Word of Mouth

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By Timothy Rubacky, Senior Vice President

The power of word of mouth is profound, wouldn’t you agree? We’ve just survived a national election where over a billion dollars was spent on hundreds of thousands of ads that, in states like Ohio, Colorado, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida, blanketed the airwaves. Sometimes, a five-minute commercial break while watching regular programming consisted entirely of political ads. But I ask you a simple question. Did those ads really influence your vote? For the most part, it seems people had already made up their minds for which candidate they were going to vote. Even in the cases where some folks were undecided, it appears unlikely that anyone was swayed one way or another solely on the basis of ads. Maybe the ads helped them lean left or right, but in talking with my friends and acquaintances that had not yet made up their mind, they said one thing above all others helped them decide: the opinions of their friends and family.

Word of mouth.

As a marketing guy who spends plenty of money on advertising and brochures, the thought of that sends shivers down my spine! But it’s not unexpected. The power of word of mouth from those you know usually trumps all other considerations when forming opinions about who to vote for or what products to buy.

Earlier today, a good friend of mine posted on Facebook the problems he was having with his car. Now, that sounds like the typical post on a social networking site that most of us ignore (along with political posts and posts from people who feel they need to let the world know every time they’re stuck in traffic at a red light that hasn’t changed quickly enough to satisfy their impatience). I’ll admit that his post was more amusing than most. He also had taken the trouble to accompany the post with a picture of the logo of the brand of vehicle to which he was so opposed with a large red “X” over it (somewhere an automotive marketing executive is cringing in their cubicle at the thought). The gist of his post was that he had spent a considerable sum of money on a higher-end auto and after just a few short years, it needed thousands upon thousands of dollars in repairs. Worse yet, he opined, the brand’s service center didn’t feel this was at all unusual.

But here’s where things got interesting. He placed his rant against this particular German manufacturer on a social media site. Instead of telling friends over drinks or dinner of his misfortune, he was simultaneously telling everyone he knew. In this case it was a group of friends and family that far exceeded 1,000. It was amazing to see what happened. Within an hour, one of his friends answered him with profound gratitude. It seems this gentleman was on the verge of buying the same make of car that my friend had disparaged. He was looking at the top model which cost well over $100,000 and was uneasy about such a big purchase. My friend’s opinion changed his opinion as well and he decided to buy a less expensive vehicle from a different manufacturer. Of the more than 1,000 people my friend had reached with his post by the end of the day, a total of four additional people who were looking for a new car thanked him for the information and said they had crossed his hated brand off their lists. One unhappy customer was able to keep nearly $250,000 from being spent with one company based on a single post. Word of mouth had made a huge difference.

But I also saw something equally amazing. In his post criticizing the one brand of car, my friend also mentioned other brands he had owned and singled out an American vehicle manufacturer that, based solely on his own experience, he felt had built good, solid, dependable cars and sold them at a reasonable price. He expressed that he would be buying from that company once again in the future.

His friends who owned cars by that maker echoed his comments online, further enforcing the positive word of mouth message and two people looking for cars said they would now consider this American brand based solely on his opinion. Just as quickly as he had shifted business away from one car maker, he had moved it to another. And he did it all with one post on Facebook.

Each of these companies spends hundreds of millions of dollars on television spots, magazine and newspaper ads and colorful, slick brochures. They pay to exhibit at car shows and even sponsor racing teams on the NASCAR circuit. Yet simple word of mouth trumped all their efforts.

Why do I mention this? Because one of the primary keys to the success of the American Queen Steamboat Company has been word of mouth. I can buy all the ads I want but without the positive comments by our guests, it would be for naught. We try to treat each guest as if they are the only guest aboard the American Queen. We view each as a guest in our home because, in a very real sense, they are.

And there’s something else I’d like to point out. With the advent of social media, we can all reach more people than ever before. Those of you who believe in what we are doing here at the American Queen Steamboat Company, are showing us just that. When many of you come across a post on our American Queen Facebook Page that you find interesting, you click the “like” button or comment. If you want to put the power of word of mouth to work for you, when you find a post that is particularly interesting, just click the “Share” button as well and let you friends and family know that a voyage on the American Queen is something you love, something you recommend and something that you support.

Word of mouth is a powerful tool. I want to thank all of you who have helped us build our business by the most simple but most effective of all methods. We are what we are today because of all of you.