Digital word of mouth marketing

Have you heard the term «teleconferenced peer influence groups»? If not, you’re not alone. You probably know it by its more common moniker: “word-of-mouth marketing” (WOMM).

The term “Teleconferenced peer influence groups” was originally coined by psychologist George Silverman in the 1970s, after using focus groups to discuss different pharmaceutical products.

His observations indicate the basic tenets behind how word of mouth works: «One or two physicians who were having good experiences with a drug would sway an entire group of skeptics. They would even sway a dissatisfied group of ex-prescribers who had had negative experiences!” (Source: thefreelibrary)

Now, 50 years later, this approach has grown into a widely used marketing tactic — with the data to prove it: 74% of consumers identify word of mouth as a critical part of their purchasing decision. And a whopping 92% of consumers say they trust recommendations from friends.

So what’s the word on word-of-mouth marketing? Read on to find out.

Table of Contents

• What is Word-of-Mouth Marketing?

• Why is Word-of-Mouth Marketing Important?

• Types of Word-of-Mouth Marketing

• Why is Face-to-Face marketing effective?

• What are Some Word-of-Mouth Marketing Strategies?

• What are Benefits of a Word-of-Mouth Marketing Strategy?

What is Word-of-Mouth Marketing?

Word of mouth (WOM) is one of the oldest and most effective forms of marketing. And, it has evolved relatively seamlessly into the digital landscape. At its core, it can be defined as:

A marketing method that relies on casual social interactions to promote a product.

Word-of-mouth marketing involves businesses finding ways to encourage individuals to share recommendations, news, and accolades about their brand, products, and services.

 For example, when was the last time you had an interaction with a brand, positive or negative, and then told someone else about it? Think about a time when the food and service at a new restaurant you tried were so good and unique, you had to tell your friend to go try. Or, maybe it’s a software tool that has greatly improved your team’s workflow, so you left a review on G2 or recommend it to a peer. 

All of these consumer interactions build trust and increase the front-of-mind real estate presence for your business in the ever-crowded ether of messaging bombardment people receive these days. (Of course, it should be noted that WOM can also hurt you based on the sentiment of the discussion).

Why is Word-of-Mouth Marketing Important?

Word-of-mouth marketing is about a face-to-face interaction (or avatar to avatar as the case may be in today’s digital age) that is built on pre-founded trust. It’s a cost-effective way to spread the word about your company and products among online and in-person communities.

If it’s not already top of mind for your marketing, it should be! Word-of-mouth marketing is cost-effective, builds brand loyalty, and reveals new ways you can reach potential customers.

Types of Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Referrals from word of mouth can come from several sources, but for marketing purposes, the most important channels to know about include:

• Peer-to-peer
• Face-to-face
• User-generated content
• Social media conversations

1. Peer-to-Peer

• A friend says to a friend “I just had the best meal at a restaurant downtown. I think you’d love it!”

This is arguably the most basic form of word-of-mouth marketing. When you get a recommendation from a peer that you respect and trust, you’re far more likely to check out the recommended product, restaurant, etc., yourself. For marketers, this type of interaction is tough to really measure accurately or influence directly. 

Tip: To improve your reporting, ask new customers how they found out about you. If they say “I heard about you from my friend” you can ask them to expand on what specifically their friend liked. These learnings will help you invest time and energy confidently into brand-building marketing and acquisition efforts.

2. Face-to-face marketing 

• A sales rep is set up at a kiosk in the grocery store and offers you a sample of their new line of cheeses. Mmm cheese….

Face-to-face marketing is usually set up as a more “professional” relationship between the recommender and recommendee. It has a more clear sales factor, but it’s still a 1:1 tactic. 

Why is Face-to-Face marketing effective?

Think of a software product demonstration to a new prospective client, or free samples at a grocery store. In both cases, you may not purchase that day, but you’ve had a face-to-face interaction with someone who is passionate about what they’re selling. They had the opportunity to tell you about their brand, and offer a business card. So they’ve had that extra touchpoint to remain memorable when it comes time to make your purchase decision. 

Face-to-face marketing tips: Let your personality shine, and incorporate brand values into your selling story. Today’s consumers gravitate heavily towards authenticity and shared values (such as eco-friendliness and inclusivity). Highlighting these during your product pitch will help you stay top of mind.

3. UGC (User-generated content)

• You go to the restaurant your friend suggested and liked it so much you hit the Big 3 of UGC: posted a picture of your meal to Facebook, added a video to your Instagram Story (tagging the restaurant), and wrote a 5-star review on Yelp.

UGC (User-generated content) is what marketers like to refer to as “low hanging fruit” — once it’s created that is. And, brands can use this content in their own content marketing strategy to (1) show off an unbiased testimonial and to (2) build an even stronger relationship with the customer who posted. Much like peer to peer recommendations, this content can reach a larger audience that the poster may or may not know directly. 

If you can figure out how to cultivate user-generated content, you’ve unlocked one of the quickest and cheapest ways to grow your online presence.

Tip: Respond to both positive and negative online reviews. Be honest, appreciative, and genuine, and more people will want to publicly share their experiences!

There are components of social media in all of the above marketing options, but it’s so important it deserves its own call-out. Social posts on any platform that mention your brand are powerful instances of social proof.

To put some numbers to the value of WOM on social media: over half of purchases inspired by social media sharing occur within 1 week of sharing or favoriting, and 80% of purchases resulting from social media shares occur within 3 weeks of sharing. [Source: VisionCritical]

It’s important to think of social media in a broad context here: consider everything, from the major channels like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram to the new and exciting like TikTok, to forum-based platforms like Trip Advisor.

Tip: Engage when you’re tagged! Consumers love when brands respond so encourage your social media manager to like, share, and comment when posts tag you or use an official brand hashtag.

What are Some Word-of-Mouth Marketing Strategies?

• Create a Conversation
• Use Influencers & Brand Ambassadors
• Encourage UGC
• Social Media Listening

WOMM is ultimately quite ubiquitous, which is what makes it so incredibly valuable — but it’s also what makes it incredibly difficult to control.

How do you measure success? How do you implement a strategy for improving and increasing your face to face recommendations? How do you swiftly find and address negative reviews or comments and protect your carefully crafted reputation? Let’s explore how to implement these tactics into your marketing strategy.

1. Create a Conversation

Word-of-mouth marketing is about real people sharing their thoughts about your brand and products, thereby indirectly encouraging more sales and recommendations for you — like a ripple effect. 

But how do you keep the conversation going? Chatter matters so you need to help generate that buzz!  

Find out where conversations are happening

This comes from understanding your audience. Where do they hang out? Jump in on forum discussions around related topics to your industry, products, and services. Facebook groups are another great place to start.

Be sure to adhere strictly to any forum guidelines in place (which often include no advertising). Otherwise, your words will be swiftly removed by moderators.

Appeal to Your Audience

You can’t market unless you understand who you are talking to, right? And in today’s ever more complicated world, the psychosomatics of your customer base go far behind the demographics data.

Tip: Gather the data from previous campaigns, email sends, and social interaction to analyze what type of content your audience reacts positively to, such as discounts, contests, or polls.

Maintain your online reputation

If you start seeing a lot of negative word-of-mouth buzz, you’ll want to address it swiftly and professionally. Don’t let it fester. Not only does this go a long way toward solving the issue, but it also leaves a very positive impression for current and potential customers. 

So, rather than recording their frustrating conversation trying to cancel their internet service and posting it for millions of people to share in their misery, you instead have someone posting “I just had a surprisingly pleasant customer service experience with XYZ. I’d highly recommend them!” If someone was thinking of switching, this could be what helps convince them.

Having a comprehensive crisis communication strategy is essential for any marketing team. But especially important when you’re prioritizing your WOMM efforts. To get help monitoring and responding to these types of situations, get a free tour of our real-time alerting tool. 

2. Encourage UGC

The Drum found that 75% of people feel user-generated content makes a brand more authentic.

So how can businesses encourage people to create content? Here are some tips:

• Create a brand hashtag to invite participation
• Jump on a trending topic and apply it to your brand
• Run a contest — you can always offer incentives here too
• Ask for feedback so you can hear straight from customers what they want 

Customer reviews are a great tactic and should absolutely be part of your word-of-mouth marketing strategy. 

70% of people trust consumer reviews online according to HubSpot. That’s actually huge if you think about it. Thousands of strangers are trusting what thousands of other strangers say about a product online.

Accolades can be featured on your website, social platforms, in campaigns, or 3rd party sites. They can be written statements, quotes, video interviews, or a comprehensive story in a blog article.

Here’s an example of a quote from a Meltwater customer that we may choose to share on our homepage or in other key customer journey locations because we think it accurately represents our solution and who we are: 

If you haven’t invested in 3rd party review platforms, here are some popular ones to get started:

• G2
• Yelp
• GlassDoor
• Reviews.io

Do note that you need to ask permission to re-share anything. 

3. Utilize Influencers and Brand Ambassadors

An influencer or brand ambassador is an individual with a significant following who works with brands to promote products and services. As of 2021, the three biggest social platforms for influencer marketing are Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. (Source: Business Insider)

Influencers are powerful in that they are another trusted source for consumers, but unlike a 1:1 connection, they are speaking as a “friend” to a much larger audience. And the best part is, the ROI is far more trackable if you’re working with them in an official partnership capacity.

Tip: Bigger isn’t necessarily better when it comes to follower count. Ask prospective influencer partners about their engagement metrics to get a sense of how active their audience is.

Example: If you are vegan and struggling to find everyday recipes or are seeking a community where you can connect with other like-minded vegans, you may follow someone like Michelle Cehn a micro-influencer and founder of World of Vegan.

Influencer marketing is deserving of its own blog post altogether, and we just happen to have one, but here are some of the main points to consider:

There are roughly 4 different levels: 

• Nano: 500-1K followers 
• Micro: 1K-100K followers
• Macro: 100K — 1M followers 
• Power / Celebrity: 1M +

Questions to keep in mind:

• Do they fit our brand image?
• Have they worked with your competition?
• Who is their audience?
• Does this make sense for our budget? 

Lastly, take a step back and really listen. 

Look at how people are talking about your industry and pay particular attention to their pain points. This will help you both drive social conversations and implement solutions based on what people are talking about in your space. 

This will also help you track the type of content your audience enjoys (photos, videos, Instagram Stories, etc.,). These all provide clues to help you maximize return on building an engaged following that will continue to spread the word to their friends.  

Gain valuable audience insights with Meltwaters social listening tools. Don’t forget the invaluable information you can glean from tracking your competitors as well! Request a demo to learn more.

What are Benefits of a Word-of-Mouth Marketing Strategy?

