Book Summary: Secrets of Word Of Mouth Marketing

Spread the word about your hot new product or company!

Word-of-mouth marketing is the most powerful and persuasive weapon you can use, and it won't cost you anything! Based on George Silverman's years of consulting with successful word-of-mouth campaigns of his own clients, here is one of the first resources on how to harness the often underestimated power of word-of-mouth, and be heard above the media noise.

1. Word-of-mouth is actually the center of the marketing universe.

2. Just as it is untrue that the sun revolves around the earth, marketing does not really revolve around advertising, selling, and promotions. Much of marketing actually centers around illusion-creation.

3. Word-of-mouth offers an authenticity to it because the source is normally independent of the company, he or she is offering his or her own candid opinion and therefore, the marketing appears credible.

4. Advertising is the renting of a medium to send out a carefully crafted message to a specific audience. Everything is paid for, whereas word-of-mouth is a more effective tool; and best of all, it is absolutely free.

5. Word-of-mouth can take on a life of its own. There are no limits to how far-reaching it can be. Just study how fast a good joke on the e-mail circulates.
Tip! Use techniques such as blogs (blogging), Podcasting, and Videocasting (something like online infomercials). Be sure to check out the advanced book marketing teleseminar series at http://www.

6. Studies have shown that a satisfied customer will tell an average of three people about a product or service she likes, and eleven people about a product or service with which she had a negative experience.

7. Because this is the age of the Internet, e-mail, websites, chat rooms, and video teleconferencing, word-of-mouth is even more important to businesses today than ever before.

8. The most important way by which sales can increase is by increasing the speed with which decisions are made. Decision speed is the time it takes for your customer to go from initial awareness to enthusiastic use and recommendation of your product or service. Simplicity, ease, and fun govern the decision process.

9. Marketing success is determined more by the time it takes for your customer to decide on your product than by any other single factor. Decision speed is more powerful than positioning, image, value, customer satisfaction, guarantees, or even product superiority.
Tip! In this day and age, you would be making a big mistake if you didn't include the internet as a vital component of your Book Marketing Plan. The internet is the best way to directly reach your target customers.

10. Shortening the customer's decision cycle means your product's benefits, claims, and promises must be obvious and compelling; information must be clear, balanced, and credible; comparisons must reveal meaningful differences, your trials should be free and easy, your evaluations, clear and simple. Guarantees should be ironclad and generous. Testimonials and other word-of-mouth marketing must be relevant and believable. Delivery, training, and support offered must be superior.

11. A good way to spread the word on your company is to circulate true, positive stories about it. FedEx is famous for its legendary employee who hired a chopper just to deliver a package forgotten on the tarmac. People love a good story, and that is the essence of word of mouth.

12. There are 9 levels of word-of-mouth. They range from the public scandal of minus 4, the product boycott of minus 3, to the raving customers/advocates who tell you how great your product or service is (plus 3) to the "talk of the town" level (plus 4).

13. Examples of those who have reached plus 4 level of word-of-mouth marketing are:

14. Lexus Automobiles, Saturn Car Company, Harley-Davidson, Netscape Navigator, Celestial seasonings herbal tea, The Internet, and Apple Computer.
Tip! If your book is your life, or is a major part of your business marketing plan, then spend some money on publicity and book marketing. Too many people, especially business people, write a book, put a page up on their web site (and on Amazon), and hope that they'll get some sales.

15. Some ways of harnessing word of mouth are by using experts like customers, suppliers, salespeople, experts' roundtable discussions and selling groups. Take advantage of seminars, workshops, and speaking engagements, dinner meetings, teleconferenced panel discussions, and trade shows. "Canned" Word of Mouth consists of putting out videotapes, audiotapes, using a well-designed website, or distributing CDs. There are also ways such as referral selling programs, testimonials, and networking methods, hotlines (1-800 numbers) and e-mail.

16. Using traditional media for Word of Mouth means using customer service as a word-of-mouth engine, public relations, placements, unusual events, promotions, word of mouth in ads, sales brochures, or direct mail, salesperson programs, sales stars, peer training, or using salespeople as word-of-mouth generators, word-of-mouth incentive programs ("Tell-a-friend" programs), useful gifts to customers (articles, how-to manuals) that they can give their friends.

17. Employees should be actively spreading word of mouth about your products. Spread stories around about examples of superior customer service. Give people a common mission and make rewards dependent on the accomplishment of that mission.
Tip! The second leg of book marketing is the interior and exterior design of the book. People do judge a book by its cover, so if you're not spending some money on getting an outstanding cover, you're losing sales.

18. Word of mouth accelerates the process of customer decision-making, from deciding to decide, asking for information, weighing options, evaluating a free trial, and then finally becoming a customer and advocate.

19. With customer-oriented service, your company can increase sales via word of mouth.

Specific steps in creating a word of mouth campaign:

1. Find some way to get the product into the hands of key influencers.

2. Provide a channel for the influencers to talk and get all fired up about your product.

3. Gather testimonials and endorsements, like actual letters of praise.

4. Form an ongoing group that meets once a year in a resort but once a month by teleconference or daily by list group

5. Create fun events to bring users together and invite non-users. Saturn, Harley-Davidson, and Lexus have been successful with this approach.

6. Produce cassettes, videotapes, and clips on your Web site featuring enthusiastic customers talking with other enthusiastic customers. Custom-create some CDs for each potential customer.

