Ever heard of WOM? It stands for “Word of Mouth”.
You might be rolling your eyes and saying “great, another acronym to remember and another marketing concept to understand and incorporate into my business”. But not so fast, this one is on of the most important concepts to come along to marketing in years.
Let me explain myself…
Explaining Word of Mouth Marketing in Plain English
According to the Word of Mouth Marketing Association web site, they define it as “Giving people a reason to talk about your products and services, and making it easier for that conversation to take place. It is the art and science of building active, mutually beneficial consumer-to-consumer and consumer-to-marketer communications.”
It goes on to explain “Word of mouth is a pre-existing phenomenon that marketers are only now learning how to harness, amplify, and improve. Word of mouth marketing isn’t about creating word of mouth — it’s learning how to make it work within a marketing objective.
That said, word of mouth can be encouraged and facilitated. Companies can work hard to make people happier, they can listen to consumers, they can make it easier for them to tell their friends, and they can make certain that influential individuals know about the good qualities of a product or service.
Word of mouth marketing empowers people to share their experiences. It’s harnessing the voice of the customer for the good of the brand. And it’s acknowledging that the unsatisfied customer is equally powerful.”
It is really about two-way transparent conversation
Again from WOMMA, “All word of mouth marketing techniques are based on the concepts of customer satisfaction, two-way dialog, and transparent communications. The basic elements are:
• Educating people about your products and services
• Identifying people most likely to share their opinions
• Providing tools that make it easier to share information
• Studying how, where, and when opinions are being shared
• Listening and responding to supporters, detractors, and neutrals”
WAIT! Didn’t you just explain what social media is? YEP.
Social Media are really Word of Mouth Tools
Granted, social media is on the tip of everyone’s tongues with tools such as Twitter and Facebook but if you think about it, Social Media and its tools are the ultimate digital conveyance of “Word of Mouth”. Instead of telling 20 of your friends that this restaurant rocked you can share it with 20 million people on Yelp.com. Pissed off at a vendor and you vented on Twitter? Most likely that company has an outpost there and is listening.
You can’t fake this stuff
“Word of mouth can’t be faked or invented. Attempting to fake word of mouth is unethical and creates a backlash, damages the brand, and tarnishes the corporate reputation. Legitimate word of mouth marketing acknowledges consumers’ intelligence — it never attempts to fool them. Ethical marketers reject all tactics related to manipulation, deception, infiltration, or dishonesty.”
Expanding the Discussion of Word of Mouth Marketing – I want to hear from you
This is just touching upon the basics of Word of Mouth marketing and I plan to dive in further and really explore how your business can benefit from these concepts but I want to hear from you. Let us know what you want to know. Case studies? Concepts? Resources? Leave a comment.
In the mean time, check out these great resources:
Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA)
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