What fuels positive word of mouth marketing?

“The principal underlying all memory techniques,” notes Joshua Foer in his book Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything, “is that our brains don’t remember all types of information equally well.”

What fuels positive word of mouth marketing in business is the quality of interactions with the potential customer base, not the quantity of interactions. Case in point: The Biblio-Mat—a random book dispenser for The Monkey’s Paw, an idiosyncratic antiquarian bookshop in Toronto:

 

Biblio-Mat books, which vary widely in size and subject matter, cost two dollars. The machine was conceived as an artful alternative to the ubiquitous and often ignored discount sidewalk bin. When a customer puts coins into it, the Biblio-Mat dramatically whirrs and vibrates as the machine is set in motion. The ring of an old telephone bell enhances the thrill when the customer’s mystery book is delivered with a satisfying clunk into the receptacle below.

My 2¢: For business building ideas that last, study the winners.