How to Build an Effective Word-of-Mouth Marketing Strategy

Word-of-mouth is one of the most powerful marketing tactics. Consider this: would you prefer listen to a random man on an infomercial or your business mentor’s direct recommendation? In this post, we’ll look at what word-of-mouth marketing is and how to use it effectively for your business right now.

No matter how excellent a salesperson you are, nothing beats an unprompted suggestion from a satisfied customer – whether it’s a friend recommending his family dentist or your uncle gushing over the latest video game.

One thing is certain. Because humans buy from other humans, word-of-mouth marketing is one of the most successful ways to spread the news about a company. Consider this. Would you prefer listen to a random man on an infomercial or your business mentor’s direct recommendation? However, word-of-mouth marketing can take many forms, including blog comments, hashtags, shout-outs, and product reviews.

What Is WOMM (Word of Mouth Marketing)?

WOM (short for word-of-mouth marketing) is also known as word-of-mouth advertising. It’s the natural marketing process that occurs when customers start talks with their friends, family, and network about a company’s products or services.

Consumers trust their friends 92 percent more than traditional media, making word-of-mouth marketing one of the most powerful types of advertising. Paid advertising is a common kind of traditional marketing in which firms pay to get their message in front of as many people as possible. This type of marketing is known as ‘push’ marketing. Word-of-mouth marketing, on the other hand, depends on organic dialogues and user-generated content to promote your business.

Before the internet, word of mouth meant just that: the word was passed around by mouth. However, with the advent of ultra-fast internet connections, social media, and instant information exchange, the definition of ‘mouth’ has expanded significantly.

In the Digital Age, Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Publicity, viral buzz, content, tweets, Instagram reels, and more are all examples of word of mouth marketing nowadays. It’s less about the media and more about how ideas spread: brand ambassadors spreading the word about your company.

WOM can happen by accident or by design, but it can also be promoted, curated, and crafted to a brand’s benefit. A defining experience is what causes someone to communicate a feeling, a message, an experience, or a concept about a brand. It could be as simple as exceeding client expectations with a product, or allowing your audience to spread the word about your company. In a subsequent part, we’ll go over the strategies.

What Is the Importance of Word of Mouth Marketing?

The advertising industry is evolving. It’s no longer a pay-to-win situation. Advertisers can’t just throw money at TV commercial spots and expect it to work. You might be well-known, but you can’t create a connection on that basis.

The brand’s responsibility in word-of-mouth marketing is to guarantee that your brand champions are empowered to communicate about your brand, are heard, and amplified. People are getting increasingly distrustful of advertising at the end of the day. Even if the brand is recommended by a stranger, 90% of people are more likely to believe it. Individuals buy from other people.

Here are some compelling reasons to implement a WOM approach.

Create Brand Equity

A long-term focus is essential for a successful word-of-mouth marketing effort. Building brand awareness, communicating brand values, shaping customer perceptions, and forging deeper connections takes time. This is accomplished by focusing on non-scalable activities such as providing exceptional customer service, creating a one-of-a-kind product, or creating an unforgettable user experience (jump to the strategy section for a deeper dive). As a result, brands who have achieved this have developed tremendous brand equity and loyalty. WOM creates emotional value, trust, and loyalty in addition to providing material worth.

Create Connections With Your Audience

Listening brands are successful.

Two-way contact between the brand and the customer is required for word of mouth marketing. To enhance their business to the point where they exceed their customers’ expectations, the brand must first listen to what they are saying. Customers will sing your praises from the rooftops after you’ve done it.

Finally, viral efforts aren’t long-term or easily reproducible. WOMM assists in the development of a long-term strategy that develops with the company and promotes social engagement and buzz, allowing you to grow more quickly than if you rely on paid advertising.

Increase Your Profits

Revenue will be generated by an organic and unforced marketing strategy. Banner advertisements and Facebook ads have their place, but few advertising tactics get as near to the bottom of the funnel as a WOMM campaign. When it comes to content marketing, sales teams frequently use video case studies and one-pagers to improve the sales process. People want to hear real, meaningful stories about how a company has helped others like them, even if it isn’t quite WOM.

Stats on Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Not sure if WOMM is right for you? Here are the most recent and most compelling statistics to persuade you otherwise.

• Consumers who receive referrals from friends are four times more likely to purchase.


• 90% of consumers believe recommendations from family and friends.


• More than 74% of consumers say word-of-mouth has a significant impact on their purchasing decisions.


• Consumers consider suggestions to be one of the top five factors that affect their shopping decisions. before you buy something.


• Consumer reviews are trusted by 70% of consumers online.


• Visual user-generated content is more influential than brand photos or videos, according to 85 percent of website visitors.


• Friends and relatives provide 72 percent of individuals with news, making word-of-mouth the most prevalent mode of communication.


• When making purchasing selections, 91 percent of B2B buyers are affected by word-of-mouth.


• On social media, 58% of customers share positive experiences with businesses and ask family, coworkers, and friends for their thoughts on brands.


• Almost as many people believe internet consumer reviews as they do personal recommendations.


• 90 times per week, consumers casually discuss certain brands.


• Word-of-mouth has a 115 percent greater influence on millennials than traditional advertising.


