Stronger Words, Louder Mouths

At his blog Damn! I Wish I'd Thought of That!, Andy Sernovitz discusses something unusual he noticed on the refrigerator at his office. A colleague had gone to the trouble of posting a commercial-services flyer from Lowe's with a coupon promising "$10 off your next $25 purchase." Says Sernovitz, "I immediately started asking myself about the motivation and process of that recommendation."

Sernovitz then brainstormed three ways to improve the word-of-mouth opportunity. All are worth considering in your own campaigns.

Make it easier. A clip with a magnet held the Lowe's flyer aloft, and Sernovitz wonders if distributing flyers that were actually magnets or Post-its might encourage others to do the same thing at their offices.

Encourage people to spread the word. Even including "Share with your office!" in the copy would invite recipients to do something they might not consider without the suggestion.

Increase the quantity of sharing. The Lowe's flyer had only a single coupon; if there were more discount cards or tear-off sections, multiple people could follow up.

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