a single source, nothing corroborates it
Give them something to be seen with
A purchase people want to be observed making spreads without any prompting, because the buyer is broadcasting something about themselves rather than recommending a product. That can be a donation baked into every sale, a credential worth posting on a professional profile, or a stance contrarian enough that customers demand merchandise. Narrow identities travel further than broad ones, since nobody is a fan of the category.
The method
- 01
Build something into the product that lets the buyer broadcast an identity they are proud of, because a purchase people want to be seen making spreads on its own.
- 02
Give customers something they are proud to display on their professional profile, and their posts become the acquisition loop.
- 03
Niches carry a higher viral coefficient because fans identify with the specific thing, not the general category, so each one recruits more people.
- 04
An anti-brand stance can produce the fandom that ordinary discount branding never gets, including demand for merchandise.
What it returned
- 100,000,000
Every TOMS purchase donates a second pair, which marks the buyer as charitable and prompts imitation. TOMS has given away more than 100,000,000 pairs. Jonah Berger's formulation is that showable products are the ones that grow.
- 16
no name grew from 16 products in 1978 to 2,900; a plain photo of its biscuits drew 6,000 likes on Twitter; customer-demanded merch sold out overnight
Reforge graduates posting about it generated a stream of LinkedIn notifications
Nobody tattoos a love of football on themselves; they tattoo the name of one club
Sources
- Growth Flywheels | Customer CampKatelyn Bourgoin · customercamp.co · Create an identity your audience wants to show off · undated
- Serve a niche market. Get more attentionHarry Dry · Marketing Examples · Benefits of a hardcore audience · undated
- The genius of no name's brandHarry Dry · Marketing Examples · undated
- Reforge and the Strategic Use of LanguageHarry Dry · Marketing Examples · undated
the second source
Three plays a week, for the phase you are in
No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.
More in word of mouth
- Check word of mouth exists before you build8 unconnected · contested
- Turn buyers into fans instead of buying ads6 unconnected
- Show up in person where your readers are5 unconnected
- Make the second user arrive with the first5 unconnected
- Answer support as if it were the sales channel4 unconnected
- Give the hardest customers your hours4 unconnected