Active AimA Journey and Destination

Word of Mouth Marketing

There’s probably no more effective branding strategy in existence than word of mouth

marketing. However, only 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 talk about something a recent product that they were satisfied 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 the entailing costs and investments. Even marketing experts profess

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 a

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 customer voice. 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 on 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 feedbacks, 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.