In yesterday’s post, I mentioned Andy Sernovitz of MarketingProfs and his list of ingredients found in good word-of-mouth marketing. Then I asked you to figure out what was missing from my list. (Note: It’s on Andy’s list, but I purposely omitted it to make a point.)

The missing link is the same thing that causes a lot of products, services, blogs, and companies to crash and burn. With it, you’ve got a shot at success. Without it, you’re doomed. What is the missing ingredient?

It’s what makes something — anything — exciting, buzzworthy, viral. It’s simple, once you think of it. Ready?

It’s having a fantastic product (or service). Then adding some features that make it remarkable. (”Remarkable”= “worthy of remark” = word of mouth!)

Sure, it’s obvious and elementary. But look around at many businesses today, especially some online businesses and Web applications. You’ve got to wonder, what is so special about this? What were these people thinking? Who did they think was going to use (buy) this?

Online or off, I believe the biggest problem most small businesses have is cultivating their uniqueness. Your Unique Selling Proposition, to use the old marketing textbook phrase. It’s really tough to distinguish yourself from competitors when everyone is offering essentially the same product or service.

Finding and promoting what’s different and fantastic about you — that’s the essence of all marketing. Once you find (or add) that, copywriting and promotion becomes easy.

Andy Sernovitz at MarketingProfs offers six WOM tips, gleaned from his experiences with Holly Suttmann, a former schoolteacher who has effectively been promoting her Black & Light Candle company.

“Holly really understands word of mouth,” Andy says. “She’s proof that every business can master these inexpensive techniques. There are a lot of global companies that should study what she’s doing.”

I’m going to extract and paraphrase a few of Andy’s gems:

1. Cultivate key talkers. But use personal notes and e-mails, NOT not press releases, to build a personal relationship with the writer or blogger. As Sernowitz aptly put it, “Not sales calls, just friendliness.” [Note: there is a time and place where press releases are appropriate, but not with bloggers! More on that in a future post.]
2. Give away free samples. People can’t talk about a product they haven’t seen.
3. Make it easy to spread the word. Think coupons, discount codes and other pass-alongs.

Question: What is missing from this list? It’s an essential ingredient for any kind of effective marketing, conventional or viral. It’s mentioned in the MP article, but it’s not on my list. Can you spot what it is — without looking at the original article?

Tell me in the comments.

If you’re hot for blogging and viral marketing — or any other narrow marketing channel — it’s easy to forget that many of the traditional methods are still thriving. It’s the old Nobody I know is still doing THAT mindset. Understandable, but often inaccurate.

Take Direct Mail marketing: postcards, sales letters, catalogs, magalogs, etc. Sure, it may be old fashioned, intrusive and environmentally uncool. It’s also thriving. No, make that BOOMING, according to a new study published in DM News, the industry trade journal.

As copywriter Bob Bly noted on his blog:

“If social media and other forms of electronic two-way communication are making traditional “dead tree” media obsolete, why hasn’t direct mail — perhaps the most intrusive of the paper-based marketing media — disappeared?

“According to the Winterberry Group, total U.S. direct mail spending in 2007 was $58.4 billion, an increase of 18.2% over the $49.4 billion spent in 2004.”

Since DM’s mantra is “test, test, test,” it’s safe to assume that the only reason that kind of loot is being spent is because it sells.

So why the perception that direct mail is dead and gone? Answer: Because so much of it is poorly done. Ugly design, lousy copywriting, wrong mailing list, etc. Like most things in life, DM is easy to do badly, and hard to do well.

Talk about mis-cast. Katie Couric was never right for the CBS Evening News. Miss Perky was a big success in the morning, on the Today show. But her brand was all wrong for an evening newscast. She was too soft for hard news.

[Aside: Dan Rather was all wrong, too, imho. Too edgy and twitchy for an anchor. But he was awesome getting in Nixon's face at news conferences. A news anchor used to require an authoritative, avuncular presence. That's why "Uncle" Walter Cronkite was so perfect in the '60s and '70s. Of course, those halcyon television days are long gone, with the Internet (and the Daily Show) now the primary news source for people like me. And the most important qualification for a news anchor today is blonde hair, long legs and short skirts. ]

But I digress.

As I mentioned yesterday, I’m seeking revenge on Time Magazine for passing over me for their Top 25 blogs. So far I haven’t been able to sink my fangs into Time. But I HAVE nudged Katie Couric closer to the ledge, sparked a blow up at Howard Stern’s show, and gotten Michael Johns kicked off of America Idol.

Yeah, that was all me, folks. Heh heh.

Time — consider yourself warned.

How the heck did Time mag miss this one in their list of Top 25 blogs? (No, I didn’t forget a link — I’m talking about the blog you’re reading!)

I mean, really, what has the Huffington Post or Lifehacker got that I don’t got? Besides worthwhile content, I mean. Which is sooo overrated.

You honestly think TechCrunch and Boing Boing are better than my crummy rag? I suppose you also think Godiva dark chocolate tastes better than Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, too. God, there’s just no accounting for taste.

Obviously, there’s some hanky-panky going on. I mean, I was assured I had a lock on Time’s stupid list. I mean, hell –  they cashed the damn check.

Heads will roll for this. I guarantee it. Stay tuned.