Word of Mouth Marketing
There’s probably no more effective branding strategy in existence than word of mouth marketing. However, only a few realize its actual potential in helping you build a successful business and branding system. What could be better than having actual people talk others into doing business with your company? It is a common thing for people to do, which is to talk about something a recent product that they were satisfied with or had good experiences with.
And yet, word of mouth marketing does not cost you anything. It is just as effective as other methods of advertising or increasing awareness about your company’s products or services but without entailing costs and investments. Even marketing experts profess the word of mouth marketing to be the most potent means of communicating a company’s marketing message.
Effects of Word of Mouth Marketing
If you have seen various TV commercials or websites that sell products, then you might already be familiar with testimonials. This is a marketing ploy utilized by most business owners in order to provide a valid proof with regards to the benefits and claims made by the company, which is in the form of actual users of the product.
However, there is a discrepancy here: if business owners were to tap people to provide testimony about a product and the results experienced, then it is most likely a biased demographic. The business owner will pick only users who have something positive to say about the product since their main intent is to influence the buying choices of the consumers.
This is when the power of word of mouth marketing becomes evident. Using this method to communicate the potentials of a given brand creates a personal connection between the consumers and the product in question. Previous users to the product who attained satisfaction from it can recommend the product to their friends or family members. Therefore, business owners can get free advertisement out of that, which is probably as effective (or more) than a TV ad but without the costs.
Word of mouth marketing can work to a company’s disadvantage as well. It happens when people who have tried the product have certain complaints about bad service, or bad quality products, and unsatisfactory customer relations. Research reveals that word of mouth marketing essentially has a bigger impact on the buying decisions of people aged between 18 to 34 and 35-54.
Bigger Customer Voice
It has been highly emphasized by marketing experts that if you want to maintain or increase your market share, you need to work on providing excellent customer service. This will ensure that you get a share of loyal customers who believe and trust in your brand. If you’re able to successfully enhance that trust, then you are able to produce a good customer voice. Therefore, when these individuals are asked to say something about your company, they only have positive views to say.
Hence, several companies are now devising methods to improve their “listening” ability when it comes to the customer’s voices. Indeed, improving customer communications will produce satisfied customers and consequently increase the potential of producing more positive word of mouth marketing.
Tips for Increasing Word of Mouth Marketing
A recent study conducted to determine the most influential marketing methods, word of mouth marketing came out on top. Hence, it has raised awareness of the important role that consumers play in influencing other’s buying options. Therefore, you can utilize a positive word of mouth marketing to create your own sound branding strategy. Here’s how you can do it:
• Create a branding strategy that will get people interested and have them talk about it. Unless you can arouse their curiosity and attention, you will not succeed in this.
• See to it that you satisfy customer needs. When people are happy about your product, they will joyfully and willingly recommend it to others.
• Respond to feedback, whether positive or negative. Aside from promoting your business, you can utilize word of mouth marketing as a means to gather essential information on how you can improve your service and branding strategy.
