My favorite type of marketing is also perhaps the most difficult to inspire, create, and control: word of mouth.
When I hear from a friend (or even a stranger) that they loved a game, book, movie, podcast, blog, YouTube channel, restaurant, band, service, company, etc, it immediately piques my curiosity. Not only did the person love their experience, but it stuck with them so much that they were compelled to share it with me.
But unlike sending a game to a reviewer or mentioning the game on social media, it feels like word of mouth either happens organically…or it doesn’t. Today I’d like to challenge that perception with some examples and ideas of ways publishers can inspire word of mouth.
Reminders in the box: Any product can include a tangible reminder in the box for customers to share their experience. The first thing I saw when I opened my copy of Sagrada Artisans recently was a card (see photo) asking if I was happy with the game, along with suggestions to share, rate, or chat about the game on social media. Some publishers also include reminders of their other products in or on the box; the most clever example of this I’ve seen is on Honey Buzz, which has art on the sides of the box depicting bees playing other Elf Creek Games.- Feature one strong differentiating factor: Jay Baer, author and host of the Talk Triggers podcast, stresses that competency isn’t enough for people to spread the word. He recommends having one strong differentiating factor that is both authentic to your brand and fully scalable to every customer. Some examples from his podcast are an oral surgeon who personally calls his clients a day or so before their appointment, a car mechanic that offers a full-service spa while you wait, and a hotel where they hand you warm chocolate chip cookies when you arrive.
- Enable and embrace fan participation: A few days ago I saw the new Barbie movie in a theater with 9 friends, all of us decked out in pink (along with most other attendees). Barbie’s advertising didn’t tell us to wear pink, yet it can encourage the trend by sharing photos. You can’t always predict what your fans will do, but you can embrace and celebrate the fun they create.
- Pinpoint the ideal target: I can either encourage you to share this post in general…or I can suggest that you send a link of this post to a friend who started their own business in the last few years. I don’t know about you, but I’m much more inclined to do the latter, as the suggestion helped me think of someone specific. I’ve tried to use this method in our e-newsletters for new games.
- Special occasions: Piggybacking off the above idea, our games could include a note–and even a special discount–for anyone who chooses to buy a copy of the game (or a related product) as a gift. For example, the note could say, “If the winter holidays are approaching, use code FROSTYEXPEDITION to save 20% on a copy of this game for the friend in your life who has never won a game of Scythe.”
- Gift exchange: Giving anything as a gift is an opportunity to turn word of mouth into a sale, but it’s always a risk. You may love Wingspan, but will your bird-loving friend actually take the time to learn the game? What if they already own it? To remove the risk, what if we offered a gift exchange option on our webstore? For example, if you indicate at checkout that the order is a gift (maybe paying an extra $1 to ensure people don’t do this with every order), we’ll include a card in the shipment that allows the recipient to exchange the game with any tangible product on our webstore of equal or lesser value within a reasonable timeframe. Whenever the offer is used, we’ll send a prepaid mailer for the recipient to send the gifted game to a reviewer so it’s still put to good use, even after being opened.
- Photo opportunities: Out of habit, I often take a few photos when I’m playing a game, and I end up sharing many of them later on Instagram. Every now and then I’ll see a game prompt players to take a photo, and without fail, almost everyone pulls out their phone for that special moment (I recall Picture Perfect doing this). Simply reminding players to take a photo at a key moment instead of relying on them to remember makes a big difference.
- Anything to get the game to the table (link): I often return to this point on marketing posts because it’s so important. I believe one of the most important marketing tools is the product itself, specifically how I’m able to encourage people to get the game to the table. This starts when they open the box and try to play for the first time, and it extends to the ease of setup and teaching. It also goes beyond the product design to all the different ways a publisher can support a game.
Sometimes you make a great, memorable, innovative product or service, and people are compelled to talk about it entirely on their own. But these nudges are a good reminder to me that I have the ability to slightly increase the chances that people might talk about Stonemaier Games.
What’s the last time you recommended something–game, book, movie, podcast, blog, YouTube channel, restaurant, band, service, company, etc–to anyone, and what was it about that product/service that inspired you to share it?
***
Also read:
- 20 Instagram Strategies and My Recommendations
- Why We Share
- Click Me! Share Me! Like Me!
- How to Go Viral in Two Easy Steps
- Gift Commerce and the Stonemaier Games Gift Guide
If you gain value from the 100 articles Jamey publishes on this blog each year, please consider championing this content! You can also listen to posts like this in the audio version of the blog.
12 Comments on “Word of Mouth: How Do You Inspire the Best Type of Marketing?”
Leave a Comment
If you ask a question about a specific card or ability, please type the exact text in your comment to help facilitate a speedy and precise answer.
Your comment may take a few minutes to publish. Antagonistic, rude, or degrading comments will be removed. Thank you.
I’ve recommended Here to Slay, because of graphics, game is very easy to teach and it is pretty fun with replay value.
Also I was really excited about the Expeditions quality when showing it to friend. He took pictures of cards and was asking which game are they from to buy it (for graphics and quality).
