[Welcome back to the You Can Be a Word of Mouth Marketing Supergenius! newsletter. This is text of the great issue all of our email subscribers just received. Sign yourself up using the handy form on the right.]
Everyone loves chocolate, but when was the last time you ate some and ran to the phone to tell a friend? Great products face this same problem: Nobody talks when there’s nothing new to say — even when it’s something great. But you can overcome this. A few ideas to get you started:
1> Add something refreshing
2> Reignite old conversations
3> Never stop exploring
1> Add something refreshing
What can you add or remove from your product, service, or word of mouth topic to make it new again? Probably the best example of this is Google Maps. The original product was great, but then they followed it up with Satellite View (and we all looked at the top of our own house). Now? We’re still cruising Street View and telling friends about all of our strange discoveries.
2> Reignite old conversations
Your age and timelessness can be an asset that lends itself to restarting old conversations. Treat original fans like alumni, throw anniversary events, and look for opportunities to help these talkers connect with new customers. Sometimes the conversations aren’t dead — they just need your help seeing new life.
3> Never stop exploring
Avoid the chocolate problem by consistently testing new word of mouth topics. Not every idea will be a home run, but you’ll begin building a pipeline of buzzworthy ideas you can use whenever conversations begin to slow down. And remember, there’s no need to be shy about trying new topics — if it doesn’t work, by nature that means nobody found out about it.
