What Is Word of Mouth Marketing? Benefits of WOM

In everyday conversations, you hear lines like “Hey, do you want to eat this dish tomorrow? It looks so good!” all the time. Yet have you ever wondered why restaurants spend heavily on advertising and still need a good while to win customers’ trust, while one or two casual lines like the one above can make people follow along without a second thought? That is the power of word-of-mouth advertising – Word of Mouth Marketing (WOM). So what is Word of Mouth Marketing?

What Is Word of Mouth Marketing?

Word-of-mouth marketing (Word of Mouth Marketing or WOMM) is one of the important ways to communicate, advertise and market in today’s product promotion campaigns.

According to the formal definition from Anderson (1988), WOM is a form of communication between two parties that involves evaluating products and services without any intervention from advertisers. Put simply, it is a form of “word of mouth” – in other words, using your own voice to recommend specific brands, products and services.

A simple example to help you understand this definition: think back to the last time you went to a restaurant because a friend recommended it, with lines like “The food here is good, cheap, hygienic and high quality” or “They have a really great offer here, come and try it”…. That is “Word of Mouth” – friendly, down-to-earth words from the people around you. Ever since, it has become a more useful and trustworthy source of information than many communication materials on the mass media, on social networks or on TV.

The Nature of Word-of-Mouth Marketing

From the idea above, many people may think that Word of Mouth is just an ordinary conversation, free from any outside influence. But that is not entirely accurate: when people share information about a product, service or brand with friends and family, they have already used that service themselves. Just like the Word of Mouth examples we gave above, they are real customers who bought and used the providers’ services.

That means what they share may itself be the result of advertising, of exposure, or of the customer experiences that the business has built. The influence a business has on customers’ word-of-mouth marketing can come from many angles and methods. Of course, these are still reviews and comments from customers and consumers who have used the product or had certain experiences while researching it.

From here, though, you can see that the nature of Word of Mouth is not just reviews and comments from independent personal opinions. It is also shaped by the seller through earlier programs, advertising, marketing and interactions with customers. That is also why businesses and companies always try to build good customer experiences and long-term relationships with their customers. This is the foundation for helpful word of mouth that will support your marketing in the future.

What Are the Principles of Word of Mouth Marketing?

You Need to Have Something Special

Just imagine: no one talks about a company that is too ordinary or too boring. Typically, before launching a new product, a marketer will ask themselves: “Is there anything customers would want to tell their friends about this product?”

Example: Apple is a master at getting customers to talk about its upcoming products. Information “leaked” out drop by drop in an extremely well-orchestrated way builds excitement among customers, and they spread stories about the new-generation iPhone further and further.

Emphasize Simplicity

No one has enough time and patience to talk about something that is too hard to understand and remember. So you have two jobs: find the simplest message, and do everything you can to create a viral effect for it.

Example: Here are two announcements about the same product, clothing:

Message 1: We guarantee first-grade goods, suited to Asian skin tones and weather. Wearing them will flatter your skin and make you look extremely attractive in other people’s eyes.

Message 2: Premium quality, competitive prices, guaranteed not to lose its shape in the wash.

Clearly, message 2 is easier to remember and easier to repeat than message 1. What’s more, message 2 is likely to spark customers’ willingness to look for more information.

For your word-of-mouth message to spread, you have to take action to spark it. Word of mouth is inherently a lazy activity. If you simply create a story and let it drift by, it is very hard to get customers to want to discuss it. The simplest way, which you often come across, is that most websites have a “share” button.

Satisfy Everyone, No Exceptions

Remember that customers will only talk about you when they are truly happy and satisfied. When that happens, they become your most enthusiastic marketers and advertisers. When strangers talk about someone, the most decisive factor is whether it makes them feel something. What you sell doesn’t matter. What matters is that you make customers feel satisfied every time they leave, so they will surely come back next time. It can be as simple as polite staff, a warranty policy, and transparent return and exchange terms, and so on. When you leave customers satisfied, they will gladly talk about you with their friends whenever they can.

Earn Customers’ Trust and Respect

You have to understand that no customer will talk about you if they don’t trust and respect you. The essence of word of mouth is that when someone speaks well of your company, that person puts their own honor and personal reputation on the line for you. Your job is to make that sacrifice worthwhile. That means you must protect the speaker’s reputation by always delivering service as good as what they told their friends.

What Are the Benefits of Word of Mouth Marketing?

Word of Mouth Marketing brings many benefits, for example:

• Word of Mouth Marketing is a free advertising technique: you don’t need to pour a ton of money into promoting your business.
• Increased sales: the positive reviews and comments your customers leave are very likely to convince others to trust your brand and buy your products.
• Building trust and credibility: positive reviews and testimonials help build credibility and trustworthiness for your brand.

The Most Popular Types of Word of Mouth Marketing

Buzz Marketing – word-of-mouth marketing through rumors: You are surely no stranger to leaked news that doesn’t come from official sources. But is it an accident? Sometimes it is planned so that people talk and pay more attention.

Viral Marketing: This is word of mouth 3.0, where ads and information spread across the Internet and reach many different audiences. It creates social influence that spreads widely.

Community Marketing: This approach works through forming or supporting community groups. From there, the members become the ones who share information about your products, services and brand.

Brand Blogging: Posts on personal blogs always feel closer and more trustworthy. This is also how Microsoft has done word-of-mouth marketing very well, as it consistently encourages its employees to share brand-related information on their personal pages.

Evangelist Marketing: This approach simply means finding a group of volunteers and having them take on the role of conveying and sharing information with the community.

Grassroots Marketing: This approach encourages or creates volunteers who have a certain interest in your products, services or brand. They can be seen as enthusiastic supporters of your business.

Product Seeding / Celebrity Product Placement: This is a very common approach. When a celebrity uses a certain product, that product will surely attract the interest and attention of many fans, which creates a certain level of influence.

To expand their business, companies today must pay more attention to Word of Mouth Marketing activities, especially in an era when information technology is developing like a storm and news is shared as quickly as it is now. If you need more information about full-service marketing types, contact The7 right away for more detailed advice!

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