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The beauty of word of mouth is that if you work hard enough and do it with the love of your fans in mind, you can build the kind of momentum that brings in free customers forever. While fun stunts and fresh topics are great at igniting buzz, they alone can’t keep everyone talking. Instead, the best word of mouth is created with sustainability at heart.

What to do:

• Create a series. Single stunts can be great conversation starters, but they’re not always designed to keep the buzz going. Overcome this by asking “What’s next?” before you generate lots of word of mouth with your next big stunt and quickly lose it all due to a lack of follow-up.

• Create a conversation. Don’t just blast folks and hope they pass the word on. Get their e-mail, connect with them via social media, and make sure you’re always working to earn the capability and the permission to regularly communicate with your fans.

• Create community. Build word of mouth that lasts by helping your talkers connect with each other. Whether you build the community yourself or look for existing ones, support these eager fans with insider perks, live events, and things that make them feel like they’re really part of something.

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