Offline Lessons in Word-of-Mouth Marketing

A little bird told me so...

Word-of-mouth-marketing is natural instinct.  The birds and bees do it, passing on cat alerts and honey finds, through their own version of twitter and social networking.  But you’d think it had been invented in the digital age for all the mentions it gets these days.  There are even full-blown associations for it (WOMMA, for instance).

To see how to promote anything online using the viral, virtual world of word of mouth, we’d do well to see WOM in action among our neighbours (that is, if you actually know them these days, and more than just in passing).  Luckily real-world WOM is still alive and kicking in my small part of the Med. 

Last weekend, I had a world-of-mouth experience which sums up exactly how you should operate if you want to be ace at promoting yourself or something online:. My take out from it was:  

• Be a trusted source
• Know your audience/customers intimately
• Be a niche expert
• AND, above all, be yourself!   

Here’s my anecdote… 

I’m looking for a house to buy in my village.  Simple enough, you might say: visit an estate agent and look out for ‘for sale’ signs flapping in the wind.  Only in Malta, very few houses have ‘for sale’ signs on them, and the very many estate agents get their hands only on those that are highly priced, hard to sell, or attract foreigners. 

The only way to know what’s for sale is to know the unofficial estate agent, who usually doubles up as the grande dame of village gossip.  She, as it’s rarely a ‘he’, will be at least in her ‘60s, and will know everything about you, even if you’ve never seen or spoken to her.  It’s her business to know.  She’s called a ‘sensara’, which sounds just like the Italian word ‘zanzara‘ meaning  ‘mosquito’ ; an appropriate description for her as she buzzes around the village and knows the buzz. 

Our particular sensara last weekend soon had our family sussed.  She knows my husband’s uncle, and second cousin once removed.  She now knows what we want,  in what price range and loads about the all-important ‘location, location, location’ we’re seeking.  The village sensara has neatly reverse engineered estate agency.  We pay her to search; the owners pay her nothing.

Before she’ll enter into this commitment, she has to do her word-of-mouth homework – on us, as buyers, and on the owners.  The whole purchasing chain is founded on trust and judgement.  And her edge is knowing the local scene intimately. 

The whole house buying thing becomes very up close and personal.  That might put you off, but believe me it pays.  She showed us a place that is near perfect for our needs, and on our first time out viewing.  That’s more than I can say for most estate agents. 

You can bet your life, the sensara won’t use flowery phrases such as “highly-desirable bathroom”, which I came across in agents’ blurb last week.   There’s no place for bull in WOM.  If you spot it in online, then don’t forget the adage: ‘let the buyer beware’!