To wrap it up, let’s review the main benefits of using word of mouth as an integral component of your marketing:

1. Low Cost

Because you’re not paying for true word of mouth, this type of marketing strategy contributes to lower costs, as others are doing most of the work for you. It helps influence sales with little to no advertising spend.

2. Builds Trust, Brand Reputation & Loyalty

Developing trust is not only one of the first steps in a relationship marketing strategy, but it’s also one of the most difficult.

Since word-of-mouth recommendations are coming from a peer that you trust, a familiar face, or online reviews, they are inherently trustworthy — especially in comparison to a brand simply shouting into the void about how great they are.

3. Creates Long-term Value

Gaining consistent, positive buzz around your products through word-of-mouth marketing will help you maintain repeat customers and make it easier to approach influencers for brand advocacy partnerships. 

Referrals like this are invaluable to grow your loyal customer base, ensuring the snowball keeps rolling — as a study from the Wharton School of Business found: customers referred by people they know and trust are between 16% to 24% more loyal to that brand on average.

В сети есть десятки, если не сотни материалов на тему потрясающего эффекта word-of-mouth или сарафанного радио: по статистике, благодаря ему , популярность и продажи брендов взлетают до небес. В то же время, инструкций по WoM, его интеграции в стратегию продвижения практически нет. В статье — специалисты из команды агентства Ex Libris разбираются в том, что на самом деле представляет из себя word-of-mouth маркетинг, что нужно компаниям для его запуска и успешной работы и есть ли смысл ставить конкретные цели по достижению эффекта сарафанного радио.

Положительный отзыв на новый сервис, устная рекомендация нового ресторана в кругу друзей, пост с отметкой бренда в своем профиле — все это относится к сарафанному радио. Интерес потребителей к продукту или услуге компании находит отражение в их повседневных диалогах.

Про WoM накоплено много разной, но в целом однозначной маркетинговой статистики, например:

За крутыми и даже немного неправдоподобными цифрами стоит простая логика. В бизнесах и у продуктов, где процесс принятия решения о покупке долгий, тяжелый в эмоциональном или материальном плане, как например, выбор клиники, или требователен к экспертизе, как выбор ноутбука среднестатистическим пользователем, — мнение доверенного окружения, или даже простая, но достоверная рекомендация от хорошо знакомого человека часто играет решающую роль.

Наиболее это распространено в b2b, при выборе услуг подрядчиков, агентств, да и в целом в сфере услуг, где потребителю сложно отличить «хорошего» исполнителя от «плохого» самостоятельно, при условии, что кейсы, КП, сайты, отзывы у обоих блестящие и очень убедительные.

Хороший пример — PR и маркетинговые агентства: как правило, все они хорошо упакованы, и при первом знакомстве с сайтом или коммерческим предложением составляют хорошее впечатление. Продвигаются они, условно, тоже примерно одинаково. Однако директора в малом и среднем бизнесе в первую очередь идут к «доверенным» агентствам — с которыми уже работали или с теми, кого доверенные коллеги считают достойными партнерами — и тут начинает работать WоM.

Вспомните посты в профильных группах на Фейсбуке с просьбами посоветовать, подсказать достойное агентство. Именно в комментариях к таким постам часто и завязываются продуктивные «коммерческие» знакомства. Внутри таких сообществ уже сформирован некий пул «фаворитов», которых готово рекомендовать большинство.

Типы WoM в маркетинге

Люди постоянно советуют друг другу самые разные продукты и услуги, в самых разных ситуациях и форматах. Таким образом, установить источник и атрибуцию новых клиентов может быть непросто. Тем не менее, можно выделить наиболее значимые каналы с точки зрения маркетинга:

Peer-to-peer — одна из наиболее распространенных форм WoM. Если потребитель получает рекомендации от друзей, коллег и других людей, которых он уважает и которым доверяет, шансы на то, что он обратится к рекомендуемому бренду, сильно возрастают. В то же время, брендам сложно отслеживать эти взаимодействия и влиять на них напрямую.

UGC или пользовательский контент интересовал пользователей еще задолго до пандемии, а после 2020 года уже прочно и надолго закрепился в первых строчках медиатрендов. Отзывы, гостевые посты, опросы, конкурсные работы, ретвиты, репосты и перепубликации пользовательских сторис и видео в ТикТок набирают широкие охваты аудитории и знакомят её с брендом.

Социальные платформы так или иначе участвуют во всех перечисленных типах сарафанного радио, и все же стоит упомянуть их отдельно. Сообщения с упоминанием бренда на какой бы то ни было площадке — хорошая иллюстрация социального доказательства.

В данном случае речь не только о каналах брендов в «классических» Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn и Instagram, но о любых других платформах, где пользователи взаимодействуют друг с другом, в том числе узкопрофильных площадках, отзовиках и геосервисах.

Что помогает брендам развивать WoM

Как правило, WoM работает через укрепление доверия и увеличение медиаприсутствия, а также через позитивные кейсы и пользовательский опыт. Соответственно, все средства и инструменты, которыми они достигаются, относятся и к сарафанному радио.

Коммуникации брендов с потребителями

Без них WoM будет попросту неоткуда взяться. Конечно, можно пустить все на самотек, рассчитывая, что безупречный продукт и сервис компании сделают всю работу. Однако без общения с потребителями, без их обратной связи — представления компании об уровне и качестве обслуживания может сильно расходиться с реальностью, а сарафанное радио без участия бренда будет работать в обратную сторону.

В случае с b2b — обсуждений и отзывов может быть немного, поэтому бренду следует инициировать диалоги с потребителями самостоятельно. Как минимум, можно разместить информацию о компании на специализированных ресурсах, геосервисах, отзовиках и других релевантных и подходящих для коммуникаций площадках, а также встраиваться в тематические обсуждения в соцсетях. Конечно, простых размещений контактной информации и нескольких сообщений недостаточно. Это подводит нас к следующему пункту.

ORM и Customer Care

Закономерное продолжение работы с обсуждениями и отзывами пользователей.

В идеале, каждый бренд должен выстраивать Customer Care, в который входит мониторинг упоминаний, их отработка, и генерация отзывов от реальных потребителей — просьба оценить продукт после покупки, возможно, в обмен на небольшую скидку или подарок — для большей мотивации.

Таким образом, сарафанное радио будет развиваться в контролируемых условиях и создавать у потенциальных клиентов только положительные впечатления о компании.

Пользовательский контент

В данном случае это и цель и средство. Чем больше UGC, тем больше людей знают о бренде и генерируют еще больше UGC и так далее. Генерация пользовательского контента через всевозможные конкурсы, челленджи, а также поощрение авторов поможет компании продемонстрировать «живые» отзывы новым пользователям и выстраивать более тесные отношения с действующими клиентами.

Амбассадоры и тематические сообщества

Почему не просто «инфлюенс-маркетинг»?

Компании могут обращаться к лидерам мнений с разными целями. Условно, их можно разделить на краткосрочные, когда инфлюенсеров используют просто как рекламный «инвентарь», и долгосрочные, когда аудитории подробно, обстоятельно и долго разъясняются все достоинства продукта и опыт его применения. Второй вариант, естественно, более затратный, но именно такая работа способствует развитию WoM: пользователи регулярно сталкиваются с продвигаемым продуктом в инфополе и начинают говорить о нём.

Social listening

Нужен для представления общей картины восприятия бренда аудиторией, а также для исследования этой самой аудитории, ее предпочтений, поведения, взглядов.

Сарафанное радио — практика, сочетающая в себе многие элементы маркетинга, пиара и репутационного менеджмента.

Достоинства WoM

1. Повышение доверия и лояльности клиентов к бренду, польза для репутации. Большая часть b2b компаний старается развивать маркетинг взаимоотношений, и доверие потребителей — одна из главных его составляющих.

Рекомендации, которые пользователи получат от «живых людей», будь то коллеги, друзья, другие покупатели — намного эффективнее, чем классические рекламные сообщения от самой компании.

2. Создание долгосрочной ценности. Последовательный и положительный поток рекомендаций из разных источников будет способствовать наращиванию базы лояльных клиентов и продолжению сотрудничества с постоянными партнерами.

Недостатки WoM

1. Сложность и стоимость исполнения. На первый взгляд может показаться что сарафанное радио, при всей своей эффективности и полезности, еще и очень бюджетное решение — люди делятся рекомендациями сами, а брендам остается только продать новоиспеченным клиентам свой продукт.

На деле, для того чтобы эффект от WoM был действительно значимым, компаниям нужно прилагать много сил и времени, — все перечисленные выше инструменты не дают быстрого результата и, в зависимости от направления бизнеса, могут потребовать серьезных затрат.

2. Измерение эффекта. Бренд может отследить лишь небольшую часть рекомендаций: многие из них озвучиваются в частных беседах, в офлайне, некоторые становятся актуальными по прошествии времени — когда появляется соответствующий запрос. Точные измерения эффективности в данном случае невозможны.

В наших силах — анализировать настроения аудитории через social listening, мониторить количество упоминаний и отмечать сообщения рекомендательного характера.

В целом, WoM — это скорее отражение всего комплекса предпринимаемых маркетинговых и PR-усилий. Если компания предлагает качественный продукт, активно общается с потребителями и следит за присутствием в инфополе — рекомендации потребителей не заставят себя ждать.

В сети есть десятки, если не сотни материалов на тему потрясающего эффекта word-of-mouth или сарафанного радио: по статистике, благодаря ему популярность и продажи брендов взлетают до небес. В то же время, инструкций по WoM, его интеграции в стратегию продвижения практически нет. Специально для Pressfeed управляющий директор агентства медийных исследований Ex Libris Евгений Ларионов разобрался в том, что на самом деле представляет собой word-of-mouth маркетинг, что нужно для его запуска и успешной работы и есть ли смысл ставить конкретные цели по достижению эффекта сарафанного радио.

Положительный отзыв на новый сервис, устная рекомендация нового ресторана в кругу друзей, пост с отметкой бренда в своем профиле — все это относится к сарафанному радио или word-of-mouth. Интерес потребителей к продукту или услуге компании находит отражение в их повседневных диалогах.

Про word-of-mouth накоплено много разной, но в целом однозначной маркетинговой статистики, например:

• 85% малых предприятий находят своих клиентов благодаря WoM;
• Клиенты, привлеченные с помощью WoM, тратят на 200% больше, чем средний покупатель;
• Охваты от WoM приносят в 5 раз больше продаж, чем платные публикации в СМИ;

За крутыми и даже немного неправдоподобными цифрами стоит простая логика. В бизнесах и у продуктов, где процесс принятия решения о покупке долгий, тяжелый в эмоциональном или материальном плане, как например, выбор клиники, или требователен к экспертизе, как выбор ноутбука среднестатистическим пользователем, — мнение доверенного окружения, или даже простая, но достоверная рекомендация от хорошо знакомого человека часто играет решающую роль.

