Marketing Information

Buzz Word


Offline, it's called word-of-mouth advertising. Online, it's known as viral marketing. Semantics aside, one fact is perfectly clear: make your customers happy and they'll do the advertising for you.

Let's illustrate this principle by citing a real life example. Joey Vasquez is a loyal subscriber of a certain telecommunications company based in New York. He has been a solid supporter of the said service for seven years now. When asked why he's sticking with that particular company, Joey's reply was quite simple and pretty straightforward.

No, he did not mention the quality of the service, and neither did he count the applicable rates as a factor.

"It's because they offer me a yearly rebate," he casually said, "I get $20 back every January."

In the past six years, Joey has convinced around thirty of his relatives and friends to switch to his network service provider of choice.

The $20 rebate is the telecommunication company's way of rewarding faithful clients. Their fees are by no means the lowest in the eastern coast, but they have built for themselves a solid base of patrons, and the number of people who abandon their services is close to non-existent.

What does this tell us? For starters, it is a testament to how powerful a tool word-of-mouth advertising is. Secondly, this example teaches us how to jumpstart a successful marketing plan that would make our customers spread the business message on our behalf.

This kind of marketing, though not necessarily novel, is undoubtedly efficient, not to mention cost effective. Imagine a battalion of advertisers doing the advertising for you. Distribute your business message to five individuals, and those five individuals would spread it to five other people in their respective networks, and you would have exposed your product or service to thirty people, just like that. But the beauty of this system is that it doesn't stop there. The spread of your business message would only grow exponentially, and at a very rapid pace at that.

The battery of this campaign is an incentive to encourage people to spread the word to persons they know. In marketing parlance, this is called a value proposition.

In our example above, the telecommunications company provided Joey with a $20 rebate for a year's subscription. This is the value proposition. It proved to be very enticing for Joey that he spread the word to the people in his network. The end result is a customer with seven years of loyalty (and counting), and thirty new subscribers.

Value propositions can take many forms. Take a look at the following examples:

1. A value proposition can be a free product or service that you could offer to warm people up before you present them with the goods you have for sale.

2. It can also be in the form of a trial version of your product. This would be the best way to make your prospective customers happy, and at the same time, invite them to purchase the full version of what you have to offer.

3. A value proposition can also be a monetary reward, as was the case with Joey and his network provider. Money is a very seductive prize, and you'll have people talking about your business in no time!

The goal is to hook the potential consumer to your value proposition, and make him happy in the process. In most cases, this is enough to propel your word-of-mouth campaign into motion. You'll be able to get people talking and they will do the marketing for you.

Prospective customers should not be your only target. Building goodwill with your existing clientele would also transform them into your advertising vehicles. Remember, gaining a customer is good, gaining a customer for life is better, but gaining a customer for life and having him invite more people to try your business is a marketer's dream come true!

Ronny Berglund is a marketing professional, which owns and operate http://www.traffic-plus.com that can help you to instantly get website visitors, do popup advertising or any type of instant website traffic increase. He also owns and operates http://www.marketingpatch.com where you find strategic marketing tips. And you can learn the marketing tips and tricks that pro's use! MarketingPatch.com also have a great forum where you can talk about everything marketing related, he even let you post your in a Buy / Sell forum.


MORE RESOURCES:

Album Creative Studios Tailors Big Brand Marketing For Small ...
MarketWatch - Nov 21, 2008
After establishing a strategic and visual foundation, Album provided the marketing and sales tools needed to launch their brand, including catalogs, ...


San Diego Union Tribune

Local retailers counting on regular shoppers, not pricey marketing ...
Beaumont Enterprise, tx - 5 hours ago
Many are opting not to tackle expensive holiday marketing campaigns to boost store traffic during the holidays, and instead said they are relying on regular ...
BLACK FRIDAY GUIDE: ONLINE Newsday
Holidays have retailers boxed in Minneapolis Star Tribune
all 121 news articles


Multichannel News

HBO Laces Up Marketing Gloves For PPV Bout
Multichannel News, NY - 5 hours ago
“We have an unprecedented marketing effort,” said Arum, adding that “you only can do this level for a mega-event but for these blockbusters this effort is ...


REGIONAL BUSINESS NEWS: Agridata awarded ... Anchor Marketing ...
Grand Forks Herald, ND - Nov 21, 2008
Anchor Marketing, Grand Forks, was awarded a 2008 American Graphic Design Award by Graphic Design USA, a national news magazine for graphic designers and ...


Saturday Interview Hoping to Sell the Emotion of Love (and Rings)
New York Times, United States - Nov 21, 2008
While these are especially gloomy times for retailers, Mr. Goldberg says his company’s marketing campaign, which focuses on the emotional aspects of its ...


/ CORRECTION - Accessories Marketing, Inc.
MarketWatch - Nov 21, 2008
Accessories Marketing, Inc. is the leader in flat tire prevention and repair. The Slime brand sealant is the most widely distributed liquid sealant in the ...


Nonprofits can be considered for free marketing services
Pensacola News Journal, FL - 3 hours ago
Through the GoodWörks program, Ideawörks will award a year's worth of marketing services to a small local nonprofit that needs to build awareness of its ...


Arizona Marketing Firm Adds New Client
PR Web (press release), WA - Nov 22, 2008
Marketing Partners, a Phoenix-based marketing, marketing branding, advertising and public relations firm, has added CFS Mortgage Corp. to its client roster. ...


BBC News

Anheuser-Busch's sports marketing chief to retire
CNNMoney.com - Nov 17, 2008
NEW YORK (Associated Press) - The vice president of global media and sports marketing at Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. will retire at the end of the year, ...
Will Anheuser-Busch InBev burnish the Budweiser icon? St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Peacock names AB’s US business leaders Bizjournals.com
Sports Marketing Guru Tony Ponturo Leaves Anheuser-Busch CNBC
Wall Street Journal - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
all 637 news articles


Research and Markets: Marketing Research and Analysis of the ...
MarketWatch - Nov 19, 2008
... has announced the addition of the "Marketing Research and Analysis of the Elevator Equipment Market in RF, 2005-2007" report to their offering. ...

Marketing - Google News

home | site map
© 2006