Word of Mouth Marketing – Changing Perceptions
The way in which word of mouth is construed is undergoing a rapid transformation, as modern technology, specifically the internet, makes the ability to disseminate information to friends easier than ever before. Essentially, word of mouth marketing has become ‘viral' marketing due to the sheer number of ways that people can now communicate with one another. Mediums such as email, social networking sites, instant messengers, mobile phones and many more make it easier for a concept or product explode in popularity as news of it spreads rapidly across a network of friends and, eventually, globally.
The Word of Mouth Methods
Generally speaking, marketing professionals employ 3 methods when it comes to engineering a good word of mouth marketing campaign. These being:
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Viral Marketing – Viral marketing is increasingly becoming big business for advertising companies. If a successful advertising concept that strikes a chord with consumers can be created, it can be proliferated across the internet in no time at all courtesy of websites such as YouTube and Facebook. Examples of successful viral marketing campaigns include Cadbury's gorilla playing the drums and the fabricated websites developed for the Blair Witch Project movie.
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Referral Campaigns – This type of marketing essentially refers to tools (predominantly online) that allow satisfied customers to refer their family and friends. Referral programmes are increasingly being employed major companies as it is apparent that groups of friends, families etc have similar tastes and a referral programme is likely to yield results. Family and friends are much more likely to trust advertisements from people they know and trust.
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Community Marketing – This is where a company will produce a support community or niche surrounding a product; such as a fan club, forum or user group. These are beneficial marketing tools as it has a high propensity for growth and will get the members talking about the brand. Community marketing is seen as a successful word of mouth tool as it encourages bi-directional communication with customers and reduces communication barriers.
Despite in the advancements in technology, it is good old fashioned word of mouth that is the Holy Grail amongst advertising professionals but, it goes without saying, improvements in technology are making word of mouth spread that bit further.