When it comes to BtoB word of mouth, one of the best ways to get stuff shared is to give it away as research. People love to forward statistics, quote research, and cite your findings in their own studies.
Your research efforts don’t have to be complicated. Here are 3 simple steps to creating something worth sharing:
- Get some simple, honest numbers. Poll your customers, ask your fans for feedback, or compile a study by bringing together existing research.
- Put it in an incredibly easy form to share. Email it out as a .PDF file, create a simple YouTube video, or put it up for download on your homepage (but don’t bury it behind a complicated form!).
- Send it out to key talkers. And when you do, don’t just send them the link, send them the full content so it’s ready to pass on.
How a word of mouth marketing supergenius does it:
eMarketer regularly sends out research in a simple email that’s ready to paste into a PowerPoint slide. In addition to their emails, their online articles also include simple graphs and charts that are easy to grab and use elsewhere.
And not only is each graph and chart ready to use in your next presentation, but they all include a link to eMarketer’s website and all are designed in the brand’s signature style — so everyone knows where it’s from.
