Above is a clip from my appearance last week on KTVB’s Noon News with Carolyn Holly. My topic was the “Myths of Word-of-Mouth”.

Here are the myths:

1) Myth: Word-of-Mouth is a tactic. A tactic is something you execute or do. Examples in marketing: media buy, creative, web, etc. All things you do. As such, WOM is NOT a tactic. It’s not something you do; it’s something you are. Of course, there are steps and processes to generate WOM, but WOM is not something you can buy.

2) Myth: Word-of-Mouth doesn’t cost money. This may sound like a conflict with #1, so here’s what I mean: It may not cost money to BUY word-of-mouth, but it certainly can cost money to CREATE it. The time, money, and energy that goes in to creating an interesting product or service is all part of the cost of WOM. That said, paying to be interesting can a lot less expense and for more sustainable than paying for attention. A portion of cost can also go towards grassroots marketing, creating sampling, conducting surveys, etc.

3) Myth: Word-of-Mouth means you don’t need to advertise. WOM is often positioned as the opposite of advertising. In reality, they are two separate issues. In many cases, brands need to use advertising to create interest, perception, behavior, etc. Boring brands need to pay more to make this happen. WOM-driven brands can still use advertising - often to further enhance a competitive advantage. These brands use advertising to “fan the flames” of excitement. Think Apple, Southwest, or Harley. They aren’t creating awareness, they are further stirring existing buzz.

I mentioned an ancient and timeless rule in the piece:

Being interesting = creating stories = generating word-of-mouth.

So if you wish you had more WOM and don’t, see the first part of the formula.

If you think you are interesting, but aren’t generating stories then either you are probably not interesting - or you are doing a poor job of capturing and re-telling stories.

If indeed you are interesting, then use your marketing dollars to tell and create stories - and it will create even more WOM!

At Tricycle, we are always talking about creating the right culture within your organization. The fastest way to shape your culture is to start by hiring the right people. I recently saw this contract application. It isn’t your typical job application…What do you think? For more about the actual position and even to apply, check here.

* Required

Your name *

The one your parents gave you…

Invent an application ID number *

Your initials followed by a four digit number that you won’t forget (e.g. SG1234). I’ll use this to anonymously post the finalists so people can informed about whether or not they made the cut.

Your email address *

So we can contact you

Where do you live now? *

City or state or whatever

A phone number

In case we need to make voice contact

More about you

Where do you live online? A blog or a Squidoo page or some other way to see who you are and what you do

Tell me about the books you read… *

Not by me… books that have changed the way you think or do your job

Where are you going? *

What do you want to do next? What are you hoping to learn?

True story #1: Tell me about a project you successfully shipped *

Preferably where you were in charge

True story #2: Tell me about working in a team *

A project you participated in

Publishing experience *

Check all that apply

Book publishing

Book editing

Online media

Magazine publishing

Other:

Publishing experience *

Feel free to fill me in on the above (if you don’t have any professional experience at this, don’t fret, it’s not the end of the world)

Skill testing question #1 *

Which superpower is more highly leveragable: flight or invisibility?

Skill testing question #2 *

A turtle and a giraffe leave Cleveland, walking in different directions. The turtle walks at 5 meters per second, the giraffe at 12 meters per second. What color is the street sign?

True story #3: Getting picked *

What’s the most demanding/exclusive application process you’ve ever been through? Who picked you and why?

Technical chops *

Tell us about your skills with various web apps or languages or whether you can operate a Zojirushi rice cooker

What do you do now? *

Where and what and how, etc.

For the past few months, we have been collecting stories. We have been collecting clients’ stories: who they are, where they have come from and what their company is doing. Our culture thrives on stories, not sales pitches. We have created a small video archive of video stories for you to watch. All of the stories were captured on a simple Flip camera and pieced together using simple software. The point of these videos is to show who is behind so many of the companies we love. Enjoy and feel free to share.

Justin Foster had another opportunity be a guest with Carolyn Holly on the “It’s Your Business” segment of KTVB’s noon news on November 18. You can see the clip above.

Here are the 4 marketing trends for 2011 Justin talked about:

- Crowd-sourcing: engaging with your customers to help market your business.

- Hyper-local: marketing to narrow audiences; typically geographic areas.

- Web findability: creating a web presence that makes your business easy to find.

- Social media quitters: businesses bailing on social media efforts because of lack of results.

As always, we are interested to hear from you. What other marketing-related trends are you seeing?

by thomas golden

What drives brands?

Easy: memories. Our brains remember the recent and the extreme.

Recent:

We remember yesterday. We remember the drive home. We remember the last time we had coffee. We remember the recent memories because it is easy. It is top of mind. We really don’t have to work to remember it. These memories fade fast.

Extreme:

We remember the one time we went to and had this crazy (fill in the blank). We remember our last big play to win the game.  We remember horrific accidents. These instances are easy to recall because they are so different. These memories often stay with us for life.

So What:

What are you doing with your marketing? Are you playing the recent game of “Don’t forget about us,” reminding us everyday that you exist. Or is your marketing trying to create an extreme experience where you delight us frequently by not telling us you are different but proving it.

Image Source

This week’s question/ scenario: Southwest Airlines seems to be doing very well as they are currently hiring. They have low price fairs and funny TV ads, so what are they doing right and what is everyone else doing wrong?

This is our eighteenth video in our “60 Seconds” series. We will be posing a number of questions in this series. We will attempt to answer one question per week in video form. There are two rules for the “60 Seconds” series:

1) Justin has 60 seconds to answer a given question.
2) The video is unscripted. Justin has not seen the question before taping. What you see is raw footage, there is only one take. We do this to keep ourselves down-to-earth and transparent.

Announcing Online Applications

Tricycle is happy to announce that we are now accepting online applications to Tricycle University. Tricycle University is a one-year intensive program where you will learn how to grow, manage and develop your brand. Once accepted in to the program, you will be placed into a small learning pod with other professionals. Over the next 12 months, you will meet with your pod and your instructor both online and offline to go through the program in a cohort-style format.

You can fill out an application on our site at thetricycle.com/onlineapp or visit thetricycle.com/tricycleuniversity for more information. See the screen show below.

Application Screenshot

Just thought we would fill you in on some of the changes that have been happening recently at Tricycle. Other than moving to 615 W. Hays Street, we also have some staff that you probably haven’t had the opportunity to meet yet. Check them out below, we have some very cool and interesting people. You can contact any of us by sending a note to:     info AT thetricycle DOT com      We don’t like spam, hence the funny formatting.