Скачайте сейчас: PDF-инструкция «Где и как публиковать статьи бесплатно»

Наиболее это распространено в b2b, при выборе услуг подрядчиков, агентств, да и в целом в сфере услуг, где потребителю сложно отличить «хорошего» исполнителя от «плохого» самостоятельно, при условии, что кейсы, КП, сайты, отзывы у обоих блестящие и очень убедительные.

Хороший пример — PR и маркетинговые агентства: как правило, все они хорошо упакованы, и при первом знакомстве с сайтом или коммерческим предложением составляют хорошее впечатление. Продвигаются они, условно, тоже примерно одинаково. Однако директора в малом и среднем бизнесе в первую очередь идут к «доверенным» агентствам — с которыми уже работали или с теми, кого доверенные коллеги считают достойными партнерами — и тут начинает работать word-of-mouth.

Вспомните посты в профильных группах на Фейсбуке с просьбами посоветовать, подсказать достойное агентство. Именно в комментариях к таким постам часто и завязываются продуктивные «коммерческие» знакомства. Внутри таких сообществ уже сформирован некий пул «фаворитов», которых готово рекомендовать большинство.

Типы word-of-mouth в маркетинге

Люди постоянно советуют друг другу самые разные продукты и услуги, в самых разных ситуациях и форматах. Таким образом, установить источник и атрибуцию новых клиентов может быть непросто. Тем не менее, можно выделить наиболее значимые каналы с точки зрения маркетинга:

Peer-to-peer — одна из наиболее распространенных форм word-of-mouth. Если потребитель получает рекомендации от друзей, коллег и других людей, которых он уважает и которым доверяет, шансы на то, что он обратится к рекомендуемому бренду, сильно возрастают. В то же время, брендам сложно отслеживать эти взаимодействия и влиять на них напрямую.

UGC или пользовательский контент интересовал пользователей еще задолго до пандемии, а после 2020 года уже прочно и надолго закрепился в первых строчках медиатрендов. Отзывы, гостевые посты, опросы, конкурсные работы, ретвиты, репосты и перепубликации пользовательских сторис и видео в ТикТок набирают широкие охваты аудитории и знакомят её с брендом.

Социальные платформы так или иначе участвуют во всех перечисленных типах сарафанного радио, и все же стоит упомянуть их отдельно. Сообщения с упоминанием бренда на какой бы то ни было площадке — хорошая иллюстрация социального доказательства.

В данном случае речь не только о каналах брендов в «классических» Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn и Instagram, но о любых других платформах, где пользователи взаимодействуют друг с другом, в том числе узкопрофильных площадках, отзовиках и геосервисах.

Что помогает брендам развивать word-of-mouth

Как правило, WoM работает через укрепление доверия и увеличение медиаприсутствия, а также через позитивные кейсы и пользовательский опыт. Соответственно, все средства и инструменты, которыми они достигаются, относятся и к сарафанному радио.

Коммуникации брендов с потребителями

Без них word-of-mouth будет попросту неоткуда взяться. Конечно, можно пустить все на самотек, рассчитывая, что безупречный продукт и сервис компании сделают всю работу. Однако без общения с потребителями, без их обратной связи — представления компании об уровне и качестве обслуживания может сильно расходиться с реальностью, а сарафанное радио без участия бренда будет работать в обратную сторону.

В случае с b2b — обсуждений и отзывов может быть немного, поэтому бренду следует инициировать диалоги с потребителями самостоятельно. Как минимум, можно разместить информацию о компании на специализированных ресурсах, геосервисах, отзовиках и других релевантных и подходящих для коммуникаций площадках, а также встраиваться в тематические обсуждения в соцсетях. Конечно, простых размещений контактной информации и нескольких сообщений недостаточно. Это подводит нас к следующему пункту.

ORM и Customer Care

Закономерное продолжение работы с обсуждениями и отзывами пользователей.

В идеале, каждый бренд должен выстраивать Customer Care, в который входит мониторинг упоминаний, их отработка, и генерация отзывов от реальных потребителей — просьба оценить продукт после покупки, возможно, в обмен на небольшую скидку или подарок — для большей мотивации.

Таким образом, сарафанное радио будет развиваться в контролируемых условиях и создавать у потенциальных клиентов только положительные впечатления о компании.

Пользовательский контент

В данном случае это и цель и средство. Чем больше UGC, тем больше людей знают о бренде и генерируют еще больше UGC и так далее. Генерация пользовательского контента через всевозможные конкурсы, челленджи, а также поощрение авторов поможет компании продемонстрировать «живые» отзывы новым пользователям и выстраивать более тесные отношения с действующими клиентами.

Амбассадоры и тематические сообщества

Почему не просто “инфлюенс-маркетинг”?

Компании могут обращаться к лидерам мнений с разными целями. Условно, их можно разделить на краткосрочные, когда инфлюенсеров используют просто как рекламный «инвентарь», и долгосрочные, когда аудитории подробно, обстоятельно и долго разъясняются все достоинства продукта и опыт его применения. Второй вариант, естественно, более затратный, но именно такая работа способствует развитию WoM: пользователи регулярно сталкиваются с продвигаемым продуктом в инфополе и начинают говорить о нём.

Social listening

Нужен для представления общей картины восприятия бренда аудиторией, а также для исследования этой самой аудитории, ее предпочтений, поведения, взглядов.

Сарафанное радио — практика, сочетающая в себе многие элементы маркетинга, пиара и репутационного менеджмента.

Достоинства word-of-mouth

1. Повышение доверия и лояльности клиентов к бренду, польза для репутации. Большая часть b2b компаний старается развивать маркетинг взаимоотношений, и доверие потребителей — одна из главных его составляющих.

Рекомендации, которые пользователи получат от «живых людей», будь то коллеги, друзья, другие покупатели — намного эффективнее, чем классические рекламные сообщения от самой компании.

2. Создание долгосрочной ценности. Последовательный и положительный поток рекомендаций из разных источников будет способствовать наращиванию базы лояльных клиентов и продолжению сотрудничества с постоянными партнерами.

Недостатки word-of-mouth

1. Сложность и стоимость исполнения. На первый взгляд может показаться что сарафанное радио, при всей своей эффективности и полезности, еще и очень бюджетное решение — люди делятся рекомендациями сами, а брендам остается только продать новоиспеченным клиентам свой продукт.

На деле, для того чтобы эффект от WoM был действительно значимым, компаниям нужно прилагать много сил и времени, — все перечисленные выше инструменты не дают быстрого результата и, в зависимости от направления бизнеса, могут потребовать серьезных затрат.

2. Измерение эффекта. Бренд может отследить лишь небольшую часть рекомендаций: многие из них озвучиваются в частных беседах, в офлайне, некоторые становятся актуальными по прошествии времени — когда появляется соответствующий запрос. Точные измерения эффективности в данном случае невозможны.

В наших силах — анализировать настроения аудитории через social listening, мониторить количество упоминаний и отмечать сообщения рекомендательного характера.

В целом, word-of-mouth — это скорее отражение всего комплекса предпринимаемых маркетинговых и PR-усилий. Если компания предлагает качественный продукт, активно общается с потребителями и следит за присутствием в инфополе — рекомендации потребителей не заставят себя ждать.

Word of mouth marketing is when a consumer’s interest is reflected in their everyday dialogue. It’s a low-cost (sometimes even free) and effective marketing method.

Many businesses consider word of mouth marketing the most valuable form of marketing because it enables you to spread good reviews about your product or service to a large audience, boosting brand awareness and loyalty.

Word of mouth marketing has been successfully used by many companies to get their customers to promote their brand by talking about experiences that they’d like to share with their friends and families.

Netflix, for example, used word of mouth marketing to make binge-watching popular with its organic tagline Netflix and chill. The company promoted it on social media which became a huge success.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at how businesses have used word of mouth marketing to connect with their target audience and boost sales. Along the way, we’ll share actionable tips that you can use to engage customers with your brand.

But first, let’s quickly take a look at why word of mouth marketing is arguably one of the most valuable sources of advertising.

Why Is Word of Mouth Marketing Important?

Word of mouth marketing – also called word of mouth advertising – is a modern form of simple word of mouth. It’s one of the most effective forms of advertising for boosting brand recognition and sales.

Many businesses have adopted strategies that encourage customers to talk about positive experiences with their products.

According to HubSpot, consumers discuss specific brands casually around 90 times per week! The same study also reports that around 71% of people trust consumer reviews online. In simple words, consumers trust recommendations made by family and friends.

Word of mouth marketing is an honest promotion which helps you build trust with prospective customers. In fact, The Nielsen Company reports that 83% of customers trust recommendations from family, friends, and peers when making purchasing decisions. This goes to show that people don’t believe advertisements to the extent they trust suggestions from family and friends.

In the context of digital marketing, user-generated content is basically a form of word of mouth marketing that enables customers to promote your brand. And one of the most effective types of user-generated content is online reviews.

This involves existing customers sharing their positive experiences with your products and services with prospective customers. According to BrightLocal, 72% of respondents say positive product reviews boost their trust in a company.

Check out our in-depth article to learn more about how product reviews increase conversions.

Before we dig deeper into how you can come up with an effective word of mouth marketing strategy for your business, let’s quickly step through some of the advantages of word of mouth marketing.

Instills brand loyalty

Successful businesses, whether online or brick-and-mortar – quickly realize that loyal customers lead to positive word of mouth about their product. To make the most of it, they focus more on building customer loyalty.

The thing is, these businesses know that while people don’t always trust paid advertisements, they are much more likely to heed a recommendation by someone they trust. Trust drives consumer decisions and, in turn, sales.

Associating positive emotions with the brand through word of mouth can help differentiate them from the competition and enhance the company’s brand image.

It’s cost-effective

As mentioned earlier, word of mouth marketing is an inexpensive method of promoting your products and services. While businesses spend thousands (or even millions) of dollars to run TV or online marketing campaigns, word of mouth marketing is a comparatively low-cost strategy.

Moreover, it doesn’t cost the consumers anything to spread the word about your company or your products. This is precisely why more and more companies are relying on their customers to share good product experiences with their friends and families.

Builds a community of brand advocates

Word of mouth marketing can help you build a community of brand advocates. This means when customers purchase your product, they tell their friends, families, and peers about it and share their experience on social platforms. These customers will likely support and vouch for your product online as well as offline.

Take a look at how this customer recommends the Shoptimizer WooCommerce theme to a first-time online store owner and highlights its key advantage i.e. conversion optimization.

As a result, you can attract more and more consumers that will continue to interact with your brand post-purchase. A loyal community of fans stands as proof of your brand quality. It can help promote your brand and persuade others to buy your products, helping you increase customer retention.

3 Strategies for Word of Mouth Marketing

Here are some ways you can use word of mouth marketing to promote your brand.

