Word of mouth marketing is not new but it is without doubt one the most powerful forms of marketing on the planet and with the growing rate that people and brands are interconnected it will only become more and more important in the near future.

The Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) defines Word of Mouth Marketing as: Providing people with reasons to discuss your products and services, and facilitating those conversations. It combines the art and science of creating active, beneficial communication between consumers and marketers.

Word of Mouth Marketing in Numbers

  • Word of Mouth(WOM) conversations still predominantly take place face to face. 94% of WOM brand impressions occur offline.
  • The Internet is both the leading spark of WOM conversations and the #1 resource utilised to take action after conversation.
  • Search impacts more than 15% of all Word of Mouth conversations.
  • Google is the #1 spark of Word of Mouth conversations and the #1 place people turn to after conversations for more information.
  • Google directly informs 146 million brand conversations a day.
  • Word of Mouth impressions generated by search are 25% more credible and 17% more likely to lead to purchase than those generated by online social media sites.
  • More than 50% of consumers say they are highly likely to purchase an item based on word of mouth marketing.

Source:Word of Mouth and the Internet Study

Word of Mouth Marketing in Practice

Imagine you are hoping to go out to a local restaurant tonight. You open the local newspaper and there are scores and scores of restaurants all offering similarly priced 3 course meals. Let’s be honest, most of the adverts are pretty rubbish, price led and with limited information. You are still undecided.

You go online and Google the said restaurant and there are no reviews whatsoever, which in itself makes you question whether it actually is that good. You look at another restaurant and the reviews are a mixed bag and so now you are really stuck as to what to do.

So you phone a friend and the friend says “we went to the restaurant A last week, the food was amazing, the service was great. Love it!” Which restaurant are you more likely to choose?

After having a great experience at the restaurant you speak to your friend to thank them for recommending that restaurant as it was great! Suddenly restaurant A has two advocates agreeing the restaurant was good, the food was amazing and the service was great. You may have even been that enamoured with the experience that you take the time to complete an online review sharing your recommendation for everyone to see.

What are the Benefits of Word of Mouth Marketing for Your Small Business?

1. Builds brands – At the heart of a great business is a first class product or service and every business wants to be a customer’s ‘first choice’. Building and managing a brand can play a large part in making this happen and if you want to strengthen and manage the perception of your business, then a strong brand is needed. Word of mouth marketing elevates your brand, differentiates your like-for-like products or services and gives your customers a reason to choose you over your competitors.

2. Educates people about your products and services – A salesperson, a website or a glossy brochure will not compete with a recommendation from a friend. Ever! It is as simple as that.

3. Drives sales – Undoubtedly the benefit that most people want from word of mouth marketing is to increase sales. If you can get people to start talking about your business in positive manner then it can and will only result in increased sales. The more people that are spreading the good news the better. After all, nobody wants a bad service or product, do they?

4. Sparks conversations – As outlined in the example above, if as a small business you can provide an excellent service or give a great product or superb experience, then people are going to talk about it. Take a moment to think about your business being the topic of conversation in your local area and the positive impact it could have on your business. It sounds good doesn’t it!

How can you drive word of Mouth Marketing?

Well quite simply you need to have a great product or service. Without that then there is nothing to talk about. Go back to basics and make sure that every consumer touch point is efficient and enhances the experience that your customer receives.

Forget about satisfying your customers’ needs, focus on surpassing them on every level. Think about ways in which you can deliver an experience that impacts the customer in such a way that they want to shout from the roof tops, leave online reviews which will enhance your online reputation and spread the word across their social networks about how great they feel thanks to your business offering.