What's The Word?

Word of mouth that is.

I am an advertising guy. Today I am going to let you in on a little secret that most advertising people do not want you to know. But you mustn't let anyone know that you heard it from me.

Word of mouth is the absolute most powerful form of advertising. There, I said it. Whew, I feel better to have that off of my chest.

Now, here is the caveat. Modern day advertising pioneer Morris Hite said, "Advertising is salesmanship mass produced. No one would bother to use advertising if he could talk to all his prospects face-to-face. But he can't." That is where good advertising comes in.

Good advertising is multiplied word of mouth. The good news is that we are able to direct that word of mouth by what we say in our ads. We create word of mouth by carefully crafting persuasive ads that cause people to think about us.

Remember, decisions are rarely made in a vacuum. When you make a purchasing decision, you will generally get an opinion of where to go for a product or service from family, friends or co-workers. They tell you, "I heard so and so was the place to go." You go and tell them that a friend told you to come by. Great word of mouth. Except that the friend had never been there either. The friend had been hearing the ads and viola! word of mouth works again.

What are you telling people to tell others about you?