#1: Ask for reviews

As a business owner, you should always be encouraging customers to leave a review. Online reviews are engaging, shareable, and (perhaps most importantly) unbiased.

You can use online product reviews to establish social proof. To take things up a notch, you can publish customer reviews and testimonials on your product pages and social media pages. This way, prospective customers will be more likely to purchase from you based on reviews they read from other people.

You can collect reviews and ratings on your product pages, social media, and email newsletters. CommerceKit, for example, is a powerful tool that can help you automatically collect reviews directly on your site.

Along the way, you might receive some negative reviews. But don’t worry, we got you! Check out our article on why a bad review is actually good for tips on how to interact with customers that leave negative reviews.

Online reviews aren’t the only type of user-generated content that can bolster your word of mouth marketing strategy.

Savvy digital marketers use social media to promote their content all the time. As your sales grow, you’ll notice customers sharing user-generated content on their social pages. This includes engaging and shareable content containing images, videos, Tweet threads, or Instagram captions that highlight their positive experience with your products.

Forever21 example

Apparel brand Forever21, for example, encourages buyers to share their style by uploading their favorite outfit photos on Instagram. Organic sharing like this is an effective way to boost your word of mouth outreach.

Promotional incentives, like coupons and exclusive discounts, are a great way to boost brand awareness. You can use your affiliate or referral program to give away points or perks for different types of user-generated content – more on this later.

Cluse example

Here’s how Cluse does it:

Cluse’s giveaway post encourages its followers to tag their friends in a user-generated content post and also asks them to get their friends to follow its Instagram page.

Check out our article on how to ask for a review for actionable tips!

#2: Interact over social media

When brands start or join conversations over social media, it generates many opportunities for word of mouth marketing. Positive and memorable social media interactions help build a community around the brand.

Aviation American Gin example

Last year, when Popeyes Chicken announced a new chicken sandwich, it started an online battle between two fast-food giants Wendy’s and Chick-fil-A. This gave Aviation American Gin a chance to get in the conversation in a playful way, and swoop thousands of valuable retweets on Twitter.

Aviation American Gin moved quickly at the fast-food heavyweights using other companies’ social posts to its advantage.

This is a great example of why word of mouth marketing is one of the most effective types of outreach. This sort of savvy social media campaign has helped the company attract the attention of a large number of social media users looking for entertaining content to consume and share online.

Netflix Film example

It’s simple, really. Social media offers a powerful medium to communicate with your target audience and build a strong and authentic brand image. You can use it to inform, educate, and entertain your consumers as well as find new customers by getting them to engage with your content.

Another way you can increase your brand recognition on social media is by creating a hashtag. Remember the Forever21 example? The apparel giant tells customers to upload their outfit photos using the hashtag #F21xME.

Hashtag campaigns are useful for building brand recognition and driving traffic. You can also use a hashtag on social platforms to start an online word of mouth campaign to share your promotional messages.

In other words, use your business hashtag every time you share a post on Instagram or Twitter and your customers will likely follow suit. Plus, hashtag feeds offer a quick and easy way to get in the conversations around your products. As a result, you can tap into conversations and respond to them in a timely manner. This, in turn, generates positive word of mouth from your customers!

Away example

A branded hashtag is a useful tool that can help you collect user-generated content. Here’s an example of Away using #travelaway in their Instagram post:

#3: Engage with consumers

A well-designed referral program can help you boost the results of your word of mouth marketing efforts. Encouraging existing customers to share positive words about you with their family, friends, and peers is a great way to attract new customers.

Your aim is to give customers a reason to share your brand with others, online or offline, and referral incentives are just the tools you need. You can offer coupons, credits, discounts, or free products to the referrer that leads to a purchase.

Similarly, you can incentivize customers to share user-generated content by tagging your brand on social posts or sharing product links on social pages.

7-Eleven example

The convenience store 7-Eleven encourages customers to post photos on social media using the hashtags #7ElevenDay, #TFW, and #slurplife for a free small Slurpee cup on July 11th.

Affiliate marketing is also a great way to acquire new customers. Here’s how you build an affiliate network: after you make a successful sale, ask the customer to refer their friend and earn a commission for the sale if their friend uses their referral link.

Niche bloggers can also help you promote your products on their blogs by including affiliate links in their content. Every sale leading from their referral will generate a commission for them while helping you boost your brand recognition.

You can also organize giveaways, contests, and lucky draws. All you have to do is tell customers to share user-generated content or the giveaway post on their social pages. This way, you’ll be able to get customers to interact with your brand and generate organic traffic along the way.

Examples of Word of Mouth Marketing

Here’s a quick question for you: What does a beverage company, a cloud storage solution, and a mattress manufacturer have in common? Word of mouth marketing.

Let’s take a look at how different types of companies use word of mouth marketing strategies to create positive feelings and emotions about their products.

Coca-Cola

It’s no secret that Coca-Cola is one of the world’s most popular drinks. Over the years, it has run multiple campaigns which have led to positive word of mouth promotion for the brand and increased the consumption of Coke worldwide.

Its “Share a Coke” campaign was launched in 2014 to get consumers to view Coke in a way that boosts its consumption i.e. by getting people to share it with their friends and family. Its social media campaign asked customers to find bottles with common names (and uncommon spellings of common names!) on them and share it online using the hashtag #ShareaCoke.

Dropbox

Dropbox is an online storage company that has successfully used word of mouth to attract a lot of new customers. It offered free storage space in the early days with bonus free space for referrals that drew a lot of attention.

It offered 500 MB extra storage space to new users and the people referred by them. This campaign led to rapid growth in Dropbox’s revenue.

Casper

Casper is an online company that produces mattresses, bedding, and other sleep-related products. For each of their mattresses, it offers a trial period for 100 days from purchase. Consumers can then decide to keep the mattress or return it.

This customer-focused approach has clicked with consumers who prefer testing a product’s comfort and durability. Casper also ran aggressive social media campaigns sharing customer reviews, helping it acquire more than one million customers in eight countries.

Conclusion

Word of mouth marketing is one of the most effective forms of marketing that involves giving customers reasons to share good opinions about your products with their friends and family. It helps you influence the customer’s purchase decisions, build trust, and boost brand awareness.

To recap, word of mouth marketing builds a community of brand advocates who vouch for your products online and offline. There are tons of ways to make your business a topic of conversation. Asking for reviews, interacting over social media, and engaging with consumers is just the tip of the iceberg.

Ready to collect reviews and leverage word of mouth marketing to increase sales? Sign up for CommerceKit updates as we build it!

We constantly discuss the tools and products we use with our colleagues and friends. Occasionally, we also recommend some of these tools to our peers.

This process is known as word of mouth, and digital marketers recognize it as a capable marketing channel you can take advantage of to drive sales or increase brand awareness. 

If you are interested in this strategy, our guide will cover everything you need to know about it.

What is Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM)?

Word-of-mouth marketing (also known as WOMM or word-of-mouth advertising) is the set of techniques marketers use to encourage consumers to spread the word about the brand and its product. To put it in another way, the word-of-mouth effect is the case when people organically recommend a certain product or service to their friends during casual conversations.

Now that you have the word-of-mouth marketing definition clear, you might still have a question in mind – is it worth the effort? Let’s investigate it.

Why is Word of Mouth Marketing Important?

As a type of earned media, word of mouth is important and valuable for your brand.

First of all, we should not underestimate the ability of word of mouth to generate high-intent leads and convert them into paying customers. In fact, recommendations from friends increase the chances of people buying products by 400%.

The key factor behind this effectiveness is trust, as hearing positive reviews about a product from a friend or family member who has personally tried it feels very authentic and reliable.

Now, to further solidify our point, let us share a couple more statistics demonstrating the immense value that word of mouth brings to your brand.

5 Interesting Word of Mouth Marketing Statistics

Many pieces of research and surveys out there serve as factual evidence of the power of word-of-mouth. We have cherry-picked some of the key statistics for you to consider:

1. Word of mouth is the most effective marketing channel, according to 64% of marketers that Semrush has surveyed.
2. An Ogilvy Cannes study found that 74% of consumers consider word-of-mouth recommendations a critical factor in deciding to purchase a product.
3. According to invesp, 28% of consumers have agreed that a recommendation from their friend has increased their brand affinity.
4. Gallup found out that for 88% of consumers, word-of-mouth recommendations are more likely to influence their decision to buy a product than advertising.
5. BrightLocal’s survey shows that for 88% of people, online reviews by other customers are as trustworthy as recommendations by their friends.

The evidence of WOM marketing value seems clear, so now, let’s understand the reasons behind its success by listing its key benefits.

5 Key Benefits of Word of Mouth Marketing

By taking advantage of the word-of-mouth effect and managing it, you can easily reach your marketing and business goals, as it comes with many benefits. Here are some of them.

Benefit #1: Builds trust around the brand

Word of mouth is about recommendations that consumers hear from people they trust the most – their friends, colleagues, and family. Therefore, increasing the number of people recommending your products will also increase your target audience’s trust in your brand.

Benefit #2: It’s free

Although encouraging word of mouth and managing it might take some time and resources from your marketing teams, by its nature, this strategy is organic and free – you do not directly pay the people who recommend your products to their peers.

Benefit #3: Brings loyal customers

This is one of the byproducts of the high level of trust you get with word-of-mouth recommendations.

The people that became your customers as a result of a friend’s referral trust you, and this trust directly translates to their loyalty and a better customer experience.

Benefit #4: Helps in building a community

When you have a word-of-mouth effect going around your brand, you will not only get more leads and potential customers but also create a community of loyal users who can actively engage with your brand and encourage others to join.

Benefit #5: Can boost sales

As we previously saw in the WOM marketing statistics section, these types of recommendations can influence consumers’ purchase decisions. Thus, if you manage the WOM effect around your brand right, you can potentially improve conversions and drive extra sales revenue for your company.

To sum up, the benefits we listed above make it clear that word-of-mouth marketing is something worth trying. But before discussing how to start a WOM campaign, let us first understand its types.

5 Powerful Word of Mouth Marketing Types

In real life, word of mouth is not limited only to people casually chatting and recommending products to each other. There are many other ways people can share their positive experiences and recommendations, and we have five of the most prominent ones for you here.

Type #1: Influencer marketing

Let’s begin with influencer marketing. It is the collaboration of brands with social media personalities and creators with an audience highly relevant to the brand’s products and services.

The power of influencers lies in their followers, who consider their opinions and recommendations trustworthy and authentic (more than 60% of consumers trust the recommendations their favorite influencers share). Thanks to such trust, these creators can influence the buying decisions of their audience (hence the term “influencer”).

To take advantage of this, digital marketers should find relevant influencers on social media platforms and ask them to showcase or promote their products in exchange for a payment or a free product sample.

