Word of Mouth Part 2: A Quick Exercise
(First, if you haven’t read Part 1, read it now. In fact, you really need to start with the post “What is the Single Most Powerful Force in Marketing?” Also – we’ll be picking the winners here very soon 
OK, before we get into some real meat here, let’s do a little exercise together.
Step 1: Find a website that is offering a viral marketing tool. Almost any will do.
My Prediction: The copy is probably promising that once you use the tool, you’ll get a flood of visitors to your site that you can’t shut off and that it will keep growing and growing and growing.
Step 2: Go to Alexa.com and type in that URL.
Alexa is a service that estimates web traffic to almost any site.
My Prediction: You will probably see a graph that looks like this. Either that, or you’ll see no real traffic to speak of.
If the tool these guys are offering creates a steady stream of traffic that keeps growing and growing, then …
A. Why aren’t they using it themselves?
… and …
B. If they are, why is their traffic not growing like they promise yours will?
The answer is easy: the real marketing secret of most Internet Marketing gurus is the product launch.
Launches work great. Heck back in the old “Aesop” days (my old company), we used these sames tactics all the time. (Since then guys like Jeff Walker, John Reese, Brad Fallon, Andy Jenkins, Frank Kern and Mike Long have taken these tactics to new levels. Truly impressive.)
The general idea is pretty simple:
Rally the forces of people who own large lists and get them to promote on the same day.
Poof!
Instant surge in traffic. Instant best-seller.
There’s more to it (anticipation, proof, motivation, etc …), but that’s the general idea.
The problem is, launches will bring in a great surge in traffic, but if what is being launched is without substance, no real Word of Mouth will occur.
So, the business model of many IM experts (not the guys I mentioned above, by the way) looks something like this …
They launch a pretty-good product.
The buzz dies down.
Move as many people as you can to your list in the process.
Lather.
Rinse.
Repeat.
No offense to these guys – many of them are close friends of mine and good people. Some of them are bona fide geniuses.
Now, you can make good money like this. Heck, millions even.
But with this model, it’s like pushing a rock up hill. Every time you get to the top you have to push it back up again. (Known as “The Myth of Sisyphus.” The king who was damned to an eternity of rock-up-a-hill pushing. Yikes!)
Who wants to push a rock up a hill at all? Let alone over and over again …
Now, take a look at this graph here:
This is the growth of the stock price of Harley Davidson.
This only shows part of the picture as they were experiencing true Word of Mouth growth for years before they even went public.
Because their stock price is a pretty good reflection of the reality of their sales, they just keep growing.
And the bedrock key to their growth is, without question, genuine organic Word of Mouth Marketing.
What’s the secret?
Well, a great product is part of it, but just that – a part of it.
Since we know there are a great many “amazingly great” products that have failed miserably, there must be something more to it.
There is. Stay tuned closely to this channel over the next few days.
Hey very cool!!You are to smart this is beyond great stuff its life changing!!I have been tracking down vetrens I know and continue to meet becuase I feel they will relate to you because your military expertise and understand your vision here.So god bless for now Mark the military guru with life changing wisdom for life!!!
I’m loving your new blog, insightful, true world, in your face information a bite at a time.
Keep it coming!
Dave
Top products conjure *feeling* and satisfy status hunger in customers.
Word of Mouth Marketing. That’s what I thought. Actually, my first choice was finding a starving crowd (or thirsty crowd as Mark said), but I reconsidered after rereading the question a couple times and reading most of the answers. Word of Mouth didn’t pull a majority, but it was the largest plurality (it had the most votes of any one response). I wonder who the lucky ten entrants will be? I hope that I’m one of them, but there’s probably over 400 of us. I wonder if Mark will provide any stats on the frequency of all the different answers? There were some very interesting ones.
- David
It makes sense – consistent, high quality products at a good price – and people are going to trust, share, and come back again (and again).
I look forward to learning more.
Thank You for the interesting tidbits!
Great insights Mark!
I’d be very interested to hear the other tips you’re going to share about word of mouth marketing, because there is really no good course or resource on that in the Internet marketing world.
And for such an important and powerful topic, it’s really strange.
Looking forward to learning more from you…
Ladan
thinking of your Harley example, the product/service must really deliver a thrill that makes you talk about it. It’s one thing to get motivated to buy the product because the ad was effective, but once you have it, is it really so great that you want to tell others? (and why? to help them? to brag? i think the reason there is important too). Anyway, LOVE this topic and also just getting started in Simpleology and thoroughly enjoying it! (and yes, it’s making me want to tell others!) ~Victory
I have always known that word of mouth is a powerful marketing tool, but you have taken it to a new level. thanks jimir
Mark,
Coming from a grumpy old man
in a young man’s body…
(not my description)
I’d like to say this is an
awesomely phat lesson
that you’ve executed.
Straight Up.
Gregory L. Lipscomb
When I was in the real estate business I learned how to build a business using referral marketing. It requires some ongoing training of your current customers and clients to remember to send you more business. I am interested to learn more about how to create word of mouth marketing proactively.
“Just can’t get enough…just can’t get enough…”
Yup, Mark…I must say your stuff is addictive. I just picked up your “The Irresistible Offer” the other day and have been a fan of simpleology for quite a while now. Love how you’ve really built a nice ‘system’ with this whole thang.
Take care and have a great rest of the week.
type-atcha-later,
Sean
Personally, I’m so ‘internet-oriented,’ I never even considered word-of-mouth … yet this was one of the first lessons I learned when I first started studying marketing. It’s a powerful concept that’s hard to beat.
The problem I find nowadays is that few products or services are extraordinary enough to want to tell others about them. Helpful to me? Yes. Good enough to share? Probably not.
Nonetheless, I’m anxious to hear more of your thoughts on this.
Word of Mouth is the most powerful driving force in Marketing…
The simplest way to live life when you don’t know what to do, is BY COPYING FROM OTHERS (including bad habits)… We defeat our internal fears of something new by listening, swallowing what others have to say regarding a newly marketed product.
There is a great difference between comfortable and familiar marketed products, but left alone, we will all choose the familiar ones (the Word of Mouth creates the familiarity).
Mark Joiner, Congratulations for your new release!
I like how you’re making everyone aware of the word-of-mouth concept. Everyone uses it even though they never get paid for it. But it’s interesting how as soon as you know that you’re going to be paid for it, then it gets difficult to execute the word of mouth concept. I’ll be interested in seeing how this is applied to your marketing.
Regards,
Steve
I am really empress with your post review.It’s really awesome idea to share the thoughts you like.