The common denominator between the two is that they’re fueled by the v4 principle

First – how do most people in this world get . . . busy?  This explanation is from a guy named Rob back in 2000:

Think about your entire history of relationships… Every person you dated long term, short term, prison term, and every random hook-up in between. The vast majority of those relationships were with someone you met through a common friend. Very rarely do you find a couple who met randomly at a bar. Most couples met through a friend, a friend of a friend, or a relative. The reason most relationships begin this way is the “v4 Principle.”  “v4″ is short for “Vouch For” and it is this reason that the majority of people in America get laid.

EXAMPLE: Say you’re out on a Friday night and you see a cute brunette at the bar. You approach her, make small talk, and attempt to pick her up. To you she’s a hottie with dating potential. To her you’re just another one of the drunken masses out there trying to score some ass. Now take the same situation as before, but when you see her at the bar she is talking to your best friend’s girlfriend. Now when you approach you’re SOMEBODY as opposed to the NOBODY you were before. The girl at the bar has a reference point for you and your best friend’s girlfriend is there to vouch for you: “Oh, that’s Fred. He’s Mike’s best friend. They work together at the law firm. He’s a real sweetie, and he’s sooo cute when he’s drunk.”

See how it works? You’re the same drunken ass either way, but now you’re perceived as charming. So, if friends are largely responsible for our hook-ups, how does one improve his odds? Simple, just use this handy dandy friendship reference guide that follows to determine who you should hang out with more and which friends to discard:

1.) Married Friends – Don’t have any. They only hang out with their miserably married couples and they constantly attempt to pull the rest of us into their pit of despair. There is no ass for you here.

2.) Friends Who Work In The Service Industry – Hold on to these. People who work in restaurants, bars, retail, and the like tend to have a plethora of same aged single people to kick it with. They are laid back and don’t work until noon, so they’re always up for a night out. Also, all hostesses are easy.

3.) Friends Who Do A Lot of Drugs – Keepers. Whether you do drugs or not is irrelevant. People who do a lot of drugs tend to hang out with other people who do a lot of drugs… and, chicks who do a lot of drugs tend to be easy.

4.) Religious Friends – No! No! No! All of their friends are usually bible-thumpers as well, and meeting a group of hot Baptists is like going to your favorite bar without any money. You can look all you want, but you can’t have anything.

5.) Strippers – If you have any friends who are strippers you can contact me. Please let me know where you’ll be this weekend…

Second – why is customer experience vital?  It’s because v4 or ‘vouch for’ is also how the majority of purchase decisions are made. A reference point or recommendation by a friend is the strongest factor impacting purchase intent.

According to research by Keller Fay:

Personal experience with a product or service is the #1 catalyst for recommendation, with 86% saying they recommend a brand or service based on first-hand experience. 60% of word of mouth conversations include advice to buy, try or consider a brand. Fewer than one in ten conversations advise avoiding a brand.

Personal experience is key.  It only makes sense to maximize the opportunity to provide a great customer experience.  How that customer is treated directly correlates with their willingness to talk, tweet, blog or post to Facebook.  Giving that little unexpected extra provides AMMO for your customers to relay their experiences.  That’s why you need to leverage the concept of marketing lagniappe and find your purple goldfish.

The PURPLE GOLDFISH PROJECT – Click here to see 230 examples of marketing lagniappe.  Over 100 brands have been submitted to the list.  Need some thought starters?

I first came across the concept of the v4 principle almost 10 years ago.  This is a hilarious post from 2000 on Sportsbike.net from a guy named Rob from Boston,  a.k.a Streetracer.  I can remember almost peeing in my pants when I originally read this.  Enjoy:

Think about your entire history of relationships… Every person you dated long term, short term, prison term, and every random hook-up in between. The vast majority of those relationships were with someone you met through a common friend. Very rarely do you find a couple who met randomly at a bar. Most couples met through a friend, a friend of a friend, or a relative. The reason most relationships begin this way is what I call the “v4 Principle.”  “v4″ is short for “Vouch For” and it is this reason that the majority of people in America get laid.

EXAMPLE: Say you’re out on a Friday night and you see a cute brunette at the bar. You approach her, make small talk, and attempt to pick her up. To you she’s a hottie with dating potential. To her you’re just another one of the drunken masses out there trying to score some ass. Now take the same situation as before, but when you see her at the bar she is talking to your best friend’s girlfriend. Now when you approach you’re SOMEBODY as opposed to the NOBODY you were before. The girl at the bar has a reference point for you and your best friend’s girlfriend is there to vouch for you: “Oh, that’s Fred. He’s Mike’s best friend. They work together at the law firm. He’s a real sweetie, and he’s sooo cute when he’s drunk.”

