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Andy’s Answers: What political and nonprofit groups can teach you about word of mouth

Some of the most clever and powerful word of mouth comes from those who are in the business of getting people to believe in and fight for a cause: political organizations and nonprofit groups.

While their budgets and resources often vary widely, the ones spurring the most change are using a lot of word of mouth fundamentals to make it happen.

A few quick ideas we can use:

  • Never turn down a volunteer. Walk into any well-organized political campaign offering to volunteer, and they’ll have a job ready for you. Plan ahead for your super fans by creating roles and jobs they can fulfill to help spread the word for you.
  • Give them a purpose. Great political and charitable groups (and word of mouth programs) treat their supporters as important individuals within a bigger movement — not as mouthpieces for a slogan.
  • Have some fun. There’s a reason charitable groups do walk-a-thons, scavenger hunts and 5K runs — they’re a lot more fun to do (and talk about) than cold calls or door-to-door begging.