Below is a typical case for a paid influencer post.

The person in the Instagram post is Bhawisha Kewalramani, a micro-influencer who has partnered up with luxury accessory brand Daniell Wellington to show off their watches and offer a special discount to her followers.

Type #2: Partner programs

A partner program is a cross-promotional strategy when two or more companies advertise each others’ brands and products through their marketing channels.

Among the many benefits of a partner program, the two key ones are your access to the audience of your partner company and the cost-effectiveness, as you are not spending any additional funds or time on this tactic.

Now let’s look at a partnership program in action.

The video above is a documentary by YouTube channel Wendover Productions and its founder Sam, who has more than 3.5 million followers.

At the end of his video, Sam promotes a streaming service called Nebula. In exchange for it, Nebula promotes Sam’s documentaries that he has posted on its platform.

Type #3: Brand ambassador programs

Brand ambassador programs are the more traditional and long-term equivalents of influencer marketing.

What sets the brand ambassador program apart from other strategies is that:

• It is Long-term: unlike influencer campaigns that can have the scope of a single post or a couple of them, brand ambassadors stay and collaborate with you for months or even years.
• It is about celebrities: brand ambassadors are usually much more popular than an average influencer. We talk about celebrity influencers and regular television celebrities.
• It is rarely about sales: while influencer campaigns can both aim to increase brand awareness and drive sales, your collaboration with brand ambassadors is almost always about brand visibility and prestige.

We have seen examples of brand ambassador programs many times around us. Here is one popular example of it.

Most of us will recognize both the song and the Columbian singer that performs it.

Apart from being one of the FIFA World Cup 2014 official songs, Shakira’s hit “La La La” was also a promotion of Activia as she was the ambassador of the brand at that moment.

Type #4: User generated content (UGC)

Unlike the previous three strategies in our list, user generated content does not assume creating partnerships or cross-promotions. UGC is about the natural posts that ordinary users make where they talk about your brand or products.

The major benefit of UGC is your brand getting exposure among these users’ followers and social media friends without spending a penny.

Here is what user-generated content looks like.

The tweet above is not a result of an influencer marketing campaign or the author’s collaboration with SEO and digital marketing tool Ahrefs. Instead, it is a simple post where the author praises its new dark mode design.

Type #5: Referral programs

A word-of-mouth referral program is a strategy where you involve your users in promoting your products by giving them incentives in exchange for referring their friends to become your users.

Although many of your customers will end up recommending your product to their friends organically anyways, referral programs boost that process by offering incentives to the people who refer their peers, such as more features, increased limits, or discounts.

Now let’s look at a real-life example of a referral program.

This one belongs to Google’s Workspace (a.k.a GSuite). As a workspace user, you can earn up to 200 free user seats for your account by referring your friends to become paid customers of this service.

To conclude, word of mouth is not only about people recommending your product to their friends during an in-person casual chat. There are many other well-defined forms of word-of-mouth marketing you can use to increase your brand exposure among your target audience.

Now, let’s move on to explaining how to create a WOMM campaign.

How to Build a Word of Mouth Marketing Campaign

Structure-wise, word-of-mouth marketing campaigns are not very different from other types of digital marketing campaigns, and you can create one by following the steps below.

Step #1: Research your audience

Every campaign starts with your buyer’s persona. You need to have a clear overview of the needs and interests of your target audience and know which channel or platform is most suitable for them (e.g., LinkedIn for B2B and Instagram for B2C).

Step #2: Decide your approach

There are many word-of-mouth strategies you can choose from, and it is your product type that will decide which one you settle on. For instance, influencer marketing and viral marketing work great for fashion and eCommerce, while you can consider affiliate marketing for B2B software sales.

Step #3: Promote

Finally, with your audience and approach clear, you can go ahead and start promotion. For example, if you do affiliate marketing, you need to promote your affiliate program among media owners. With referral programs, on the other hand, you will have to reach out to your existing users and promote among them.

But no matter how you choose to build your campaign and what kind of audience you target, there are pro WOM marketing tactics that can help you get the most out of these campaigns, and we have several of them for you coming up next.

7 Word of Mouth Marketing Strategies to Consider

When starting with word-of-mouth marketing, you might get the impression that affecting the way people talk about your product is very hard and out of your control.

Luckily, it is not the case, and there are many battle-hardened strategies that can help you boost your brand’s word-of-mouth promotion. Here are seven of them.

Strategy #1: Share testimonials

Testimonials are a powerful tool in the hands of digital marketing teams, thanks to their ability to influence buying behavior. Around 70% of customers note that their trust in a product depends on the testimonials they read about it.

Therefore, it is valuable for your brand to reach out to your happiest customers out there and ask them to write a testimonial about you with permission to post them on your website or your social media channels.

To further increase the effect of social proof on your target audience, make sure you post the real name and the company (if the user agrees) of the person who has left the testimonial.

Strategy #2: Encourage UGC

When listing out the types of word-of-mouth marketing, we noted that controlling UGC is not easy, especially when people have already posted negative comments about you.

But it does not mean you cannot encourage your audience to talk about you and praise you.

Some of the common tactics to help you here are:

• Taking part in a trend by posting relevant content (with the help of your content marketing team) using the hashtag of that trend.
• Starting your own trend or challenge with a branded hashtag.
• Running quizzes, contests, and giveaways on social networks.

Apart from that, your brand can actively engage with other brands and your target audience, too, by liking others’ posts, commenting, and sharing their content.

Strategy #3: Ask for reviews

Customer reviews can make or break your brand, as around 97% of customers check them when looking for a product.

You will find these product reviews both in your Google Business Profile and on specialized websites such as G2, Yelp, and Capterra.

The chances are high that your users will have already left several reviews about the company or product on these websites. But you can also encourage more people to visit these sites and leave you some feedback.

Some of the common ways of encouraging them are to:

• Email your existing customer base and ask them to leave you a review.
• Get your support team to ask satisfied customers to review your products.
• Make a social media post with a request to leave you a review.

No matter which way you choose, make sure that the person who leaves feedback is a happy customer. Otherwise, you will end up with a negative or neutral opinion that will be very hard to change.

Strategy #4: Create a buzz

Another way of getting people to talk about you is by creating a buzz or hype around your products or services.

This tactic is especially useful when you have a new product to launch and want to make sure that there are enough new customers present at your launch event.

Another popular place where digital marketers use the hype tactic is the seasonal holidays during which you offer special discounts (e.g. Black Friday and Halloween).

In both cases, you can generate hype by:

• Making teaser images, videos, and other types of content about your new products or discounts.
• Leveraging social media, email, PPC (or other forms of advertising), and other channels to share these teasers and increase the exposure of your launch date or holiday deals.
• Creating dedicated hashtags that people can use when talking about you and your upcoming event.

To monitor the buzz that you have created and track its performance, you can use social media monitoring tools such as Brandwatch and others.

Strategy #5: Offer incentives

Incentivizing your word-of-mouth campaigns is another way of getting more people to recommend you.

Some of the common incentives you can consider are:

• Company swag, like branded mugs, T-shirts, stationery, USB drives, and others.
• Extra accesses and features, including longer free trials, higher usage limits, free access to pro features, etc.
• Monetary perks in the form of Amazon gift cards or discount coupons.

Another thing to take into consideration with an incentive program is that you need to beware of scammy behavior when people abuse your program by referring to lots of fake accounts.

Strategy #6: Run an affiliate program

Affiliate marketing is the partnership between your brand and media owners who promote your products on their website, blog, or social media channel in exchange for a sales commission.

To get started with affiliate marketing, you will need to:

• Create an affiliate program where you describe your commissions, timelines, requirements for becoming an affiliate, and the list of products that your affiliates can pick to advertise.
• Promote your program among bloggers and media owners and start building relationships with them.
• Track the performance of your affiliates and pay them commissions accordingly.

Luckily, there are many affiliate platforms and SaaS tools, such as Tapfiliate, that can help you create and manage affiliate programs with ease.

Strategy #7: Harness the power of exclusivity

People like special treatment, and one of the ways of making them feel like that is by giving them access to exclusive products or deals.

You can create a list of products only available to the select few exclusive members of your user base (e.g., based on their brand loyalty) and encourage them to post these products on social media or other channels. This way, you create desire among your target audience to become loyal customers and get access to these exclusive products in your customer loyalty program.

To sum up, you can use these strategies to affect the way people talk about your brand and boost the outcomes of the word-of-mouth channel for your products.

As we have covered word-of-mouth marketing and its strategies for you, let us solidify your knowledge by sharing some prominent WOM marketing examples.

3 Great Word of Mouth Marketing Examples to Inspire You

The internet is full of excellent examples of word-of-mouth marketing when brands take advantage of this channel to grow their revenue. Let us share three such examples with you to help you get inspiration when starting with this type of marketing.

Example #1: Dropbox

We begin with the online file storage service Dropbox and its referral marketing program.

In the world of marketing and growth hacking, Dropbox is well-known as the company that had massive success with its referral program (they had a 39-fold growth in 15 months).

The program in question was about rewarding users with extra storage space for referring their friends and family to become Dropbox users. You could get an extra 500MB if your referral becomes a free user and 1GB if they bought a Dropbox Plus subscription.

Example #2: Netflix

Our next example is the streaming service Netflix and its use of social media.

Netflix actively publishes teasers and trailers of its shows on social media channels like Twitter and Instagram to create buzz around them.

The video above is a teaser for the 4th season of the show Manifest that Netflix published on Twitter a couple of months before the premiere. As intended, this tweet successfully created a buzz among the fans of the show, with over 2,500 retweets and 1,500 quote tweets.

Example #3: Wendy’s

Finally, we have the restaurant chain Wendy’s, famous for actively engaging with its customers on social media.

Unlike many brands that post highly formal content on their social media accounts, the social media marketing team at Wendy’s constantly makes joke posts and actively answers the questions/requests that their customers post on Twitter and other channels.

Now Over to You

Thanks to its ability to create trust in your brand and drive sales revenue, word-of-mouth marketing is a highly valuable channel that should be in the arsenal of any digital marketer.

If you liked our guide and want to learn more about digital marketing, check out the great educational content that we have on our blog.

Sona Kalantaryan is a senior digital marketer with a creative past. Big fan of high cinema and well-optimized landing pages. She authors guides by sharing the best practices and does it the right way!

What Is Word-of-Mouth Marketing?

Word-of-mouth marketing (or WOM marketing) is when a consumer’s interest in a company’s product or service is reflected in their daily dialogues. Essentially, it is free advertising triggered by customer experiences—and usually, something that goes beyond what they expected.

