By Bronwen Evans Copyright Faasai The latest craze in Bangkok is Roti Boy, a bun with a sweet crispy topping. The Roti Boy queues stretch down the street and demand is so great that sales are limited to 10 roti per customers.
The cleaner at our office is doing a brisk sideline trade. Her daughter stands in the queue for those who are too busy or lazy to do it themselves and day after day our corridors are filled with the tantalizing aroma of Roti Boy as she comes back with bundles of bags.
As the owner of a new resort and spa, I am intrigued. My product may be completely different, but I still want to create a buzz. How to do it?
The challenge facing me is the same for any new business, especially one in the hospitality industry. How do we get from our initial starting point to being popular? If our company is a large one with deep pockets, we can employ standard public relations and marketing tactics such as the grand launch, the media familiarization trips, giveaways and promotions and celebrity endorsements. But how realistic is this for a smaller business. Even for big companies, these paid-for activities aren’t guaranteed of success. Take the example of a glitzy shopping mall which opened up in Bangkok a few months ago. Before and just after it opened, it was the talk of the town. The launch was splendid and for the first few weeks after it opened it was packed with curious crowds. But now three months later the crowds have departed, and it is starting to look like a white elephant.
All this illustrates the golden rule of PR, you have to have a good story to tell and you have to live up to the promise. Otherwise your initial splash may turn into an embarrassing shower. According to Malcolm Gladwell, the author of The Tipping Point, the key to popularity or failure is word of mouth. This helps to build brands, to stimulate interest, to create trends or generate flops.
This is well illustrated by the Roti Boy example. The first time I heard about it was from Kate, a friend at work. I remember feeling puzzled as she tried to explain them to me “it’s a kind of bun…” So what, I thought, why do people queue up for those? When I asked Kate, “What makes them so good?” she replied, “just try it for yourself, you’ll see!”
So the first time I got a whiff of the Roti Boys floating down the corridor, I was intrigued and eager to try them. It reflects a simple fact of human nature. We like to try out new things and we want what other people want. If we do find something new, we also love to share our discovery with other people. That’s the engine that keeps news circulating.
On the negative side we don’t like to be unfashionable or thought to be ignorant so the reassurance of other people’s opinions is important. When we are looking for a place to eat – we hesitate to go into an empty restaurant but go in when we find one that’s crowded. After all that must mean the food’s good!
Instinctively a small business in the hospitality trade knows about the importance of word of mouth. But they have to put it into practice. They need to enthuse their friends and neighbours and clients and anyone else who will listen. They have to accept every invitation if it’s a chance to meet their target group and they also need to give out freebies, form business partnerships and make sales visits. If they keep this up, eventually others will start talking on their behalf.
Word of mouth has exponential power. Provided you have a good service to offer, an interesting story and a market exists, you will be successful. That’s why I’m confident that my efforts to promote my resort, Faasai Resort and Spa, will pay off. Despite being located a mere three hours’ drive from bustling Bangkok, it is in a quiet, clean and unspoilt coastal village and this gives it a certain wow factor – as in “wow, I didn’t know that place existed.” (And no, it won’t be spoilt by the arrival of the masses, as most of the surrounding land space is a bush covered reserve).
According to Gladwell, popularity is not something which develops in a linear fashion but it comes suddenly after word of mouth has been circulating for a while. This is what he calls the “tipping point.” My brother in law once had a fish and chip shop. He worked hard and he made great fish and chips but success was elusive. Finally he gave up the struggle. The person who bought the business from him did very well though. It turned out that people were talking about his shop and his reputation was building, but it took time for the “tipping point” to kick in. Unfortunately the profits went to someone else not him.
So don’t underestimate the power of word of mouth, or give up too soon. Success may be just around the corner.
For more information contact:
Bronwen Laopha Proprieter Faasai Resort and Spa Kung Wiman Beach Chantaburi Thailand Phone + 666 889 2595 66 39 417 404 E-mail: info@faasai.com
www.faasai.com
To learn more about this author, visit Bronwen Evans's Website.
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Bronwen Evans
(Visit Bronwen's Website)
Bronwen Evans is a senior public relations
practitioner based in Bangkok with more
than 20 years experience in public
relations and journalism. She is a
director of the Bangkok Chapter of the
International Association of Business
Communicators. You can see more of her
articles at www.faasai.com
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