The Crew: Quest for Planet Nine was also addictive to play over and over. Easy to learn, fast all time engaging rounds and wide age range people like it. I got it as a gift. I’m going to buy it as a gift now to someone else.
Lots of friends were recommending Leder Games: Root to me as well, not really explaining why, just saying it is a great game.
I have doubts about the game I am making now if it has that “word of mouth” factor. I also think it’s critical. We had like 3 people that seemed hypnotized with it. 26/32 people in survey said they would recommend it to a friend, giving somewhat different reasons. Saying they would recommend is not the same as “you must see this game!” enthusiasm though. I feel like we are getting way better responses when showing how to play instead of making people figure out the instruction on their own. And instruction had 84 version updates already.
What are you looking for to determine if your game has that “word of mouth” factor and is ready? And do you know any good ways to test that?
Thanks for sharing these examples, and congrats on how much playtesters have enjoyed your game! I think you’re wise to ask them if they would recommend it to a friend–that’s a great start for gauging if a game has that word of mouth factor. Beyond that, it’s actually seeing if playtesters talk about the game in a word-of-mouth manner–are they telling you that they want to play it with someone else or that they can already think of a friend who will love it? It’s more freeform feedback like that that drives the final written report I request from our blind playtesters.
To answer your question, I recommended Aerobie Disc Golf Discs as all of their line float in water (they actually float even if submerged upside down at the bottom of the water!). https://youtu.be/k526ZLGP6dc
However, word of mouth -as defined by the referenced Jay Baer – is an unprompted story, not a recommendation. I totally tell people about the replacement program that I have used twice for SM games unprompted. Idk if you guys have sought out his book “Talk Triggers” yet, but as SM has used marketing companies before – Id be really curious what book you asked him to buy if everyone on your crew got a copy and didnt like it 🤔 (his word of mouth marketing strategy). I think you probably have several great strategies, its just a matter of doing to work to see if they are effective (or paying him to do that for you).
At our store everytime someone checks out they draw a card from our game “Popcorn!” and if they draw the day of the month – their entire order will be free. It relates to our core value of Generosity, it is repeatable, remarkable, and reliable (believable). We dont do the market research to make sure it is still working optimally, but it is at least a strategy and we implement it every day with joy in our hearts when people win.
That’s a really fun way to incorporate an element of chance into the checkout process!
When it comes to businesses the #1 thing that gets me to refer is high quality customer service. The best customer service I’ve ever experienced is from Pirate Ship (free shipping software). That entire team is incredible.
I can tell from reading some of Jamey’s other blog posts* that Stonemaier Games has a great customer-centric philosophy.
*Once Jamey sent a single replacement piece overseas even though it was costly and it was the factory that made the packaging mistake. Many of Jamey’s Kickstarter campaigns are risk-free with refunds if the game does not meet expectations. Even in this article the gift exchange idea is ~risk-free, so chances are high that would earn some word of mouth from the buyer or even the recipient.
Mark, you’re absolutely right that we’re here to serve our customers and put them first. And sometimes those expensive one-time fixes resulted in much bigger solutions: We now have replacement parts helpers worldwide in a variety of regions, allowing us to serve pretty much everyone who has our games.
Hi Jamey, et al –
This no doubt ties very closely to your strong differentiator point, but what oftentimes gets me talking about a game, and keeps me talking about a game, is if I experience something unexpected. No need to boil the ocean, as it were. Seemingly little things can have a pretty big impact.
Case in point, when Expeditions arrived, I was delighted to see what looked like compostable baggies being used for some of the bits. I actually showed them to my spouse, “hey check this out! COOL!” May seem like small potatoes to some folks, but for others, that sort of attention really sticks with us.
Thanks! I like the idea that small, unexpected things are worth sharing. You’re right that there are compostable bags in Expeditions. It’s a component we’ve used for a few years, though we may need to take a break from them, as they don’t work all that well (they tend to tear at the top). But hopefully your bags hold up!
I think in my circles, just getting a game on the table is by far the most effective way to do this.
A couple months ago I introduced Codenames to some friends who visited for a few days while they were on a road trip. They loved it so much they bought it the next day and have introduced it to at least 15 other people (resulting in 2 more purchases so far) on the rest of their trip.
This week, another friend of mine played Root for the first time over steam. He thought I’d really like it and we made plans to play on Thursday. He was so excited to try it with me he sent it to me as a gift before I had a chance to buy it myself. After a few plays, I’m going to return the favor and get us both an expansion!
It’s amazing how fast word of mouth can make an impact, and your Codenames example is a great example of that!
Here are two from this week…
Someone needed a tree service, so I recommended one we happened upon in recent years, Happy Tree Service in STL. They were economical, answered their phone after hours on the evening of a storm that took down a 30-ft limb of our tree, and came the next day on the weekend to address the problem, all with no emergency or weekend up charge.
I recommended a great museum in Dallas (the Perot Museum) to folks who like Wingspan because my bird-loving husband and the rest of us loved the bird exhibit there, along with other parts. It was extremely well done, and Wingspan players might like seeing the parts related to birds in the game.
Thanks for these recommendations, Julie!