The Power of " Mouth-to-Mouth"..........Marketing !

I do not deny the power of social media such as Facebook,Tweeter, Linkedin, Youtube etc, in promoting one's products and masterpiece to the mass but still there are "naked truth and lies" that need to be verified and validated. Why ? because it is technology. You and me know how technology can be sometimes deceiving because it is people like you and me who spent millions of dollars to promote their products leveraging on technology. Remember wag the dog movie? Technology was and will always be here to stay, but just in different forms, shape, format. The substance is still very much the same

It happened to me recently series of events which convinced me that words of mouth marketing is still the best and the most powerful marketing tool despite those social media madness and craze. The same goes to mouth-to-mouth CPR, right?

Here is my story. I would like first to share with you the following Youtube video ;

It started with one of my office colleague ( originally from India) who went to Malaysia and spent about a month attending badminton clinic organized by one of the badminton club in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. Before he came back to the office, another office colleague (originally from Uzbekistan) decided to join him to spend few days during recent Eid Fitr. Then, both of them back into the office. They shared with me all the good stories and some of the photos from the visit and even greeted me with " Selamat Pagi. Apa khabar? ". Last few weeks, I heard over a voice singing " Malaysia, Truly Asia " out of the blue.

We will be having another round of holiday early November for about a week. Then, another office colleague (originally from Romania) asked me about her plan to visit Malaysia and asked my view whether it is good time to visit Langkawi etc. I told her my frank view that it rains quite often back in Malaysia now, and most probably a lot more in early November . Few days later, another colleague of mine from UAE asked me about Malaysia as he plans to spend his honeymoon traveling around Malaysia. Yesterday, another colleague of mine (originally from Lebanese) asked my opinion about her plan to visit Malaysia for a week with her family. This last inquiry made my staff made this statement " Eone, you shall start charging them for the advise".

Today, a consultant ( originally from Lebanon) asked me whether I will be back home for the Eid. I nodded my head and I found out that he has been to Malaysia few times. My first month with the company, a colleague of mine ( originally from Yemen) invited me to join him to visit Thailand when I heard a voice from another colleague ( originally from Kenya) made this statement " Eone, do not go with him. You have a better country ! ". Then, my company HR Director (originally from Saudi Arabia) visited my country for two weeks and upon his return, when he bumped into me , he said " You have such a nice country!"

For one , I never really talked about my country Malaysia. However, whenever they found out that I am Malaysian, not a single of comments is negative about Malaysia. The feedback that I received are all good and my reply to those remark " Thank you and I am happy that you have a good time in my country. Still, we have a lot of things to improve and I m so sorry for any bad experiences and lucks that you may face during your visit ( because I do not really believe all are ONLY good stories). ". Interestingly, the respond that I got from every single person that I met " It is normal and it is everywhere in the world !"

Incha Allah, I will be celebrating Eid with my two other friends from Syria in Malaysia . I am quite nervous actually in managing their expectations and I told them to lower down the expectations or best not to expect anything. I believe the sudden interest in my office to visit Malaysia, at least once in their life is because of the word of mouth marketing from one person to another. Some even every interested to visit Zoo Negara because one of them visited the place and he like the place very much.

So, it is true the words of mouth is a powerful marketing tool and it is cheap and free but give the greatest impact - either positive or negative. The same about the way Malaysians drive ( article which I wrote earlier), how angelics and well behaved and well mannered our pilgrims in Mecca ( story that I heard from Moroccans). During my recent visit to Doha, Qatar. The immigration officer upon seeing my "Malaysian Passport" told me how he loves Malaysia so much and he has been coming back to Malaysia and when I was at the ID office in Dubai, when they knew that I am from Malaysia all of them started to mention places like Langkawi, Genting, Pangkor, Cameron Highlands, Sunway Lagoon,Malacca.

To all Malaysians, " They will come as visitors, but we should make them return as our respected guests"

So, will you validate and verify my story through social media ?"

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