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8:53 AM Tuesday July 20, 2010 Andy Sernovitz, author of Word of Mouth Marketing, takes the stage.  Love, he says, is what it is all about.   Love is hard, takes work, creates a powerful brand.  He offers tips on how to create & spread such love.

Andy compares new love to teenagers, to consumers excited about brands (ipad, etc.).  Love, he says, breaks the chasm between love & money.  Love grows, via Word of Mouth,which costs nothing.  Zappos brought up, already a few times and this is the first session after the opening "rah rah coach" intro. (Felt like being in a scene from a Rudy impersonator).

Andy's main thesis: Your brand isn't what you say it is, its what other people say it is.   Word of mouth, he says, is more powerful than advertising.  Respect, aka, word of mouth, is the greatest value and therefore the best marketing tool.  Love, he says, of product of supplier of brand, gets things done.

Help love grow, nirture it, make it louder.  Word of mouth isn't luck, it is marketing.  A word of mouth marketer helps start the conversation and spread the love, loudly and often.  G

Andy says the two tenets of Word of Mouth Marketing are:

• Give your friends a reason to talk about your stuff
• Make it easier for that conversation to take place.

The 5 T's of Word of Mouth, per Andy::

• Talkers -- find people who will talk
• Topics --  Give a reason to talk
• Tools --  Help the message spread
• Taking Part--  Be a part of the conversation(s)
• Tracking -- Do the math

It is not about Social Media, he says.  E-mail bigger is much for referrals than Social Media.  A personal recommendation from a trusted friend beats a tweet any day.  You can't buy Word of Mouth, you must earn it.

Which brings us back to romance: a reason to talk.  What gets people to talk..the topic.  And the brand message rides along with the topic.  Portable, repeatable, emotional -- fresh reasons to talk.

Help them share the message, the topic (Twitter, YouTube, FaceBook), inspire sharing (tell a friend form) -- scale it up by incentive (t-shirts).

Say thank you.  Comment on blogs that mention you.  Validate the blogger, show the love.  Would anyone tell a friend?  This is the key question, it challenges you to be wonderful.  Is the product awesome enough?  Be interesting or be invisible, Andy says.

Word of mouth is about being better. Be better, fix problems, be a little bit nicer to each and every customer.  Fix what's broken.  Be alert and aware, hear what people say.  Make things better.  Happy customers are your best ads.