See how it works? You’re the same drunken ass either way, but now you’re perceived as charming. So, if friends are largely responsible for our hook-ups, how does one improve his odds? Simple, just use this handy dandy friendship reference guide that follows to determine who you should hang out with more and which friends to discard:

1.) Married Friends – Don’t have any. They only hang out with their miserably married couples and they constantly attempt to pull the rest of us into their pit of despair. There is no ass for you here.

2.) Friends Who Work In The Service Industry – Hold on to these. People who work in restaurants, bars, retail, and the like tend to have a plethora of same aged single people to kick it with. They are laid back and don’t work until noon, so they’re always up for a night out. Also, all hostesses are easy.

3.) Friends Who Do A Lot of Drugs – Keepers. Whether you do drugs or not is irrelevant. People who do a lot of drugs tend to hang out with other people who do a lot of drugs… and, chicks who do a lot of drugs tend to be easy.

4.) Religious Friends – No! No! No! All of their friends are usually bible-thumpers as well, and meeting a group of hot Baptists is like going to your favorite bar without any money. You can look all you want, but you can’t have anything.

5.) Strippers – If you have any friends who are strippers you can contact me. Please let me know where you’ll be this weekend…

On a more serious note, v4 or ‘vouch for’ is also how the majority of purchase decisions are made.  A reference point or recommendation by a friend is the strongest factor impacting purchase intent.  Add on the fact that 90% of word of mouth happens ‘face to face’.  According to research by Keller Fay:

Personal experience with a product or service is the #1 catalyst for recommendation, with 86% saying they recommend a brand or service based on first-hand experience. 60% of word of mouth conversations include advice to buy, try or consider a brand. Fewer than one in ten conversations advise avoiding a brand.

It only makes sense to maximize the experience with your customer.  Giving that little extra provides AMMO for your customers to relay their experiences.  That’s why you need a purple goldfish.

The Power of WOM

One of the frustrations I have with measurement of marketing is that it is fundamentally flawed.  It assumes that all impressions are created equal.  There is no weight given to context and / or the delivery mechanism.

Let’s have a look at advertising, sponsorship, pr and word of mouth:

Advertising is a one way dialogue that is inherently biased.  Like some company or brand is going to show you their warts . . . NOT.  Ads are vested in trying to get your attention.  They sell you blue sky by putting the product in the best light.  Let’s call the impressions via advertising V1.

Sponsorship plays on the interests of the consumer.  The company or brand aligns themselves with a second party.  They are still vying for your attention, but now they are engaging you at a point of passion. Sponsorship works on the idea of affinity or attribution.  Let’s call the impressions via sponsorship V2.

PR is the proactive process of managing the flow of information between the brand or company and the public.   It allows for exposure to the target audience via third party sources.  Those sources are predominantly mainstream media.  This third party authentication provides credibility to the message.  The impressions gained at no cost through PR are much more valuable than those obtained by paid advertising.  Let’s call those PR impressions V3.

WOM or Word of Mouth is the act of consumers providing information to other consumers.  It is what I referred to as the V4 or ‘vouch for’ principle.  V4 means that the consumer is standing up for the product and giving personal assurances to its value.  It’s been around for thousands of years and remains one of the most powerful forms of promotion.  It’s a friend recommending a new restaurant or the latest movie.  New social media tools like Facebook and Twitter have elevated WOM to a new level.  Call it WOM 2.0 or WOM on steroids.  It reminds me of the old Breck shampoo commercial where they start to split the screen by saying, ‘She tells two people, then they tell two people and then they tell two people . . .’ and soon the screen has hundreds of people on it. That’s the magic of WOM.

Bottom line and marketing takeaway: “Word of mouth is one of the oldest and most effective forms of promotion”

You need to figure a way to get people to talk about and recommend your product.  That’s where the ‘purple goldfish’ comes in handy.  It’s the small, unique and unexpected touch that provides fuel to the ‘word of mouth’ fire.

Lagniappe defined: A marketing lagniappe, i.e. purple goldfish,  is any time a business goes above and beyond to provide a ‘little something extra’. It’s that unexpected surprise that’s thrown in for good measure.

How do you stand out in the sea of sameness? How do you win repeat customers and influence word of mouth?  Are you Giving Little Unexpected Extras?

What’s Your GLUE?

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