Number one rule of technology marketing is that word of mouth is the number one source of new customers.  Now do you generate word of mouth?  By turning an organization on its head and empowering those closest to the customer do do the right thing.

Why am I writing this post?  Because  Ben McConnell over at the Church of the Customer Blog has a great article on the subject which is partially quoted below.

"…real PR, is generated at the root levels.

The root levels are the clerks, the sales people, the support staff,
the receptionist, the call center people, the on-site technicians and
consultants, or the police officers, the clerks at the government
offices, or the nurses who take your temperature and blood at the
hospital. It’s their work that generates real PR.

The best PR comes from the smallest of actions by the root-level
people. They smile when they first meet you. They call you by your
name. They compliment competitors. They don’t blame you for their
system’s misgivings. When forced to make a decision, they always,
always, always do the right thing, even if it’s not in the economic or
political interests of their employer. They break the rules when it’s
obvious they must.

That’s real PR. It’s the total sum of stories people tell about you."

You have to have mechanisms in place to drive the behavior in your employees that you want your customers to see.  Mostly these are things that make employees love their jobs.  It comes through in their customer interactions. 

So you want happy customers talking about you in a positive manner?  Create happy employees.