Word of mouth marketing (WOMM) has been regarded as an important piece of the marketing puzzle, and increasingly is proving an essential component to any communications or marketing strategy. But what exactly is it and how can organizations effectively implement it?

Andy Sernovitz, author of Word of Mouth Marketing, defines it as, “Word of mouth marketing is two things: it’s giving people a reason to talk about your stuff and making it easier for the conversation to take place.”

The reason could be a great feature or service or an amazing experience, the buzz worthy moment. Making it easier includes the logistical components – the programs or support you provide to help the conversation spread farther and faster. This can be through forums, brand ambassadors, emails, etc.

Social media is now a component of word of mouth marketing, but online has always been a big part of it – think email marketing and the ability to forward that email onto someone else.

But is word of mouth suitable for every company? Can a sock manufacturer have just as much success as Apple for instance?

“My favorite word of mouth examples are all for really boring stuff,” Sernovitz said. “Fiskar scissors has this giant fan club called the Fiskarteers and it’s all of these scrap bookers who meet up several times a year, they have an online community and they have blogs and incredible enthusiasm. Duck brand duct tape sponsors an annual ‘make a prom dress out of duct tape’ competition.”

To effectively use word of mouth there are a few things to keep in mind:
1.    Be interesting
2.    Make it easy
3.    Make people happy
4.    Earn trust and respect.

Sernovitz also suggests using the “5 T’s”: talkers, topics, tools, taking part, and tracking and measuring.

“The most important thing is called the five T’s and if you start to think about those, it’s how you build a campaign,” Sernovitz said.

“It doesn’t start with tools,” he said. “It doesn’t start with, ‘what are we going to do on Twitter?’ It starts with ‘who’s going to talk about us?’ The talkers. ‘What are they going to say?’ Then if Twitter is the place we should be sharing, then Twitter is the place we should be sharing it.”

Are you using word of mouth strategies? If so, what has and had not worked? Or has a company ever compelled you enough to use word of mouth? What did they do?

**Andy Sernovitz will send a signed copy of his book, “Word of Mouth Marketing” to the best two comments – so comment away!

For the audio interview click the play button below, and for the video podcast visit JetPack Radio.

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Do you give people a reason to talk about your you or your organization? This is one of the most fundamental and critical components of any word of mouth marketing (WOMM) campaign. It is the shareable topic you provide people, and it can be as simple as a clever name for a menu item, good customer service, a small take-away item for customers or secret sale.

Owner and Executive Chef at LGO Hospitality, Bob Lynn, who operates several restaurants throughout Arizona and California including La Grande Orange, Chelsea’s Kitchen, and Radio Milano, has focused on integrating this imperative WOMM element into almost every aspect of his business.

“We try to do a lot of things, like giving away cookies at the door,” Lynn said. “It’s funny how people pick up on things – the littlest details. Particularly at LGO, it’s about the details.”

Halloween cookies given to diners at La Grande Orange

He said at each restaurant it’s all about the details in everything from the “live,” fresh food to the hand-selected and mixed music, and even the sound system.

“Every part of the business is all hand selected,” he said. “Those are things we don’t promote, but can see it creates an insider loyalty. We feel like we build our business on our repeat business. All of those details add up to people.”

At La Grande Orange they started to notice repeat diners would bring in friends or family members and point out the cookies as they were getting up from their tables to exit.

“Some details mean more to others,” Lynn said. “We believe in focusing on all of them. It’s a big part of our core. It takes more effort. It’s not as predictable and I think people feel that extra effort.”

Another example is the slips of paper Postino provides on the tables for gum chewers – a small gesture with a big impact for those who don’t have a place to put their gum.

Gum wrapper at Postino

Promotion on the back side

Other businesses have caught on as well. Pure Sushi South in Scottsdale built a cell phone booth so diners could take their calls in privacy. Toyota appealed to pet owners with a full line of aftermarket pet products for its Venza. And at Noca in Phoenix it’s not uncommon to receive an amuse bouche, a table-side visit from the owner, and a giant bowl of cotton candy after dinner.

What can you do today to get people talking? Maybe it’s offering hand sanitizers for diners in your restaurant (those concerned about the swine flu will appreciate it), or going the extra mile when it comes to customer service – be that cable company, that instead of making customers wait out a five-hour window, you specify a time and show up at that time. Or simply start with hand-written thank you notes to your clients.

For the audio interview click the play button below, and for the video podcast visit JetPack Radio.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.