Word-of-mouth marketing can be encouraged through different publicity activities set up by companies or by having opportunities to encourage consumer-to-consumer and consumer-to-marketer communications. Also referred to as «word-of-mouth advertising,» WOM marketing includes buzz, viral, blog, emotional, and social media marketing.

Understanding Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Word-of-mouth marketing differs from natural word-of-mouth references to a company’s products and services in how it may come as the result of a promotion, encouragement, or other influence by a company, otherwise known as «seeding.»

When a diner has a wonderful time at a restaurant because their expectations were exceeded and later tweets about it, or when someone had a great experience using a product in a new way and tells everyone they know about it, those are examples of word-of-mouth marketing. Also, word-of-mouth marketing does not stop at the first interaction; it tends to lead to a cascade of follow-on interactions.

The encouragement on the part of a company may take one of several forms. The best way is to give them a reason to talk, such as exceeding expectations or providing insider skills or information about a product.

Other strategies include offering consumers new ways to share information about a company’s products and services, and engaging and interacting with the consumer, such as through exemplary customer service. This is especially valuable with social media-based customer service, which provides for seamless sharing and promotion.

Benefits of Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Eighty-eight percent of people around the world said they trust recommendations from friends and family (earned media) above all other forms of advertising. This shows just how effective word-of-mouth marketing can be.

Consumers are more emotionally bonded to a company when they feel they are listened to by the company. That is why many companies will have sales representatives discuss their products and services with consumers personally or through a feedback phone line. This kind of interaction, as well as promotional events, can stimulate conversations about a company’s product.

There is a significant temptation to fabricate word-of-mouth marketing. Accordingly, the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) crafted a code of ethics checklist for the industry, advising that the best word-of-mouth marketing strategies are credible, social, repeatable, measurable, and respectful, and there is no excuse for dishonesty.

WOM marketing expert Andy Sernovitz has boiled down WOMMA’s code of ethics into three key rules to avoid issues:

• Say who you are representing (always disclose a relationship)
• Say only what you believe (be honest with an opinion)
• Never lie about who you are (be honest about your identity)

The Bottom Line

Word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing is when a consumer shares a positive experience with their peers about a good or service. WOM marketing is great for businesses as it generates business without incurring additional marketing costs. Businesses can, however, purposely contribute to word-of-mouth marketing efforts.

WOM marketing is usually experienced over dinner parties, texts, and casual encounters between friends and family. It can also be set through buzz, viral media, blogs, and social media marketing.

Looking for new ways to grow your customer base? Don’t forget about wowing the customers you already have, to generate word-of-mouth marketing.  Think of the last time you recommended your favorite restaurant, clothing item, or other product to a friend. You probably shared because you loved your experience. The same goes for your company – when customers are wowed by your business, they naturally want to spread the good word.

This excitement to share is what drives word-of-mouth marketing (also called WOM marketing, WOMM, or word-of-mouth advertising). And this sharing leads to new customers, because the people who hear your customers’ word of mouth highly trust the word of their peers. So, word-of-mouth marketing could be your secret weapon for growth – especially because it often happens for free.

Athough word-of-mouth marketing depends on your customers and fans, it’s not out of your control. There are many ways to further your word-of-mouth marketing strategy. Below, we cover everything about the power of word of mouth, from what sets word of mouth apart from all other types of marketing to how you can harness word-of-mouth marketing to scale your own business.

What prompts word-of-mouth marketing?

Usually, word of mouth is prompted by an above-and-beyond positive experience someone has had with your brand. Think about the last time you ate an amazing dinner out, or tried a cool new product that easily solved one of your problems. You probably couldn’t help but share this standout experience with your friends.

Why is word-of-mouth marketing so important?

Word-of-mouth marketing stands out because of its high level of trust.

Why do people trust word of mouth?

Usually, word-of-mouth recommendations come from friends, family members, and others within someone’s close circles. When someone sees a friend or family member raving about a particular brand, they’re much more likely to buy. That’s because peer recommendations are seen as especially valuable.

Source

Word-of-mouth marketing benefits

According to a Nielsen report, 92% of people trust word of mouth referrals from those they know, more than they trust all other forms of advertising.

Word-of-mouth marketing means your customers and other fans are essentially doing the marketing for you, at little to no cost to your business! They are promoting straight to their network, usually in person or on social media. This makes word of mouth not only cost-effective, but highly valuable.

Plus, thanks to social media, what someone shares can reach millions in mere seconds. And word of mouth doesn’t just stop after one interaction – one person will tell another, and another, and so on. With every share, repost, or retweet, word-of-mouth marketing carries the potential for exponential growth.

All this happens at a very low cost to your business – often, for free.

Source

Word of mouth statistics: How effective is word-of-mouth marketing?

These word-of-mouth marketing statistics further prove how successful word-of-mouth marketing can be:

• 83% of Americans say that word-of-mouth recommendations from people they know make them more likely to purchase a given product or service.
• According to Nielsen, consumers are 4 times more likely to buy when referred by a friend, so word of mouth produces high conversion rates.
• When it comes to products they have purchased, 74% of people identified word of mouth as a key factor in their purchase decision.
• Marketers rate the quality of leads brought in by word of mouth as a 4.28 out of 5.

Check out more word-of-mouth marketing statistics in the infographic below.

What are the types of word-of-mouth marketing?

Word-of-mouth marketing (word-of-mouth advertising) can be divided into two main types or categories: amplified word of mouth and organic word of mouth.

Amplified word-of-mouth marketing is directly encouraged by your business via a marketing campaign. Within the campaign, businesses will usually use some sort of reward to motivate this word of mouth. Amplified word of mouth strategies are also easy to track, since they are tied to a campaign.

Examples of amplified word of mouth include:

• Referral programs
• Affiliate programs
• Brand ambassador programs
• Influencer marketing campaigns
• Other customer endorsements you encourage with rewards
• Other campaigns and contests to encourage social media sharing

In contrast, organic word-of-mouth marketing occurs when someone recommends your brand naturally and without direct prompting from your business.

It is much harder to motivate and track. But this type of word of mouth isn’t fully out of your control. It is usually triggered by an event experienced by the customer. Whether that’s amazing customer service or a free gift with purchase, triggers set your brand apart from the competition and keep you top of mind. Plus, they make for great talking points and organic word of mouth.

We’ll dive into common ways to trigger word-of-mouth marketing in the next section.

Examples of organic word of mouth include:

• Spontaneous social media sharing (user-generated content)
• Reviews and comments from satisfied customers
• Natural sharing of a product through any type of conversation
• “Dark social” sharing in DMs and private emails, that doesn’t have a tracking tag

6 word-of-mouth marketing strategies for any campaign (+WOMM examples)

With the right word-of-mouth marketing campaign, you can successfully create a steady stream of referrals and repeatable word of mouth for your brand.

Fortunately, there are plenty word-of-mouth channels at your disposal: referral programs, influencer programs, brand ambassador programs, affiliate marketing, and many more. Whichever channel you choose, however, it’s important to develop an overall WOMM strategy to encourage organic sharing.

Here are a few proven WOMM strategies to help get you started, along with some word-of-mouth marketing examples that show the strategies in action.

1. Create triggers for word of mouth

Triggers are little cues that remind your audience about your brand, even without any actual advertising.

Wharton marketing professor Jonah Berger gives this example: What immediately comes to mind when someone says peanut butter? Was it jelly? In this case, peanut butter acts almost like an advertisement for jelly.

This is the type of association you want to create for your brand. One famous example is a KFC campaign that ran in Japan in the 1970s. Translated to “Kentucky is Christmas,” it promoted a party barrel of fried chicken as Christmas dinner. The campaign was so successful that until today, many families in Japan order Kentucky Fried Chicken when the holiday season rolls around.

Create your own triggers by finding something your audience sees or does on a regular basis. By associating your brand with these, you increase the likelihood of people remembering and talking about you.

2. Appeal to your audience

Like all marketing strategies, word of mouth works best when it puts its audience first. Think of what digital marketing content would appeal best to your audience – would it be an interactive contest, a behind-the-scenes video, or something else? By continuing to give your audience what it wants, you’re able to add to your social currency and generate word of mouth.

Social currency is all about reputation. People share what they think will make them look good in front of others, because every share puts their reputation on the line. They’ll only “spend” their social currency on your brand, and spread the word about you, if they think it will give their reputation a boost. So, make sure you’ve created something your audience loves, and will think it’s cool to share with others.

Source

3. Provide value to customers

The brands worth talking about are ones that provide value. Whether that means solving a problem with your product or delivering an unparalleled customer experience, a customer that sees value in your brand will both stick with you and share your brand with others.

Providing value is also one of the best ways to gain a customer’s good will. If you can offer value – and in a way that stands out – you may just earn a positive customer review, promote brand loyalty, and maximize your word of mouth.

4. Tap into emotion

Emotional attachments are one of the biggest drivers of word-of-mouth marketing. If people feel strongly about a brand or product, they are not likely to drop it, even if a more logical option comes along.

People respond more to emotions, as well. Whether it’s something happy, sad, funny, or otherwise, they instinctively want to share it with others.

If you can create experiences that result in positive emotions, your word of mouth efforts can go a long way. For instance, think of how Always fought against stereotypes and empowered young women with its #LikeAGirl ads.

And if your brand has a unique personality, this can also stir up emotions. Use your personality for emotional appeal, in a way that stands out from the crowd, and customers won’t be able to stop talking. This works especially well if you’re appealing to humor. Think back to Wendy’s – they went viral thanks to their signature snarky, humorous tweets.

5. Tell your story

Creating a compelling story goes hand in hand with giving audiences what they want, offering value and appealing to emotions. If customers love the “why” behind what you do – your mission and values – and that “why” is packaged in a story that’s moving and easy to tell, customers will share your story with others.

One example is 4Ocean’s story: they pull plastic from the ocean daily to help marine life, and then recycle much of that plastic into bracelets and other products.

6. Create exclusivity

Making people feel like they know secrets or insider information is another recipe for generating sharing. Think of how Starbucks “secret menu” drinks have gone viral on social media, and how In-N-Out Burger got people talking both online and offline with their own “secret menu” items (which were key in driving the brand’s overall success).

Secrets don’t just work for food brands, though. If you share new and exciting products with your most loyal customers first, or create a sale that people can only access with a code you emailed, people will want their friends to get in on the action, too. They’ll tell their friends quickly, meaning more buzz, and more sales, for you.

How do online reviews affect word-of-mouth advertising?

As we’ve outlined above, you can build word-of-mouth advertising in many ways. But one of the best ways is by getting positive customer reviews. A majority 90% of people read reviews before deciding whether or not to visit a business, and 72% will only push through with a purchase after reading positive reviews.

Plus, good reviews help build your brand’s social proof and boost your online reputation – both terrific ways to gain exposure and get even more people talking about you.

