Little white lies are falsities we tell people (and sometimes tell ourselves) that we believe to be benign, harmless. But there are little white marketing lies we tell all the time that may be hurting our businesses:
Little white marketing lie #3: “Word of Mouth is our best marketing.”
Unfortunately, for most of the business owners making this claim it’s true -- but by default. Because what they’re really saying is that they have idea what else – if anything – in their marketing mix is producing any results. Or worse, because word-of-mouth marketing is actually the only form of marketing they’re engaging in.
And even that is a little white marketing lie because (1) ‘you’ can’t do word of mouth marketing. By definition, your customers do it for you and you have no control over whether or how it occurs. And (2) your clients aren’t going to walk out of your business and spontaneously talk about your business to others unless and until you give them something to talk about!
In reality, most business owners who make this claim are engaging not in word of mouth marketing, but in what I call “accidental marketing.”
When pressed for definition, you reveal that what this word of mouth marketing means to you is that you feel that the products, services or experience you provide your customers is so amazing that they simply can’t wait to go and tell everyone they know about how wonderful you are. That’s not word of mouth marketing, that’s accidental marketing.
In fact, it’s not even accidental marketing (that would imply action on your part), it’s doing nothing, but hoping for accidental success.
To give you an idea of how effective it is, would you do accidental bookkeeping, hoping that customers would remember to pay you, and pay you the right amount, without giving them a bill? Accidental accounting? Tax reporting? Accidental purchasing to stock your wares? Accidental programming? Would you provide services to your clients by accident – without consultation to find out what they need, without education, and without strategy?
There are many facets of your business that you approach that you approach intentionally, many of which you perform on a daily or even an hourly basis, and for which you’ve written detailed procedures and policies. There are aspects of business in which you’ve invested countless hours and thousands of dollars in education and training. You know there aren’t shortcuts, so you dedicate the time and energy required to do them properly. But somehow, when it comes to your marketing, your actions reveal that you don’t truly believe marketing is a legitimate, mandatory part of your business planning. Marketing should receive the same level of focus and attention that all of the components of your business do – from your professional education to your bookkeeping and billing to your products and services – but for many small businesses, it rarely does.
Are you employing the type of ‘strategy’ where you open your doors and wait for the phone to ring, wondering where all the customers are? Where you invest thousands of dollars in superior retail products which end up sitting on the shelves collecting dust waiting for a chance to “sell themselves?” Where as an independent professional or small business owner, you wonder why your landlord isn’t out there getting business to walk in the door for you?
You are, in fact, not marketing, but hoping for accidental success.
Meanwhile, those who are actively engaged in the marketing needed to build a successful business know that it takes actual, intentional action in order to produce a result. (And they’ll leave ‘accidental marketers’ in the dust!)
Accidental marketing is not a valid “word of mouth” marketing strategy. To generate word of mouth referrals, invitations, and buzz, you have to do something that is, in fact, buzz-worthy. Waiting for business to come to you accidentally might feel safer and more comfortable to you, but it’s just about the least effective strategy you can employ to build your business.
For the sake of clarity, and so you’ll know whether or not you’re actually engaged in or stimulating any of these word-of-mouth marketing tactics, here are some of the terms we generally refer to as word of mouth marketing:
- Word of Mouth Marketing: simply the passing of information about your business from person to person. Often confused with doing nothing yet hoping people will accidentally talk about you or your business—remember, people won't talk about your business unless and until you give them something to talk about!
- Buzz Marketing: a word-of-mouth marketing technique wherein a business tries to make interactions with customers appear to be unique, spontaneous exchanges of information, rather than delivery of pre-scripted marketing pitches.
- Viral marketing: "...is an idea that spreads... and while spreading actually helps market your business or cause." (Seth Godin, sethgodin.typepad.com)
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Elizabeth Kraus – 12monthsofmarketing.com
365 Days of Marketing is available on amazon.com in book and digital formats.
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