Marketing's Magic Key !

Word of mouth, might be old fashioned but it works.

With the enormous speed and expansion of anything to do with social media, or dare I say Internet, it is understandable that the rules and pointers off marketing are also changing or rather adapting. In fact, it can keep your head spinning for ever, trying to find your own path through the maze of ( online ) marketing.

As you know, Bob and I hold English Conversation classes. It is so nice that our community has embraced this opportunity of having two native English speaking villagers ( Bob and I, of course ). The Mothers have given us their stamp of approval, no question about it.

But, as we are finding out, when the children are between 5-7 years old, Mothers kind off loose the upper hand. Almost like the proverbial donkey, once the kids don't want to go, they just dig in their heels and that is that. The toughest crowd on earth.

Entertaining such a young audience ( don't forget they hardly understand us ) is far from easy. Attention spans are shorter than short, and the boredom factor is always present. Bob and I try and vary it a little bit, but the basics can only be done by repetition.

Once, as a last resort ( bored kids infect each other ), Bob took a piece of paper and made a paper aeroplane. Remember, we grew up the old fashioned way...without computerized toys ! Well, one by one, the kids perked up and all of a sudden they were enthralled by Bob's plane.
Shouts of: " Bob, make mine first. " or " Biggi, can I colour mine Silver and Gold " were everywhere.

Yesterday, we had a young boy come back to our class. He hadn't been for a long time. As he settled in at the table, I heard him say " Bob, can you make me a paper plane like you made for Simon ? "....Aha !

You see, word of mouth, even in Kindergarten, is still the only way. We could have dropped flyers, created advertising and banners, but the only thing that counted for this little fellow, was the fact that Bob made paper planes in English class. Word of mouth it seems is the magic key...

Biggi

Paper planes built both for speed and agility !