Word of mouth marketing (WOMM) can make or break your business. It is the greatest factor that will influence every stage of your target audiences’ purchasing decisions. In this digital era where people are more connected than they have ever been, WOMM is evermore critical.
What is Word of Mouth Marketing?
Word of mouth marketing is actually one of the oldest but most effective forms of marketing, seamlessly evolving itself to the digital era. At its core, WOMM is all about having your customers casually slip in a good word about your product or service in their daily interactions. It is the most powerful organic marketing that will spring a positive chain reaction of events, boosting sales and conversion figures. To further bolster the WOMM,
A Nielson report states that:
92% of consumers believe suggestions from friends and family more than advertising.
Unfortunately, the statistics also show that businesses are slow to pick up on this trend and are losing out building intimate relationships with their consumers:
96% of brands do not respond to clients on social media immediately.
Benefits of Word of Mouth Marketing
The statistics do not lie. In fact, our own purchase behaviour also shows how much emphasis we place on WOMM. While the ideal WOMM happens in casual interactions, newer forms of WOMM come in the form of a review or a product recommendation. So, let us list out the benefits of WOMM for your business:
1. Build Trust
Positive reviews and recommendations are essential to any business. Consumers inherently develop trust for a brand through reading or hearing positive reviews about it. This also builds up the reputation and credibility of the brand name.
2. Low Cost
The best thing about WOMM is that your customers are doing the marketing for you. When WOMM is organic, there is no need to invest marketing dollars to promote your business.
3. Increase in Sales & Conversions
Positive reviews and recommendations by real people can be very convincing. They can help sway the undecided prospective buyer into purchasing from you.
4. Scalability
As your business grows, you can even collaborate with influencers and celebrities to further cement trust and credibility of your brand. Doing this can also help to expand the reach of your prospecting customers.
5. Creates Long-Term Value
Gaining consistent and positive buzz around your brand will help encourage new customers while retaining your existing customers. This also makes it easier for you to form long term partnerships with influencers to further grow your brand.
Word of Mouth Marketing Strategies
So how do you go about implementing a WOMM strategy? The underlying strategy in WOMM is customer engagement and interaction. You want to make sure that you are conversing with your customers and generating positive buzz around your brand
1. Participate In Conversations
Social media platforms are usually where most conversations are happening. Join Facebook groups or even online forum discussions about a related topic to your brand. Share your expertise on the topic and engage in fun and casual discussions with the online community.
Doing this also helps you to identify and address any pain points that your customers are facing. Dealing with issues like this will also help you gain trust and build credibility around your brand. This is where social listening and social monitoring tools will come in handy.
2. Promote User-Generated Content
The easiest way to do this is to simply reach out to your customers and ask them to share your products on their social media accounts. Provide them with a brand hashtag so you can keep track of the conversations that might be generated from it as well. You should be keeping track of this as a way to get feedback from your customers.
Make sure that you keep this simple for your users also. Do not limit their involvement and make up too many rules when engaging with your customers. Your customers are happy to remain engaged if you make them feel comfortable to share their feelings with you
3. Engage With Influencers
Depending on your business objective, and the current scale of your business, you can look into utilising influencers or even brand ambassadors. You want to be selective when choosing which influencer you want to be promoting your brand. While follower count matters, what matters more is the engagement that the influencer has with their audience. This is because influencers who engage and interact with their audience like a “friend” will have a bigger impact for your brand. Do a background check on your influencer of choice to also make sure that their personality fits into your brand voice.
Conclusion
Business should always keep in mind that an outstanding customer experience is very powerful. This is what powers word of mouth marketing. When your customers are happy with your product, they are more willing to spread the word. Each happy customer can help you attract dozens of new customers overtime.
