The real power...of "word of mouth" advertising..

[Stuart G]

I like to follow movies and how much they make a week in the theaters. One movie caught my eye in 1998, "Everyone Loves Mary"
A really crude but funny film. Released on July 15, it was 2nd or third in order of most money brought in for a week. This went on for several weeks..but after 6 or 7 weeks..it had worked its way up to number one, the most popular film in the country for that week in the theaters..I think it was Labor Day Weekend. That had never happened before or since
.....that a movie went from 2nd or 3rd over a number of weeks to number one. Why? Because people talked about how funny it was/is.. and then people went to see it..... Even long after it was out and should have kinda slipped away.... and..In my opinion it does have some of the funniest scenes ever put on film..(that is my opinion)..Yes, people talked to one another and the truth is..at least to me..this is a very funny movie. Word of Mouth..the most powerful of all kinds of advertising...

ACA will get incredible "Word of Mouth" Lives will be saved, families will stay financially stable, and the word will get out. Children that would have died, will be cured because of early detection that wouldn't happen otherwise. People will talk about it and pass it on.
It is that simple. We were on the right side of helping people, and they were not. And people will talk about it to each other, and everyone will know..yes, everyone...

[alc]

1. WOM goes both ways

I worked with WOMMA (http://www.womma.org/) for a few years and WOM is VERY powerful (and WOMM is powerful when done right but useless when not done right). The message is the most critical aspect of a WOMM campaign. It doesn't help to blast out a so-so message to millions of people. But the right message only needs to get to a few people initially.

<b>IF</b> there are problems they need to at least be acknowledged by Democrats and ideally fixes passed by the senate or brought up and filibustered by repubs.

Not everyone was helped by the ACA. And people who are upset with an issue are generally louder than people who are happy with it. Newspapers get more letters saying "my potholes need to be fixed" than "thanks to the crew who showed up and fixed my potholes yesterday".

When group discussions happen, defenders need to be courteous to those who claim problems with the ACA. AND they need to have ammunition/facts about how the Democrats will be fixing those problems. "You lie" is not a compelling response when someone says the meds they've been taking for years are no longer covered. Even "insurers have always done that" isn't a good response if people (reasonably or unreasonably) assumed the ACA was going to stop that practice.

The message also needs to differ in red or blue states vs toss ups. Don't be surprised if the message from the Democrat party is that some Republican ideas need to be accepted in order to fix things - not because they are the right ideas, but because cooperation and compromise is necessary. Just because it's not the message YOU want to hear doesn't mean it's the wrong message if the party is thinking in WOMM terms. The message that will be repeated and change minds is critical - not the one that makes supporters feel good.