See Andy's other stuff:

Contact Me >>

Newsletter #935: The “Don’t Waste An Opportunity” Issue

[Welcome back to the Damn, I Wish I’d Thought of That! newsletter. This is text of the great issue all of our email subscribers just received. Sign yourself up using the handy form on the right.]

Opportunities to get people to talk about you don’t have to come with Super Bowls, massive conferences, or lucky breaks. Sometimes, the best way to earn word of mouth is to get creative with the stuff you do every day.

Here are some ways to make the most out of:

1. Your customers’ comments
2. Your customer service
3. Your shopping bags
4. Check it out: Pantone Album Covers

1. Your customers’ comments

When Grasshopper, a phone system provider, posted a photo of their employee’s business card sketches on Facebook, a fan jokingly requested a few of his own, and, as he explains, “forgot about it” — but Grasshopper didn’t. Instead, they drew up his requests: a snake holding a lightsaber, a dragon with pink lips, and an octopus with horns, and sent it to him with a note that said, “Challenge Accepted.” The recipient liked it so much that he wrote a blog post about it.

The lesson: Grasshopper made a passing comment into an opportunity to make someone’s day and earn some great word of mouth in the process.

Learn more: LessEverything

2. Your customer service

People leave stuff on planes all the time. And while it’s nice of airlines to mail it back to their passengers, it’s not necessarily remarkable. But Southwest sees this as an opportunity to stand out from what other airlines are doing and earn word of mouth. When one customer left behind her phone, Southwest sent it back with a short, goofy poem about the woes of losing something and the joy of getting it back.

The lesson: A simple gesture to show your personality can make an otherwise normal interaction into one that people will tell their friends about.

Learn more: Consumerist

3. Your shopping bags

The life of a shopping bag is typically brief and usually ends in a trashcan. But Lee made sure their shopping bag would stick around a little longer by making sure every inch of it could be transformed into games, pencil cups, door hangers, and other fun stuff. Now a normal shopping bag creates much more engagement and starts a lot more conversations.

The lesson: How can you start word of mouth with the stuff you hand your customers every day?

Learn more: AdVerve

4. Check it out: Pantone Album Covers

See what iconic album covers look like when they’re made out of actual Pantone swatches by artist David Marsh.

Check it out: David Marsh

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