell their friends about you.
7. Let your “talkers” sign up for a private newsletter.
8. Pick one easy way to track word of mouth.
9. Put a “tell-a-friend” form on every page of your website.
10. Put a special offer in easily forwardable mail.
11. Add a small gift and a word of mouth tool to every package you sell.
12. Hire a private sale for your talkers.
13. Apologize for mistakes and solve problems fast.
14. Partner with a charity.
15. Do something unexpected.
16. Be nice.

When Andy sent me (and other bloggers) the new edition of his book, by the way, he included a few packets of a picture of the book on Twitter, it was the Bacon Salt that got a few of us talking.

Which was, of course, the point.

What other ways would you add to Andy’s list?

Photo credit: D’Arcy Norman

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Ann Handley, Article, blogging, marketing strategies, Duct Tape Marketing, word of mouth

What do you think?

Join the conversation ( 2 )

Ann Handley 2 years 5 months and 3 days ago

Oops. It's a typo: That's "have a private sale," not "hire." Thanks for your sharp eyes, Anita. Are you available for proofing? ; )
Anita Campbell 2 years 5 months and 3 days ago

It's a good list, Ann -- thanks for sharing it. Although I am a little puzzled by #12: "Hire a private sale for your talkers." What does that actually mean? I'm intrigued by it....