Marketing with Moxie

Hey Cupcake!With summer in full swing, I've been exploring some typically Austin businesses lately with my family. Places like "Hey Cupcake" and "Flip Happy Crepes." Interestingly, these establishments run their business out of sleek, aluminum-skinned Airstream trailers. I made a mental note to be sure to bring our next out-of-town guests to these places as perfect examples of what Keeps Austin Weird. These businesses truly are weird, and delightful, not only for their retro ambience, but also for their tasty treats.

What is it about an Airstream trailer that creates such a buzz? These business have websites, but I have not seen or heard any advertising about them. I learned about them by word of mouth. They just make you smile. That's something that even multi-million dollar ad campaigns rarely do. Curious about this phenomenon -- running a business out of a retro Airstream trailer-- I googled around to learn more about businesses in trailers in Austin.

Last January in Austin there was a "South Austin Airstream Trailer Tour." We like tours in Austin. Tours of homes. Tours of galleries. Why not a Tour of Trailers?  Brilliant.

So what's this got to do with marketing? Everything. I preach that every business owner must understand that everything is marketing -- especially in our current economic crisis. Assuming you've at least got a decent product (research shows that restaurants can be successful serving less than stellar food if they give their customers great service) and a fair price, customers will find you even in a recession if you delight them.  They in turn will brand you.

Our friends at Hey Cupcake and Flip Happy crepes found a way to be passionate about their product andFlip Happy Crepes delight their customers. You can probably think of other businesses that do the same -- Apple, Southwest Airlines, Disney World to name a few.

So, do you need to work out of a trailer, or hire Mickey Mouse to delight your customers? No, but can you think of something just as creative to make your customers smile? A smile on your customer's face today can make their mouths spread words of praise tomorrow. 

If you ask small business owners what they did to build their business via word of mouth, many may answer, "I don't know.  We just had an idea."  I suspect though, that if you drill down, you'll find a consistent passion for excellence, a clear vision and a unique understanding of what makes people tick.   Can this ability be taught?  Yes, but it usually sprouts from a founding entrepreneur with a vision. 

If you peel back the layers of what we now call "social media marketing" you'll find that word of mouth is the soft, chewy center.  Websites like Yelp and customer comments on popular business blogs like Nuts About Southwest are really an online variation of word of mouth marketing. 

But good old-fashioned over-the-fence word of mouth isn't dead yet.  To learn more about word of mouth marketing check out the Word of Mouth Marketing Association web site.

If you can ride out the rest of the recession with this proven and cheap marketing formula, your business will be even stronger when the economy bounces back.