7. Conduct seminars and workshops

8. Create a club with membership benefits

9. Pass out flyers. Tell friends. Offer special incentives and discounts for friends who tell their friends.

10. Use the Internet!

11. Do at least one outrageous thing to generate word of mouth.

12. Empower employees to go the extra mile.

13. Network and brainstorm for ideas
Tip! Besides book stores, you can also sell your books to nontraditional book buyers like display retailers, book clubs, catalogs, gift retailers, volume buyers (think Costco and Price Club), corporations, foundations and foreign markets. We sell thousands of self published books to buyers like these all the time and targeting these buyers should make up a good portion of your book marketing plan.

14. Run special sales

15. Script! Tell people exactly what to say in their word of mouth communication.

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A Review of Mike Dillard's Network Marketing Magnetic Sponsoring Book

In his book, "Magnetic Sponsoring," Mike Dillard teaches you, the network marketer, how to apply the proper marketing strategies that will turn you into a magnetic sponsor.

Though the "Magnetic Sponsoring" book only prints out 49 pages of content, it does not teach network marketers how to promote their business step by step. It is a guide, not an exact step by step road map. I can compare the Magnetic Sponsoring book to a conversation Neo and Morpheus had concerning a woman known as "The Oracle" in "The Matrix" the movie 1999.

The dialog went like this:

"Neo: So is this the same Oracle that made the prophecy?

Morpheus: Yes. She's very old. She's been with us since the beginning.

Neo: The beginning?

Morpheus: Of the resistance.

Neo: And she knows what, everything?

Morpheus: She would say she knows enough.

Neo: And she's never wrong.

Morpheus: Try not to think of it in terms of right and wrong. She is a guide, Neo. She can help you to find the path.

Neo: She helped you?

Morpheus: Yes.

Neo: What did she tell you?

Morpheus: That I would find the One. I told you I can only show you the door. You have to walk through it."

In a book like this, the information has to be generic and serve as a guide designed to help the network marketer to become a magnetic sponsor, but he/she has to "walk through the door" and apply the information contained therein.

Mike Dillard, once a surgeon recruiter for many hospitals quit his job and became a table waiter in order to pursue his career in network marketing. After discovering the proper use of positioning, and "sellucation" his term for the art of self-selling through education, sponsored 35 personal reps. and grew his organization to over 500 within just months and averaged over $500,000 dollars per year in volume sales.

Today he spends his time and efforts teaching network marketers the proper strategies of marketing and magnetic sponsoring, as well as serving as a marketing consultant to industry leaders.

In "Magnetic Sponsoring," I found out that the strategy of the ABC business model is the most valuable a networker can learn. Mike doesn't just tell you what Part A, Part B, or Part C is. He teaches you how to apply that principle in your MLM business,network marketing business, internet marketing business, or what ever you want to call it in order to keep your business running, and to make sure there is constant cash flow, and growth.
Tip! If your book is your life, or is a major part of your business marketing plan, then spend some money on publicity and book marketing. Too many people, especially business people, write a book, put a page up on their web site (and on Amazon), and hope that they'll get some sales.

This book truly brings a fresh, high energy, revolutionary, and an effective approach to network marketing. "Sellucation" is intertwined through out the entire course. Educating prospects and applying the franchise business model is essential for network marketers to become magnetic sponsors.

Though it took me some time to fully understand how to apply magnetic sponsoring marketing techniques into my business, I feel that even people with little or no experience in MLM business, network marketing business, or internet marketing business,should have no problems applying the proper marketing strategies found within the book after reading it a few times.

In his newsletter, Mike guarantees that in just ten days, he can turn you into a MLM lead & cash generating wiz! I have to confess that at first, I did not really believe that; I thought he was just another guy creating a lot of hype to make a quick buck. After reading his "Magnetic Sponsoring" book however, I really see that he can actually back up his claim.
Tip! Use techniques such as blogs (blogging), Podcasting, and Videocasting (something like online infomercials). Be sure to check out the advanced book marketing teleseminar series at http://www.

One thing I felt Mike could have done to make his book even better, was maybe expanding on the section about franchising a network marketing business with more specific, detailed explanations and/or illustrations as to how exactly this strategy should be applied so that the reader learns to apply this technique a lot faster, and effectively to his/her MLM business, network marketing business, or internet marketing business. But then again, the information is very generic and it applies to any business. As long as is read carefully a few times, there souldn't be any problem applying those strategies.

Based on the claims that Mike makes in his free 10-day boot camp training, and in his "Magnetic Sponsoring" book, I could not think of any questions left unanswered, or any unfulfilled promises.

If you are in MLM business, network marketing business, or internet marketing business, you know that the life blood of any business are leads to generate prospects. In order to accomplish that you have to advertise and/or buy leads. If you are running your business on a shoe string budget, and want to generate prospects, generate cash to fund your advertising, and do NOT want to spend yourself out of business buying expensive leads, then my highest recommendation is this:

On a five star rating, one being the worst and five being the best, I give the "Magnetic Sponsoring" book a four star rating.

Though Mike Dillard has already produced a follow up ebook with 13 special reports on magnetic sponsoring that he gives as a bonus for acquiring the book, I hope he produces yet another more thorough breakdown of proper network marketing techniques book that teaches how to become extremely magnetic in network marketing.
Tip! Besides book stores, you can also sell your books to nontraditional book buyers like display retailers, book clubs, catalogs, gift retailers, volume buyers (think Costco and Price Club), corporations, foundations and foreign markets. We sell thousands of self published books to buyers like these all the time and targeting these buyers should make up a good portion of your book marketing plan.

David Pineda is an active article writer and the author of a new ebook called: "List Building Online" To request a free copy of "List Building Online" visit our web: http://www.listbuildingonline.info