[Welcome back to our Word of Mouth Marketing Lessons newsletter. This is text from the great issue all of our email subscribers just received. Sign yourself up using this handy form.]
You’ve got a great idea that’s exciting, unique, and worth talking about — so how do you make that idea shareable? Even great word of mouth topics get left behind if they’re too complicated, too long, or too stodgy to pass along. Here are some ways you can make sure your message is easy to repeat:
1. Make it conversational
2. Make it short
3. Make it fun
1. Make it conversational
If it looks good in a press release, chances are it’s not a repeatable topic. Word of mouth conversations are just that: conversations. The most shareable marketing messages are casual and natural — not necessarily eloquent. Check your ideas by saying them out loud to a variety of people you know (not just your teammates). Was it easy to get across your message jargon-free? For example, The Modern Man Barbershop in Portland will give you a beer with your haircut — now that was easy.
2. Make it short
Word of mouth is lazy. If it’s hard to remember or takes time to explain, it won’t get passed along (and even if it does, it’ll get mangled in the process). Can you tell someone about it in two sentences? One sentence? 140 characters? If you can, then you have a portable topic that people can share easily.
3. Make it fun
Got a sensitive topic? There’s almost always a way to make it fun and memorable. Movember moustaches did that for prostate cancer awareness, and LIVESTRONG’s yellow wristbands did that for cancer research. Now these serious topics have accessible, friendly, and fun ways to start conversations. This isn’t just for big causes — you can also make fun, repeatable topics out of boring stuff. For example, Austin Eye Gym sounds like a lot more fun than the optometry office — it’s also a lot more buzzworthy.
