See Andy's other stuff:

Contact Me >>

Your employees are your best evangelists

When looking for a group of talkers to share your new stuff, don’t overlook the people already on your payroll.

I was at a client meeting in Dallas earlier this summer, hosted at a Starbucks (some of them have meeting spaces you can reserve), and we got to talking about VIA — Starbucks’ new instant coffee that they’re beginning to roll out across the country.

We decided to hold an impromptu taste test, and one friendly barista was brave enough to go on camera to try it (he had never tasted VIA before). After some careful examination, he was able to correctly identify the traditional Starbucks brew versus their instant coffee, but noted that he liked the new stuff.

The taste test got us talking about what an asset Starbucks employees could be in introducing VIA to new cities. For the price of one big TV commercial, Starbucks could give each employee a bag full of the stuff to share with friends, family, and regular customers.

The Lesson: When you’re rolling out a new product or introducing a new word of mouth topic, remember your employees — they’re the ones who have built the trust with your fans and loyal customers.

Check out the live taste test:

[contact-form-7 id="27185" title="contact-form 3 TellAFriend-Post"]