January presentation to SMB Seattle by Saul Colt.

1. Clever presentation title
Creating amazing Offline Word of
Mouth to drive online chatter!
Saul Colt – Head of Magic
November 25th, 2011– Social Media Breakfast - Seattle, Wa

2. A fancy professional speaker once
told me to remove the first two
slides of all my presentations
because they were usually
unnecessary.
2

3. …but that is going to make the third
slide harder to understand…but
here goes.
3

4. ….and I LOVE women!
4
4

5. Be Interesting Yourself!
5
5

6. So why am I here today?
6
6

7. To explain a few of the ways to create offline
WOM with or without a budget….
7
7

8. Lessons from Dick Shawn.
8
8

9. And that is how you too can get on a
Digital Board in Times Square!
9
9

10. A simple search for the definition of
Word of Mouth in Wikipedia will tell you
that….
10
10

11. “Word of Mouth”
was the second album by Jaco Pastorius,
released in 1981 while the bassist was a
member of of the band Weather Report
11
11

12. …and while that is true I prefer to
explain it as doing something so
fascinatingly interesting that people
have no other choice but to tell their
friends about a cool experience they
had.
12
12

13. [This is a good place for an apology]
13
13

14. If real world WOM is about creating experiences.
14

15. …then those experiences better
be creative!
Quick Points on Creativity:
• Creativity does not come from a
committee.
• Creativity comes from thinking
uniquely and being fearless.
15

16. Ways to create experiences if you are
not on antidepressants!
• Look for obvious connections (Do research)
• Play on Emotions.
• Force people to ask questions.
• Add Conflict.
• Make people feel special.
• Be Interesting Yourself.
16
16

17. Look for connections/Do research!
• Wikipedia
• The Googles
• LinkedIn
• Blogs
• Twitter Search
17
17

18. 18

19. Play on Emotions!
• Surprise and
Delights!
• Make it as
personal as
possible.
19
19

20. Force people to ask Questions!?!
• What are you
up to?
• Why are you
doing this?
• You aren’t
trying to sell
me water
dispensers are
you?
20
20

21. Add Conflict!
• Kidnapping for fun and profit
21
21

22. Make People Feel Special!
• Spend time
with your
community.
Especially if
they are
female.
• Go beyond
expectations.
• Make
22
Girlfriends!
22

23. Be Interesting Yourself!
23
23

24. Be Interesting Yourself!
24
24

25. Live the life of your customers.
Fight for what they care about
and be an advocate for their voice..
25

26. …and if that ain’t your
thing you could always just
do interesting things.
26

27. Do interesting things.
(With Barter)
27

28. Do interesting things.
(With Dead Inventory)
28

29. Do interesting things.
29 (With Emotions)

30. Do interesting things.
30
(With Customers)

31. Everything you do with or without
a budget
should be about, and include
your customers.
31

32. Including your customers is the same
as fighting for them.
32

33. By promoting your customers you are
forming a real connection and with
that connection you will empower
your customers to talk about your
company and indirectly
you have a highly passionate
sales force!
33

34. The more connected you are
with your customers the better
you will know what they want,
like…
34

35. …the more you will try to not
disappoint them.
(with a WOM initiative that is a huge miss)
35

36. These types of activities will
help build your brand and
start lots of conversations,
and when it is all said and
done those are the only things
a competitor can’t steal!
36

37. Do Interesting Things
37
(by keeping your eyes open)

38. Opportunities are literally
everywhere!
38
38

39. ..so anyone remember
that Times Square Slide?
39

40. And this is how you too can get on a
Digital Board in Times Square!
40
40

41. So…in closing.
41
41

42. 1- Take a stand on something your
customer base (and you)
believe to create positive
attention with a purpose.
42
42

43. 2- Barter (beg) like you are
a virgin on prom night
43

44. 3- Dead Inventory is called
Dead for a reason.
44
44

45. 3-Everything you do
should be about, and include
your customers.
45

46. 4- Keep your eyes open for
opportunities to use other
people’s “stuff” to start
conversations.
46
46

47. Lastly…
(for real this time)
maybe.
47
47

48. Three other things to remember…
Live The 4 E’s
• Execute
• Extraordinary
• Experiences
• Everyday
-Mike McDerment, CEO of FreshBooks
48
48

49. Three other things to remember…
”The absolute best
things about WOM
campaigns are that
if they fail it usually
means no one
knows about them.”
-Andy Sernovitz, CEO of Gaspedal
49
49

50. Three other things to remember…
If you want to give
something away for
free…give something
away for free. Never
make your customers
work because they
aint gonna.
-Bill Veeck, Baseball Hustler
50
50

51. …and what exactly am I calling
this new way to spread to
messages to people with or
without a budget?
51
51

52. The Aristocrats!
52
52

53. ….and now finally, if you remember nothing else from
this talk I hope it is that….
53
53

54. Girls find me irresistible!
54
54

55. Any Questions?
Did any of this make sense?

56. Contact me!
@saulcolt
saulcolt
saulcolt
saul@freshbooks.com Cell - 416-219-3259
56
56