Idea: The Most Powerful Word in Marketing

Several hundred readers have subscribed since we sent the first Idea Email during the week of Thanksgiving last year. As the following has been one of the most shared emails we’ve sent, and because we can’t say it enough, we’ve decided to make it an annual tradition.

Not long ago, the most powerful word in marketing was the word FREE.

That era ended with the creation of spam filters.

Today, the most powerful word in marketing is THANKS.

In his book The Thank You Economy, Gary Vaynerchuk explains how the internet has created a shift in the way businesses are expected to behave—one that evokes an earlier age when customer and seller knew each other by name.

In this new era, the word thanks isn’t merely a clichéd coda to a business transaction. Gratitude is now the necessary mortar for cementing relationships in which buyer and seller are bound by mutual trust and respect.

Of course, the word thanks is not merely a powerful marketing word. Scientists are discovering that living with a sense of gratitude is connected to a wide array of physical and emotional benefits.

On Thursday, as Americans commemorate the prayerful thanksgiving of our country’s first European settlers, we will celebrate a holiday focused on an even higher role of gratitude.

In her book Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers, Anne Lamott writes about this kind of thanks: “Gratitude begins in our hearts and then dovetails into behavior. It almost always makes you willing to be of service, which is where the joy resides … When you are aware of all that has been given to you, in your lifetime and in the past few days, it is hard not to be humbled, and pleased to give back.”

Happy Thanksgiving. And thanks.

The Idea Email is distributed free, once every two weeks, by Hammock, the customer media and content marketing company. Please share this with friends and colleagues who can subscribe here. We respect your privacy, and each mailing includes a one-click unsubscribe link. We typically feature one or more companies and organizations in each Idea Email. If any company we mention has a relationship to Hammock (as a current or former client, for example), we will include a disclosure.