What is word-of-mouth marketing?
Word-of-mouth marketing, also known as WOM marketing or word-of-mouth advertising, could be as simple as a satisfied customer telling a friend about a great restaurant they just visited. It is a form of marketing that is triggered by positive customer experiences, which usually exceed the customer’s expectations. When someone shares their experiences and recommends a particular product, service or business to other people, that’s word-of-mouth marketing. This might happen in face-to-face conversations or via social media or online reviews. Buzz, viral, blog, emotional, and social media marketing all fall under the banner of word-of-mouth marketing. WOM marketing is generally free for businesses, however, sometimes businesses may provide customers with paid incentives in exchange for promoting their business.
How effective is word-of-mouth marketing?
Word of mouth is one of the oldest forms of marketing and is also highly effective. The reason is that people trust the opinions of their friends and family when they recommend a product or service. After all, they have no reason to lie. And this is backed up by statistics. Around 88% of consumers trust recommendations from people they know. You can probably relate this to your own experience. Have you ever gone to a restaurant because your friend told you it’s amazing? If the answer is yes, it’s probably because you trusted your friend’s opinion, and you were confident that you’d like the restaurant because your friend knows your taste in food.
Another reason WOM marketing is highly effective is that it’s more targeted than paid advertising. Usually, when someone recommends a product or service to a friend or family member, it’s because they know that person needs the product or service. For example, if you know your friend just joined a gym, you might recommend a gym clothing brand that you really like. With paid advertising campaigns, it’s much harder to know if a potential customer is ready to buy.
Finally, when a customer has had a great experience, they will often tell more than one person about it. Those people then spread the word through their networks. So, it can be a great vehicle for exposure and distribution. And the best part of WOM marketing is that it usually doesn’t cost anything, making it an ideal marketing tool for SMBs, which don’t have huge advertising budgets to play with.
Word-of-mouth marketing strategies
Word-of-mouth marketing is something that usually happens organically when you delight your customers with your products or services. However, there are ways that you can encourage people to spread the good word about your business. Here are seven strategies that are sure to get people talking.
1. Provide high-quality products and services
Word-of-mouth marketing starts with having products or services that people will actually want to recommend. So, your first priority should be to ensure that your products and services are top-notch. If you exceed your customers’ expectations, they will happily sing your praises. Make sure that your products and service live up to, or even exceed, your advertising, sales pitches and the industry standards.
Keep in mind that word of mouth works two ways. Bad experiences generate negative word of mouth. Some in the celebrity world may ascribe to the idea that ‘any press is good press’, but for a small business, bad reviews are not going to get people through the door.
2. Be active on social media
One of the best platforms for word-of-mouth marketing is social media. While it allows you to interact with strangers on the other side of the globe, the advantage of social media for small businesses is that it is also hyper-local. You can easily connect with people in your local area, for example, via Facebook groups. To encourage WOM marketing, you can join and actively participate in these groups. Responding to comments that customers leave on your page or even asking customers to leave reviews, posting regularly and encouraging customers to like and share your posts are also great ways to get people talking about your business.
3. Encourage user-generated content
User-generated content (UGC) refers to any type of digital content relating to a business that users voluntarily create. It could be a social media post, image, video or review. This type of content is highly influential because it’s organic and honest, meaning that consumers are more likely to believe it. So, it’s a powerful form of WOM marketing. UGC is particularly useful if you sell a product that people will naturally want to flaunt on social media, such as clothing or make-up. Here are some ways you can motivate users to create content about your business.
- Offer incentives, such as rewards, discounts or gifts in exchange for posts. For example, you could run a competition where you give away free product samples in exchange for UGC.
- Encourage followers to use your branded hashtag or @mention you on Instagram when they post content.
- Include UGC in your official messaging and on your website.
4. Promote what makes your business unique
When there’s something unique or interesting about a business, customers are more likely to talk about it. Think about what differentiates your business from your competitors. You may think your business is just like any other, but there is sure to be something that is sets it apart. For example, is yours the only café in the area that gets its beans from local Australian coffee farms? Are you a particularly socially conscious business? Are you a woman-owned or minority-owned business? Or does your ice cream shop offer unique flavours that customers can’t get anywhere else? By focussing on and promoting what makes your business unique, you will create a talking point for people, and they will be more likely to spread the word about your business.
5. Collect online reviews
As a form of social proof, online reviews can strongly influence a person’s purchasing decisions. Positive reviews increase trust and make it more likely that a customer will buy from a business. Depending on your business model, you could consider adding a review section to your website, where customers can leave their feedback. This is particularly useful if you run an e-commerce or tech company that sells many different products. Older reviews get less attention and are less trusted by shoppers, so it’s important that you continually encourage customers to leave reviews. You can train your sales staff to ask customers to write reviews when they finalise their purchases, or you could send a link to your review page in confirmation emails. Or you might even want to offer incentives, such as an entry into a competition or loyalty points, to encourage customers to leave reviews.
6. Anticipate what your customers want
Skilled sales reps have a way of knowing exactly what their customers want – even before they know it themselves. The key to being able to anticipate what your customers might want to buy is to get to know your customers well and find out what they are interested in. The advantage of running a small business is that you can build the kind of relationship that allows you to do that. Spend time listening to your customers. When you form a connection with your customers and can anticipate what they want, they feel understood and respected, and they will be much more likely to recommend your business to their friends and family.
7. Focus on your fans
Your most loyal customers are probably also your biggest advocates. So, it makes sense to focus your WOM marketing efforts on them. Identify your regular customers who make repeat purchases. Ask them what they love about your business and invest in improving that offering. Also ask them what they think you could do better or what else they would like to see, and take their ideas on board. People are more likely to recommend your business to their friends if they can see that you care about their experience and that you’re interested in making improvements.
