When was the last time someone recommended something to you? Think about it: on an average day, how often do you hear someone say “these are good, you gotta check them out”, or even “those are the best”? The most interesting question, however, is: to what extent are you aware of the power of word of mouth?

I’ll tell you what happened to me today. I had to pay a visit to the DMV. Like you, I always love to do these kinds of errands - and just like you, I especially adore the Department of Motor Vehicles. I have nothing better to do than spend half of my day in an overcrowded waiting room in order to get my five minutes with a clerk.

While I was sitting there, waiting for the calling number on the display to magically jump from 351 to 384, I couldn’t help to overhear one of the clerks talking to her girlfriend who had brought her something to eat. She had got it at the restaurant across the street. She expressly and effusively reported to her friend behind the counter how wonderful her lunch had been, and what she had gotten her. One of the other clerks overheard the conversation as well and joined in. She asked her colleague’s friend which restaurant she was talking about, and when she had confirmed it was “the one”, she nodded repeatedly and, being a wise-ass, said “Yes, they do their own cooking”.

Excuse me please

No, I didn’t speak up. After all, I might encounter one of these ladies at #384. So I just thought to myself: What does she mean? The restaurant cooks their food by themselves. In contrast to… what exactly? Ordering it at another restaurant? So while I was sitting there, smiling to myself, I gave it a thought.

Facts first

1. What I described above takes place all over the world, all the time. People will always recommend things they claim to know about to other people. It makes us feel bigger. Admittedly, showing off knowledge gives us a kick.
2. The majority of people will take every chance to promote something they think is valuable to their surroundings.
3. The term valuable obtains different meanings for different people, with the two extremes being a) “I only brag about things I’m convinced of to maintain integrity and reliability”, and b) “I don’t care what I’m bragging about, as long as it makes me look superior”.
4. Motivation varies as well: the range is from a general drive to be of assistance right up to a desire of appearing superior in your social surroundings. What’s unitary for both extremes as well as for everything inbetween is the social character of the motivation.
5. For people who long to appear superior, it’s not about the product itself. It’s about leveraging their own image at the cost of something they don’t really care about.
6. To some, the more a product or brand appears to be “secret”, “underground” or “hard to get”, the more it appeals and is being bragged about. When we look at this kind of audience, the good old economics term scarcity shifts its meaning: it becomes a marketing strategy.

Either way, people have a variety of personal reasons for bragging, be it out of an actual desire to help or an attempt to raise their social status. This interesting phenomenon is something marketers can and do use. The power of the word of mouth is a strong one! While the creation of content worth spreading is a classic PR discipline (a whole branch is constantly working on communicating brands in a way that will trigger word of mouth effects.), it’s of great importance in advertising as well. Many campaigns are intended to be followed up by media effects. They are being composed with that objective in mind.

The snowball effect

Back at the DMV, once the number 384 got called, it took me exactly 7 minutes and 30 seconds to sign a form, pay a fee and be on my way. Not too exciting, huh? But I did walk out with an interesting insight. While I’m quite sure that the restaurant across the street didn’t exactly work with a PR agency (it was an 18-table, rustic, low-priced joint), they did manage to get the word out that they serve home-cooked meals. Whatever that’s supposed to mean - it has an effect! It triggered a mention by the clerk girl at the DMV. To her, it didn’t matter that home-cooked is a ridiculous argument for classifying a restaurant. She meant to say “they make good food”.

The term home-cooked meals, as meaningless as it is, simply makes it plausible to spread the word about it. It’s remarkable. As far as I know, this little restaurant doesn’t do any sort of advertising. Just the patron of the place, walking from table to table, saying “this dish you’re eating is authentic and home-cooked”. That alone has the potential of adding to your repertoire of self-leveraging insights. It certainly was enough to make our DMV clerk talk about it.