For OctopusTravel.com, a seller of discount hotel accommodation over the internet, Tarsh conceived the OctopusTravelCLUB as a means of rewarding loyal customers and attracting them to the web site without going via [costly] search engines and coupled this to a novel method* of incentivising them to spread the word to their friends and family. 

Within two months of launch, the CLUB had over 10,000 members in 80 countries and sales well into £six figures.  OctopusTravelCLUB has since been merged in to the longer-established Hotel Club, after Cendant purchased and rationalised both businesses.

*ShareTheWordMarketing - a new marketing method conceived by Tarsh Consulting, enables a business to track word of mouth recommendations and reward consumers with cash, for spreading the word about its products or services – whenever their recommendation leads directly or indirectly to a sale. The method is currently the subject of a US patent application.

The name ShareTheWordMarketing reflects the principles that consumers are encouraged to share the word with people they know and that everyone has a share in the success of his or her own efforts.

Businesses that can take advantage of the new method will be able to reduce promotional costs significantly and will be able to penetrate markets that would otherwise be very difficult or expensive to reach using conventional techniques such as advertising.

Since there is no need for consumers to pay anything for participating, they risk nothing by becoming involved and they gain a genuine prospect of receiving money legitimately for doing no more than telling their family and friends about a product or service.

ShareTheWordMarketing is also a data protection compliant means of building an Email database of prospective customers – something that is highly desirable in today's business environment where search engine fees are escalating dramatically and Email marketing activity is being ever more strictly regulated.

Significance

Lord Leverhulme, Frank Woolworth and John Wanamaker are all credited for pointing out that half of their advertising budgets were wasted but they didn't know which half.

With ShareTheWordMarketing none of it is wasted. Being able to track and reward Word of Mouth is the Holy Grail for marketers and this achieves it for the first time.

It represents a genuine marketing revolution as it will enable businesses not only to focus marketing spend more efficiently than ever before but also to consider a genuinely new channel to market, consumers themselves - who will be encouraged to keep spreading the word, as they will continue to earn for as long as those they introduce make purchases.

Breakthroughs

To bring ShareTheWordMarketing in to operation has required a number of practical and conceptual breakthroughs to be made, including:

• Developing the commercial principles that ensure transparency and efficacy
• Creating the system of rules to ensure effective operation commercially and legally
• Designing and building the technical systems that enable the tracking of introductions and payment of commission
• Convincing many international financial institutions to develop automated methods of paying commissions to members on line, in all major currencies, anywhere in the world
• Creating the explanatory communication