The Most Powerful Form of Marketing: WOM
Sunday, February 21, 2010
I'm often asked, "What is the most effective form of marketing?" To which I respond, "word of mouth." Nothing is as effective as word-of-mouth marketing. The real question is how to generate word of mouth from your customers on a regular basis. There are a variety of ways to generate word-of-mouth marketing and many are overlooked by companies large and small.
One of the best ways to generate a referral is with a strong customer advocacy campaign. Do you honor and reward your best customers? When customers are celebrated, there's lots to talk about. You can share their honor with others in their segment or group. Additionally, you can repackage the information in the form of news or video, easily distributed throughout the Web. This creates awareness and interest for your product or service.I personally like using surveys to get at the heart of what your customers like and don't like about your products or services. By utilizing open ended questions like, "Who do you know who could benefit from our product?" Experiment with different ways for generating referrals from surveys that are personalized and based on customer insights.
Another great way to create word-of-mouth is through a customer referral campaign. Referral campaigns are simple to implement but require a solid understanding of your audience. By asking and rewarding your customers for referrals, you can have them do the selling for you. This type of personal selling is one of the most effective. Consider low cost methods of rewarding your customers for referrals. This could be a discount on existing services or added bonuses.
Other word-of-mouth campaigns may be effective in utilizing testimonials. Today, with the help of blogs, video, and web sites, when customers have a good experience they have lots of ways to share it. The challenge is to direct your customers to promote good experiences, not bad. Although I've tried to solve this dilemma for over a decade, the only discovery I've made is that you have to take the good with the bad.
There's actually a silver lining here. Research has shown that when customer comments contain both positive and negative feedback, they are more believable. The key is to encourage your customers to speak up about positive experiences and downplay the negative ones. When you receive or come across negative comments, respond to them - work with your customers to make things right. After that, let them go. The balance of positive and negative works in your favor.
Word-of-mouth marketing is a powerful tool in your marketing arsenal. Think of ways to elicit positive feedback from customers. If you focus on generating word-of-mouth, you'll quickly find a number of methods for encouraging referrals from your customers.
Marketing Blog founder and top-selling author Michael Fleischner has been featured on The TODAY Show, ABC World News, and Bloomerg Radio. 
10 comments :
WOM is by far the best way to gain new business. People believe other people's opinions. And you can't buy that.
I implemented a referral bonus program and it has been a huge success for me and increased my new business dramatically.
People trusts much more on the advice of another people (even when it is some guy they just know on internet) than in marketing campaigns. It is somebody who tested the servide or product and they tend to think that it is an unbiased opinion.
Michael,
Great post! I often speak on WOMA on my blog. I find many companies state, "I get all of my customers from WOMA." To which I reply, "Wouldn't it be nice to have more mouths doing the talking?" That always gets there attention because far too often marketers fail to think about that angle.
Steven
Michael, great post and spot on IMO…
As you point out very few businesses and organizations celebrate their customers.
Same can be said for employees… an effective WOM program can also help identify areas of common bonds between employees and customers… the marketing holy grail.
Word-of-mouth marketing generates both positive and negative feedback which makes it believable. Thanks for the brilliant post. All the strategies are workable.
Thanks for your information.....
very good.
Thanks for the topic Michael. Good tactics, too.
Word of Mouth marketing has become even more important today as it has gone from one-to-one interactions to one-to-many interactions in the virtual space. MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, widgets, etc. are all just more modern versions of WOM.
If you want to check out my own blog, please visit www.johnmossmarketing.com.
Indeed, WOM is the most powerful form of Marketing. I always encourage small business owners to ask this question to a satisfied client:
"Do you know 4 or 5 people that would be interested in my services (meaning the services of the small client)? If so, would you be able to leave their names and email/phone with me, so I can call them and let them know you sent me!"
It fuels WOM marketing, and turns it into an all-out lead generating machine!
Going to bookmark this blog and check in regularly, you have very good content.
I think that this is a very strong form of marketing! I for sure know that I use word of mouth when making decisions about going places and doing certain things! I will for sure try and read reviews before making any purchase even if it is online or not!
Nothing can replace WOM... we do quite a bit of marketing for our Atlanta dental practice, but our best business without a doubt comes from referrals.
It is amazing how many people in the "digital age" simply ignore word of mouth marketing as if it is outdated... It is alive and well for sure!
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