WHAT is your most effective marketing strategy?” Dave, a colleague, asked recently. I had to give his question some thought. Admittedly, I don’t consider myself an active marketer.        

While self-promotion comes easily for many of my peers, I loathe the tactics required to draw attention to oneself in an increasingly crowded and noisy social media space. I’m also a contrarian—if everyone is doing it, then it’s usually too late. Am I saying I don’t do social media? No, I do. Perhaps not very well as some experts may offer about my Twitter profile. My updates are about as frequent as Northwest sunshine in February.

“Your problem,” as my friend KP (a social media whiz) lectured recently, “is you are confusing Tweeting with believing you are making a difference. Get over yourself. You’re not that important.” Point taken. Still, I can’t bring myself to post inane comments on a daily basis so people can discover how profound I really am. Regardless, I was no closer to answering Dave’s question and unable to explain the results I’ve experienced. 

As I’ve written previously, my business has grown in spite of the current economic challenges. The honest truth is I’ve wondered at times whether it has been skill or just plain dumb luck. There is a scene from the Kevin Costner movie, Dances With Wolves, which illustrates this question perfectly. The scene comes at the beginning of the movie when Costner’s character, Union Officer Lt. John Dunbar wakes up on the surgeon’s table with the surgeon about to amputate his leg. Escaping the field hospital, Dunbar steals a horse and rides out to the battlefield where the Union and Confederate armies are locked in a draw. In a state of delirium, Dunbar rides across the Confederate lines gaining the attention of the soldiers. They unleash a storm of bullets and to Dunbar’s surprise he reaches the far side of the battleground unscathed. With the Confederate soldiers challenging him to ride across again, he tempts fate a second time, suicidally exposing his chest to the barrage of lead. Amazingly, he reaches the other side without so much as a scratch. Skill or dumb luck?

As I was contemplating which it was for my business, the words of a gray-haired mentor, Jerry, came to mind. “Just do great work, Rick,” he advised soon after the launch of my business. “The rest will come.”

Not fully understanding what Jerry was talking about at the time, I followed his advice. I committed to ensuring each day, regardless of the project, how much I was being compensated, or whether I even liked working with the client or not; that I put all of myself into my work. My goal was that at the end of each day, I could honestly say I did everything possible to exceed the client’s expectations to the best of my abilities. As I reflected on this, I realized this was my answer to Dave’s question.

Explaining it to him, he was doubtful at first but became more convinced as the connection became clear to me in the moment. What I am referring to is why word-of-mouth works, which in itself sounds overly simple until you understand the science behind it.

As I have learned, the power of word-of-mouth is based in the theories of Diffusion of Innovation, popularized by sociologist Everett Rodgers back in the ’60s. I won’t bore you with details of the theory, other than to say given enough time and perseverance, any concentrated effort that has value and is well done will eventually find it’s audience and grow. When a product or service is great, people will talk about it and tell others, and so on, and so on.

This is what Diffusion of Innovation Theory calls the Logistic Function.

All this to say, as you are contemplating your key marketing efforts for the coming year, make sure doing great work in your core business is the part of marketing plan that comes first. I believe it is more important than any other marketing strategy you can employ, and will result in much greater ROI than anything else. Do this and I am certain you will have something worth Tweeting about.

Rick P. Thomas is President of Activate Leadership, a leadership development consultancy in Washington State. He consults and speaks to organizations across the country, focusing on individual and organizational achievement.