4 qualities of great word of mouth marketers

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Word of mouth is people-driven. Cool technology, exciting announcements, and one-off campaigns may spark conversations, but it’s people who keep them going. People, not campaigns, make these conversations sustainable, personal, and more buzzworthy.

Here are the qualities that the great marketers behind word of mouth movements share:

1. They’re trustworthy
2. They’re service-oriented
3. They’re opportunistic
4. They’re good at apologies

1. They’re trustworthy

Word of mouth is built on trust. No one recommends their friends to someone who lies to them. But the companies who earn their respect earn their advocacy. A great word of mouth marketer will never try to fool a customer with fake buzz or dishonest campaigns. Instead, they work hard to keep their word of mouth ethical and transparent — and they look for ways to teach their team to do the same.

2. They’re service-oriented

How many stories have you heard about something fantastic that a company did for their customers? These word of mouth topics never get old and they always start with someone who was ready to serve. Word of mouth marketers love looking for ways to make people happy and they’re good at it. They’re like the customer service rep at Rackspace who sent a hungry customer a pizza, or the team at the Ritz-Carlton who took a lost teddy bear on a tour. They know that an amazing customer experience is worth telling everyone about.

3. They’re opportunistic

Word of mouth marketers can get people talking about everyday stuff on shoestring budgets. They focus on details that make something boring into something remarkable. They’re the folks at Headsets.com who put Tootsie Rolls in every package, or the guy at Blendtec who decided to start posting videos of their product tests. They know small gestures can surprise and delight fans, and even the mundane stuff they do every day can start lots of conversations.

4. They’re good at apologies

Great word of mouth marketers look for ways to make previously unhappy customers into their most talkative fans by fixing what’s broken. And sometimes they even find humorous ways to do it — like the social media manager at Sainsbury’s who responded to a funny complaint with their own joke. They’re also companies like Go Daddy and Netflix who sometimes apologize to all of their customers even when only a few are affected. They understand that it’s better to admit when you’re wrong than to pretend you’re perfect.

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