Customer reviews also allow you to expand into other channels and platforms. Say, a happy customer writes a review about you on Yelp. That review can then be searched and shared across other channels, as well. You can share some of the best reviews on your own social media accounts, or even post them as testimonials on your own website.

Here’s a step-by-step example of how reviews can play a role in word-of-mouth advertising:

• Winter season is about to start, and Ken and Val are talking about chimney sweeping services.
• Val tells Ken that she needs to hire someone to come to her house some time in the next few weeks.
• Ken shares that he’s also been searching for someone and found a few chimney services with good reviews online (thanks to previous word of mouth). He mentions a few that looked especially promising.
• Val takes a look at a few of the services, and ends up picking one that did an amazing job.
• Val starts telling all her friends, including Ken, and even posts a picture of her cozy fireplace with a newly cleaned chimney (further generating word of mouth!).

How to build word-of-mouth marketing on social media?

Stop collecting and start connecting. This is a key guideline for any strong word-of-mouth marketing strategy these days.

Sure, you can have millions of social media followers. But to effectively use social media platforms to drive word-of-mouth marketing, you have to be active and engaging.

This means providing valuable information, responding to comments and questions, and encouraging and sharing some of your audience’s user-generated content (UGC).

The more connected you are to your followers, the more likely they will become true fans and supporters. And what do true fans usually do? Share your brand with others and increase word of mouth in new markets you may not have been able to reach otherwise.

Social proof and social media: Get others to show, not just tell

People decide what to do based on what they see other people doing. If they hear someone talking about how good your product is, this word of mouth will make them more likely to try the product. But when they see someone using your product in their everyday life, this social proof gives word-of-mouth a bigger boost. And social media shares of your product mean many people see how your product is used, all at once.

Ambassadors’ and influencers’ posts using your product, affiliates’ product reviews on social networks, and UGC images and videos from any customer show off your product and further inspire people to try it for themselves.

How is WOMM different from referral marketing?

Word-of-mouth marketing is all about getting people talking about your brand or business. It looks for the best ways to promote sharing, often through general consumer interest or unique content. WOMM is all about spreading brand awareness to your audience. Depending on the types you choose to focus on, though, you may have difficulty tracking and controlling it.

Referral marketing is a segment of word-of-mouth marketing. It’s common for word of mouth to occur naturally in the process of referring others. But at its core, referral marketing is a proactive way to gain new customers, focused on key targets and specific results.

Referrals occur when someone who uses or knows your brand recommends it to others in their network, usually friends, family members, or colleagues. Since they are sharing your brand with others, they are generating word of mouth. But this recommendation is direct and purposeful, not just casually mentioned.

Combining word of mouth and referral marketing

Most types of marketing use word of mouth in one way or another. Referral marketing is no different. In fact, word of mouth helps companies get new customers all the time – which is the main aim of referral marketing.

Instead of doing a mass shout-out, however, referral marketing allows you to get more personal.

Referral marketing is all about motivating individual customers to share a product or service with others they know, by offering incentives whenever these recommendations bring in first-time customers. In time, this type of marketing works to build customer loyalty and establish long-term relationships, both among existing and newly referred customers.

Referral marketing also allows you to monitor your conversions, engagement, and other metrics.

With a formal referral program, businesses can incentivize customer sharing and organize their entire referral process. The right referral software can also generate automatic referral links and track each step of the process, so you know exactly where referrals are coming from.

Using referral marketing with other word of mouth strategies maximizes brand awareness and increases the odds of  creating a viral sharing effect. By integrating diverse types of word-of-mouth marketing into your overall marketing strategy, you increase the odds of achieving success.

To learn more about referral marketing, check out our referral marketing guide or learn essential referral program tips.

Other related word-of-mouth marketing terms

As a major business strategy, WOMM can be seen alongside many other marketing concepts. Here are a few common ones you may come across:

• Buzz marketing: This involves getting key ambassadors or influencers to spread the conversation about your brand. It’s focused on building viral growth around certain products or campaigns, usually using attention-grabbing techniques (i.e., videos, memes) and generating online buzz.
• Viral marketing: This type of marketing relies on one’s existing network to spread information from person to person in a rapid manner. This often occurs online or using social media, with content so compelling that people can’t help but send it with others.
• Blog marketing: When used for word of mouth, blog marketing involves blog posts that an influencer or brand ambassador creates. With a few strategic ads or sponsored posts, bloggers create content that quickly travels to their followers, who in turn, share it with their friends. By recruiting the right bloggers, a business can generate fair amount of word of mouth through their content marketing.
• Social media marketing:  Thanks to hashtags and rapid shares, the content created on social media has a way of reaching people outside of the original group following. And as we’ve seen, shared content has a higher value when it comes from someone people know and trust.

Wrapping up

Don’t sleep on word-of-mouth marketing, because recommendations and referrals are powerful. People trust the word of their family and friends. This makes them more likely to purchase from you when their peers recommend your products.

The best way to use this to your advantage is to leverage multiple types of word-of-mouth marketing, including by encouraging user-generated content, asking for reviews, and starting a referral program.

No matter which marketing tactics you use to generate buzz, it’s key to apply the fundamental word-of-mouth strategies: creating sharing triggers, appealing to your fan base, offering value, and stirring up an emotional response.

Ready to generate word of mouth in a way that’s easy to measure? Check out our complete guide to starting a referral program. 

Any marketer out there knows just how important it is to have people talking about your products or services. 

Word-of-mouth marketing (WOMM) is exactly that: having happy customers spreading the word about your brand. 

Who doesn’t want that, right?

In this guide, we’ve put together all the important information you need about WOMM including:

• A definition of word-of-mouth marketing
• Reasons why word-of-mouth marketing is important
• Plus, some important word-of-mouth marketing statistics you should know

What’s more, we’ve collated a list of five interesting word-of-mouth strategies, along with interesting examples that’ll hopefully inspire you to start using the power of referral marketing yourself. 

Plus, we’ve got a treat for you: a detailed referral marketing book you can download for free!

Whether you’re a junior marketer looking to get traction and promote a company or a business owner just starting off on your entrepreneurial journey, be sure to make the most of this post! 

Let’s get right into it. 

Table of Contents

• What is Word-of-Mouth Marketing?
• How Effective is Word-of-Mouth Marketing?
• 5 Word-of-Mouth Marketing Strategies and Examples to Inspire You
• How to Get Started With Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Word-of-mouth marketing (WOMM) is a form of marketing that relies on happy customers talking about their positive experiences to their family, friends, and colleagues. 

The way WOM marketing works can be summarized with the following line: through providing customers with an experience that’s worth talking about, you indirectly convince them to talk about your brand and become your brand advocates. 

Additionally, word-of-mouth marketing is a marketing channel that includes viral marketing, as well as buzz marketing, which uses the dynamic of your network in order to spread the word about a product or a service.   

The following image – that illustrates how a media brand, My Little Paris, grew dramatically from one email sent to 50 friends in 2008 to have 4 million subscribers in 2017 – is a very successful visual representation of just how efficient word of mouth can be. 

Let’s dive a bit deeper into things though and see what makes WOM marketing so important.

Why is word-of-mouth marketing so important?

Word-of-mouth marketing is important because consumers trust their family members, friends, and colleagues, so hearing them talk positively about a brand or a product makes them want to try it out, too. 

On that note, 88% of consumers say that recommendations from family and friends can definitely influence their buying decisions far more than advertising, thus making word-of-mouth advertising extremely useful for businesses. 

To put it simply, WOM marketing is an effective type of marketing because it’s based on sharing positive experiences from people who’ve tried a service or product – who become satisfied customers – and feel that sharing their experience with others is important. 

Even though some of the ways people share their experiences with friends have remained the same, rapid technological progress has created a new, digital version of WOMM. 

Let’s see what this is all about.

What’s the digital version of word-of-mouth marketing?

Digital word-of-mouth marketing is a type of WOM marketing that involves the use of online media to prompt your users or customers – depending on the type of business you run – to advocate for your business online, through social media like LinkedIn, emails, online review sites such as  Yelp, and communities including Slack groups, to mention a few. 

In other words, the digital version of word-of-mouth marketing is like offline word-of-mouth marketing, but taking it into the digital realm.  

It basically works by having people happily pass information and personal recommendations in regards to a brand along to their friends, family, and colleagues.  

Needless to say, this is one of the best digital marketing channels with conversion rates that are hard to match through other channels, like organic or paid acquisition. 

How effective can WOM marketing be?

Keep reading to find out. 

How Effective is Word-of-Mouth Marketing?

Word-of-mouth marketing can be really effective in terms of raising awareness of a product and convincing people to trust a brand and, ultimately, make a purchase. 

In fact, according to a 2015 Nielsen survey, friends and family are considered to be the top global source for new product awareness with 56% trusting it the most, above TV ads that get 52%. 

Wanna know some more stats?

The following seven will help you understand the importance of word-of-mouth marketing as part of a company’s overall marketing strategy.

7 Word-of-Mouth Marketing Statistics

Here we go:

• An analysis by Bazaarvoice showed that including reviews by users on a product page can lead to an increase of 15-25% in search traffic. (Source: Bazaarvoice)
• According to Talk Triggers, word of mouth influences around 90% of all purchases and is directly responsible for 19% of them. (Source: Talk Triggers)
• SparkReel informs us that over 65% of people go looking for user-generated content before they make a purchase. (Source: SparkReel)
• In terms of how influential word of mouth can be, over 33% of consumers stated that word of mouth had an influence on their decision-making when buying electronic goods. (Source: Statista)
• Around 9 in 10 people state that friends and family have a significant influence on their purchasing decisions. (Source: Gallup)
• A 2019 report by Edelman showed that over 60% of consumers aged between 18 and 34 years old have more trust in what influencers say about a brand than what a brand itself says in its advertising. (Source: Edelman)

Social media posts are among the five most influential sources of new product information according to 31% of Generation Z consumers and 32% of Millennial consumers.  (Source: Nielsen)

The stats help us establish how effective word-of-mouth marketing can be for businesses in terms of helping them to build brand awareness and brand loyalty. 

Keep reading to find more about six very prominent word-of-mouth marketing strategies that well-known companies have used to encourage organic word of mouth. 

5 Word-of-Mouth Marketing Strategies and Examples to Inspire You

We’ve talked about what word-of-mouth marketing is and how effective it can be. 

If you can’t wait until you launch your next word-of-mouth marketing campaign, then you’ll be thrilled to read through the following word-of-mouth marketing strategies and examples we’ve prepared for you. 

Without further ado, we’re diving right into the first one. 

Strategy #1: Let your product do the “talking”

The first word-of-mouth marketing strategy is to let your product do the talking for you. 

Pretty straightforward, right?

Before we dive deeper into this, we simply need to mention that this strategy is all about using your product in order to bring new customers into your small business and help it grow. 