• Almost 83 percent of consumers say they believe word-of-mouth recommendations totally or partially, making them the most trusted source of information.


• Word-of-mouth is the most common source of new business for 85 percent of small firms.

Word-of-Mouth Marketing Types

As previously said, there are many different sorts of word-of-mouth marketing. The following are the major categories:

User-Generated Material

Consumers produce and share content known as user-generated content, or UGC. Customers create movies, blog articles, podcasts, and images of your products and services, which goes hand in hand with community marketing. While super fans of successful businesses with cult followings will create content without being asked, brands can encourage customers to do so by employing the following techniques:

• Use social media to pose provocative queries. In an engaging manner, invite individuals to share their stories, experiences, and ideas about your product.


• Create and foster a vibrant community. Encourage your clients to participate in in-depth discussions, whether through a forum or a Facebook group.


• Have a unique point of view. You may establish yourself as a thought leader by presenting new and unique ideas that naturally generate interesting dialogues.

Marketing on Social Media

Social media is a potent platform for executing a successful word-of-mouth marketing strategy, whether it’s brand mentions, creating relationships with influencers, or managing branded hashtags. Curating and posting relevant, audience-relevant material is only half of the game. The other half is social listening and active customer engagement. Here are a few possibilities:

• To find out what people are saying about your business, use a social listening tool to track every brand reference, tag, product shoutout, and related hashtags.


• Thank people for their positive remarks and comments. On the other hand, make sure you have a plan in place to handle complaints and unfavorable reviews quickly.


• Share great articles, reviews, and comments on your social media profiles to spread the word.


• To assist amplify your message, develop genuine relationships with influencers in your domain.

Employee Engagement

Employee advocacy might assist disseminate your message inside their own networks if you don’t have much of a social presence. You must do two things in order to get your employees motivated and active:

Make compelling material that is both amusing and useful. Encourage them to share something they’re proud of!

Make the process of sharing as simple as possible. Make it as simple as possible for people to share your material, whether you’re giving them writing ideas, assessing their social copy, or using an employee advocacy platform.

Word of Mouth Marketing vs. Referral Marketing

Many people confuse referral marketing with word-of-mouth marketing. In many ways, the notion is very similar. To promote traffic or sales, referral marketing makes use of a compensated network. Brands pay a fee each referral, whether it’s for links on a blog post or affiliate links on a TikTok channel. However, word-of-mouth marketing is totally natural.

How to Create a Marketing Strategy Based on Word-of-Mouth

Before we get into the nitty gritty of implementing a word-of-mouth marketing strategy, it’s important to remember that no amount of marketing can make a lousy product sell. A fantastic product combined with an excellent experience, on the other hand, makes WOM a breeze. Let’s move on to strategy now that that’s out of the way.

Keep an eye out for mentions and respond quickly.

A successful WOM approach begins with meticulous social listening. It’s critical to keep an eye on who’s talking about you, whether it’s through Google Alerts, Mention, or Meltwater. Set up notifications for any brand or product references, and use social media channels to follow key hashtags.

Some social listening services go even farther, providing sentiment analysis, which breaks down not just what people are saying, but also how they feel about it. Once you’ve found the pulse, make sure to respond fast and take advantage of engagement opportunities as they present themselves. On the internet, timing is crucial – a meme, tweet, or TikTok might be the talk of the town one day and then be forgotten the next.

Customer testimonials and positive feedback should be amplified.

You’ll also be able to locate pleased consumers who are talking about your product or service if you use social listening. They could mention your brand in a YouTube video or publish an Instagram story about it. When you see great comments and stories, make sure to promote their voices by retweeting, re-sharing, or even reposting them. Consider repurposing the information for your blog, advertisements, or even your website. Make sure to express your gratitude and participate in genuine conversation!

Create a program for employee advocacy.

Employee advocacy, as previously discussed, can help you expand your initial audience. Use the network of friends, family, and admirers that each employee at your company has to your benefit. Of course, tread carefully and make sure your content is something they’d be pleased of. Finally, avoid any forced initiatives that may appear dishonest to your audience – they may cause more harm than good.

Encourage your ambassadors to post reviews.

Positive feedback may make or ruin your company. Maintaining your brand’s reputation is critical in a world when 70% of people trust online customer reviews. You can quickly find favorable reviews and feedback on review sites if you have a solid pulse on your most devoted consumers, influencers, and brand ambassadors. If you manage a restaurant, you might send an SMS to a satisfied customer asking them to post a review in exchange for a free drink on their next visit. Consider sending out Net Promoter Score (NPS) surveys to SaaS firms and asking the highest-rated reviewers to provide a platform review.

Deliver Unparalleled Customer Service

In seconds, a single unpleasant customer experience can be amplified on social media. This is especially useful when it comes to social media customer support, because all it takes is a few clicks to discuss anything. If you want your consumers to rave about your business instead of calling you out online, make sure you’re giving exceptional customer service.

Endnote

Although word-of-mouth marketing is a no-brainer for any company, few can execute it effectively. As we covered before in this post, ensuring that your brand is shared with the globe requires a fantastic product, good customer service, and community management. Word-of-mouth marketing can help you grow your clients into lifelong advocates, whether it’s a sponge, an electric vehicle, or a cafe.