PC — UpGrad

Word Of Mouth — Marketing

Is Word of mouth is the pinnacle of marketing?

Robin Singh
Stronger Content
Published in
5 min readApr 25, 2020

--

Imagine a situation where everyone is buzzing about your product, and you didn’t have to break the bank to get them to do it. With it, they take selfies, hashtag their picture-perfect life into oblivion while using it, and tell their peers, “Have you heard about X? Since you have to buy X. “The room shakes. They’re so loud and emotional. And there you are, getting all of the love without the P&L heartache.

eric-carlson - https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/word-of-mouth-marketing/#what-is-word-of-mouth-marketing
Eric Carlson

I’ve seen ecommerce brands blow up by developing a Facebook Group, having YouTube influencers talk about them, and by getting on podcasts. And while this all happens online, this is still WOM advertising. — Eric Carlson, Co-Founder, 10x Factory

Hey Everyone in the era of Digital Marketing, Growth Hacking world. We are still dependent on “Word Of Mouth (WOM) Marketing”.

Quick Fact: 92% of consumers will believe a recommendation from friends and family over ANY other type of advertising.

You are thinking of what is the word of mouth marketing, how this can be impactful and what are the strategies we can build around to form a marketing plan and all the stuff. So, this blog will help you.

What is Word Of Mouth Marketing?

Word-of-mouth marketing (WOM marketing), also referred to as word-of-mouth advertising, is the method of actively influencing and promoting organic mouth conversation about a brand, organization, resource or event.

To put it more clearly, word of mouth marketers and advertisers are seeking to build something worth thinking about, and then actively motivating people to speak. As I have already described, people love referrals. When making buying decisions they appear to trust the views of their mates.

Word of mouth advertising ultimately aims to kick-start an exponential chain of referrals that drives the brand’s continuous traffic, leads and sales. It’s a powerful trend in the eCommerce industry which shows no sign of slowing down.

WOM Work So Effectively —

What makes it work?

Essentially, it’s down to faith. People trust what others have to say, meaning they fare more likely to buy when they hear about it from a friend or previous customer.

Although certain consumer marketing strategies need a strong presentation, the figures speak for themselves when it comes to word of mouth marketing.

Only look at some of the top statistics and it’s not long before you see how effective word-of-mouth marketing is:

  • Nielsen report that 92% of consumers believe suggestions from friends and family more than advertising.
  • In addition to friends and family, 88 per cent of people rely on online reviews written by other users almost as much as they rely on personal touch recommendations.
  • And 74 per cent of consumers consider word of mouth in their buying decisions as a primary influencer.
  • Only 33% of businesses are actively seeking out and collecting reviews.
  • Millennials ranked word of mouth as the #1 influencers in their purchasing source. (Source: Radius Global)

How you can Implement Word-of-Mouth in Your Marketing Strategy:-

1. Encourage User-Generated Content (UGC)

user-generated-content — https://appsamurai.com/how-to-promote-your-app-with-user-generated-content/

UGC is content that customers produce and share about marks or goods. It’s honest, builds trust, and gives extra collateral to the marketers to work with.

  • Eighty-six per cent of millennials say UGC is a strong quality measure for a brand or service.
  • UGC videos will increase the productivity of sales by 20 per cent.
  • Millennials 5.4 hours a day with content produced by their peers.

How do you get content generated by users?

  1. Provide a special hashtag describing content generated by customers.
  2. Encourage the production and sharing of social media images, videos and gifs. Give a gift, discounts or apps.

2. Share Customer Testimonials/Reviews

customer-testimonials-og — https://www.salesforce.com/ca/blog/2017/08/mine-gold-out-of-customer-testimonials.html

79 per cent trust online testimonials and feedback as much as personal recommendations.

They help ensure the efficiency, quality and/or value of your claims and make it more comfortable for customers to do business with you. After all, there is one reason they call it social evidence.

Testimonials can be written or video and maybe hosted or taken from others on your website.

3. Offer an Incentive:

shutterstock_613555196–900x455

Giving your customers a reason to share with others can skyrocket your word-of-mouth marketing as well.

Big or tiny, when people get some kind of benefit in exchange, they are often more willing and eager to do something. So consider making a discount or gift to your customers in return for referrals.

4. Create a Referral Program

175net-promoter-score-for-customer-referral-success

You can take this a step further by creating a formal referral program. A good referral program:

  • Makes it simple and fast to spread the word.
  • Makes it worth it for all parties (with a reward or other benefit).
  • Tests the campaign results.

Get ideas for your word of mouth marketing campaign by looking to successful brands who did it right.

You can take Dropbox, Coca-Cola, Hotmail and GPay.

Conclusion

In terms of viral capacity, or cost-efficiency, very few marketing tactics can equal WOMM. With just pennies, the right plan will burst a business onto the stage, but it’s not just happening by itself.

Word of mouth marketing requires real, measurable company interaction with the target audience. This is a two-way turnout.

By offering a smooth and outstanding customer experience, goods worth evangelizing, and simple ways to inspire and reward them for shouting out their love, you earn word of mouth (you don’t buy it through influencer marketing or advertising) — Robin Singh

Using the strategies we discussed here earlier, but note that ultimately, it’s a personal bond that motivates consumers to become brand ambassadors, rather than a strategy.

--

--

Robin Singh
Stronger Content

Marketer | Business Development | Sales & Marketing Strategies | Social Media | Community Volunteer