How was your stay?
Studying marketing, one of the first things you will learn is that “word of mouth” is the most valuable marketing you can ever get for your business. This sounds pretty straight forward; do a good job and your customers will tell everyone how great your products are. Unfortunately the world is no longer quite that simple.
Word of mouth on steroids
What used to be one customer talking to another, is now; Internet forums, microblogs, social blogging, social networks, wiki’s, podcasts, social bookmarking, content sharing and thousands of other ways to communicate online. Juggling all these communication channels, the news about your fantastic product or service could easily get lost.
Facilitate sharing!
One of the cheapest and most effective marketing campaigns I have seen recently was at the Andaz Hotel i New York . When I checked out after a fantastic stay, they simply gave me a Tripadvisor business card. Instead of taking the passive approach, they facilitated sharing. I’m not sure if Andaz hotel, Wall Street is one of the top 10 hotels in New York, but according to TripAdvisor it is! .. and that happends to be where most of us do our research before booking a hotel.
The best things in life are free
Like the TripAdvisor review card, there’s a lot of other smart solutions that can facilitate “word of mouth” and online sharing. But don’t expect the creative people from your media agency to come running to tell you about them. They won’t, simply because they don’t make any money from it. The best things in life are free. The same goes with marketing.
Lighthouse 8, Business Engineering