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.


A U.S. Thanksgiving Day message from Rex Hammock, founder and “head helper” of SmallBusiness.com.*


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.

Each November, as Americans commemorate the prayerful thanksgiving of our country’s first European settlers, we hope you will join us in celebrating a holiday focused on an even higher role of gratitude in our lives beyond the businesses we run.

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 thank you for your support of SmallBusiness.com throughout the year.

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Rex Hammock
Founder, Head Helper
SmallBusiness.com


*This message also appeared in Idea-Email, a free bi-weekly service of Hammock Inc., the customer media and content company that brings you SmallBusiness.com.

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