Here’s how Slack is doing it. 

Example: Slack

The business communication tool, Slack, is a great example of how you can make your product do all the talking for you in terms of getting more people into using the product and raising awareness for it. 

With over 12 million active users in 2019 – even though Slack hasn’t updated its user figures, we can safely assume that the number has increased since the COVID-19 pandemic – there’s no doubt that the tool is one of the fastest-growing business software of all time.

How does Slack manage to offer a unique customer experience and use word-of-mouth marketing through their most important asset; their product?

It simply does so by having, what we could call built-in virality. 

Virality in this context means that the tool prompts users to spread the word about it while using it. 

To put it simply, you can’t use Slack without inviting others!

The steps a user can take to bring more team members into the tool and create an efficient workplace with streamlined workflows and communication channels are summarized below:

Of course, this strategy can’t be applied to all types of business. 

Simply put, different businesses have different business models and thus, built-in virality on a product level can’t always work the same way as in the example we’ve shared with you. 

Let’s get to the next strategy and word-of-mouth marketing example we have for you.

Strategy #2: Launch a referral marketing campaign

This second strategy we want to share with you is basically a very efficient and direct way of making the most out of online word-of-mouth marketing. 

It’s as simple as launching a referral marketing campaign as well as establishing and using referral rewards across the different steps of the process of people using your products or services. 

If you’re not familiar with referral programs, let’s just say that they can help you reinforce your user experience and grow brand awareness by making already registered users invite their friends, family, and colleagues to sign up for your product too. 

It’s by far one of the most effective forms of marketing, with many well-known companies such as Airbnb, Dropbox, and Robinhood using it to acquire new customers easily and more cheaply than traditional channels.

The following example will make this a bit more clear.  

Example: Airtable

Airtable, a cloud collaboration tool launched in 2012, is using the power of referrals to acquire new users and basically expand its customer base. 

To be more precise, the tool makes wide use of referral awards across its user interface (UI) which they’ve built with much patience and steady steps. 

First of all, when a new user signs up for Airtable, they immediately get a unique invite link. 

What’s more, the tool gives users an extra incentive of a $10 credit per invite. 

The screenshot you see below is the window users get when they sign up for the tool:

That basically means that every time you invite someone – possibly from your team or company – you get a $10 credit.

Once you’re on the tool, you can also either click on the CTA highlighted below…

…or click on the Tell a Friend button from the dropdown menu on the right-hand side…

…which takes you to a referrals and credits landing page where you can keep track of your credit and also find your unique referral code in case you want to share it with others.

To cut a long story short, having a referral program with engaging referral rewards in place is an efficient way of growing your business and the reach of your products.

Moving on.  

Strategy #3: Create a loyal fan base

Constantly trying to get people to talk about your brand might sound like a hard thing to do that also takes valuable time and money. 

However, if you focus your efforts on creating a loyal fan base, chances are you’re going to hit the ground running in terms of making your brand more popular, sooner than you might expect. 

The example we discuss below might inspire you to create your fanbase and enhance your efforts when it comes to customer retention. 

Here we go. 

Example: Crocs

Crocs, the well-known plastic, brightly colored clogs, are truly interesting in terms of how word-of-mouth marketing might work for a company. 

Here’s a picture of early 2000 Crocs:

We don’t know how this image above has you reacting, but you probably know that there are many people on this planet that truly despise this footwear – you might even be one of them. 

Vincenzo Ravina, blogger and creator of the ihatecrocs blog, is just one individual out of many that probably wants to scream in anger every time they see someone wearing Crocs!

However, over the years, Crocs has gone from being totally unwanted by fashion-conscious people to taking part in fashion shows and even collaborating with popular fashion brands:

Whether you like them or not, those strong positive and negative reactions have helped the brand to generate buzz and raise awareness of the footwear. 

In other words, both negative and positive reactions have made the brand more and more popular, almost like a kitsch-but-classic fashion item that leaves no one indifferent. 

Because of all the publicity, the company has managed to create a base of loyal customers who love Crocs and aren’t afraid of showing it. 

Have a look:

What’s the key takeaway this example teaches us?

When it comes to word of mouth, all you need is to get people talking about you, no matter what they say!

The fact that they care enough to start talking about your brand works as a sort of social proof that influences other people and makes them want to know more, and possibly even get closer to your brand. 

Keep reading to find the fourth word-of-mouth marketing strategy we have for you. 

Strategy #4: Partner up with influencers

As we discussed a little further up – in the section where we gave you some interesting word-of-mouth marketing statistics – social media posts are among the most influential sources of new product info for Gen Zers and Millennials.  

Who’s the best at using social media posts as a form of advertising?

Enter… influencers!

Influencer marketing has proven to be extremely effective for eCommerce businesses and that’s why, when it comes to engaging potential customers and reaching a brand’s target audience with word-of-mouth recommendations, companies should definitely be focusing on working with influencers in their niche.

Let’s take a look at an example. 

Example: Sephora

Sephora is one of the most successful companies in the skincare industry at the moment and definitely knows how to deal with its social media presence, which welcomes user-generated content (UGC) and word-of-mouth chat. 

The company has even launched #SephoraSquad; a hashtag that can be used by influencers and content creators when they create content they want to get featured in the brand’s Instagram account or on its Stories.

For their social media marketing campaigns, they often employ influencers that can help them increase their reach, give them a shout-out, or influence other users’ purchase decisions. 

The way this works is that the company is leveraging the influencer’s social influence and audience. 

To be more precise, the influencer shares their opinion or testimonials with their audience that already knows and trusts them, thus making it more likely that they’ll also trust brands like Sephora that their favorite influencer is talking about.  

Here’s just one example of a paid partnership between a content creator, Abby Marie Hardie, and Sephora:

For the record, Sephora has over 20 million followers and regularly partners with influencers to make new potential customers trust them. 

Why?

Because influencers can give their followers the authenticity they crave in the digital realm. 

Author’s Note: Getting influencers to talk about your products or services organically, so without you having to actually pay them, can be far more efficient than paid partnerships with them. A way to achieve that might be to send them free samples of your products and ask them to share their honest opinion with their audience. 

Moving forward to strategy number five. 

Strategy #5: Give people a reason to talk about you

The whole point of word of mouth is to give people reasons to talk about you and discuss your brand whilst social networking, or when chatting with family or friends. 

That’s why our last point is about giving people a reason to talk about your brand, possibly by creating engaging and interactive content. 

The example that follows will show you how. 

Example: Etsy

The case study we’re discussing in this section of our blog comes from eCommerce marketplace Etsy, which focuses heavily on giving users the opportunity to buy and sell handmade and vintage items, among other things. 

The reason we’re talking about Etsy is that, over the years, it’s managed to achieve explosive growth. 

The graph below shows how Etsy has grown from having $74.6 million in revenue in 2012 to $1.725 billion in 2020.

What company wouldn’t want growth figures like that? 

Even though its growth is related to a number of other factors, including advertising campaigns and efficient content marketing, we’re going to focus on the way they bring word of mouth into their social media. 

Put another way, we’re looking into how they get people to talk about them and we can’t miss looking into the way the platform is built; it definitely promotes referrals and virality. 

More specifically, given that many of the items sold on the platform are handmade items, we can only assume that creators will naturally want to promote their stores on social media and to their friends and family, thus making the platform even more popular. 

Have a look at the following Instagram post from Etsy – which has 2.8 million followers on Instagram – that features a wall hanging created by an Etsy seller:

The post was – as expected – reposted by the seller on her Instagram account too, with a mention for Etsy. 

Even though the creator has a significantly lower number of followers…

… trust me when I say that there’s no such thing as too much advertising.  

The creator’s audience is in this case a great opportunity for Etsy to promote one of their sellers while also getting more people to know the marketplace and come closer to beating the competition.

Even if they don’t manage to beat Amazon, they certainly hit the mark with being one of the best marketplaces out there. 

Wanna know how to get started with word-of-mouth marketing?

Find out right below!

How to Get Started With Word-of-Mouth Marketing

We’ve pretty much touched upon all of the best starting points for you to get going with word-of-mouth marketing when we look at some of the most efficient word-of-mouth strategies. 

However, we understand that word of mouth might still seem like a challenging thing to acquire, for both experienced marketers as well as beginners in the world of marketing. 

If you want to get started with word-of-mouth marketing – and how could you not want to? – we suggest that you start with referral marketing, which is definitely one of the best ways of nailing word-of-mouth marketing. 

What’s more, we recommend you dive into our Referral Marketing Wizards – Nailing Word of Mouth ebook that’s free to download and full of useful and insightful information. 

The book discusses a wide range of topics including super successful examples of companies using word-of-mouth, such as Airbnb and Mailchimp. 

Get your free copy below.

Let’s wrap this up and close with some final thoughts. 

Before you go

There you have it. 

In this post, we’ve said it all about word-of-mouth marketing. 

More specifically, we shared a word-of-mouth marketing definition and also talked about why WOM is important for companies of all sizes, while also presenting you with some interesting statistics. 

Additionally, we shared five useful word-of-mouth marketing strategies and examples, including launching a referral marketing program that can help all businesses raise awareness and grow bigger and stronger. 

If you want to see how referral marketing and word-of-mouth marketing could work for your business, get your hands into our ebook and get started. 

Good luck spreading the word about your business!

Word-of-mouth advertising is a force to be reckoned with and to master it you have to build an effective word-of-mouth strategy around it.

A company can make an excellent product, invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising, craft an insightful and clever marketing copy, and, yet, a customer may not buy their product simply because their BFF said it’s garbage.

At the same time, a different business may not have clever marketing and flashy branding but it’s a hit in a community just because X loves it and they’re a popular thought-leader.

And it’s not only the B2C field that WoMM dominates. The impressive 91% of B2B buyers state that they rely on peer recommendations when making purchasing decisions.

People tend to care about the personal experience more than they do about advertising. And why wouldn’t they? After all, the goal of an ad is to convince you to buy something whether you need it or not. Meanwhile, a personal recommendation shows that someone has tested the product out and has confirmed that it suits their needs and is of quality. Not only that, but they love it so much they have gone out of their way to tell others about it.

In a nutshell, that’s the power of word-of-mouth advertising. It’s something you have little control over but can make it or break for your reputation and business success.

That said, by following a consistent word-of-mouth marketing strategy, you can influence, to an extent, what people are saying about you, and even gently nudge the tides in your favor when you need to.

What Is Word of Mouth Marketing?

Word-of-mouth marketing (WoMM), also known as referral marketing, is based on peer-to-peer recommendations and feedback. People exchange their opinions and experiences about the products and services they have used with others Through WoMM, regular consumers become brand ambassadors and advocates and spread the word about their experiences, be they good or bad.

WoMM is probably the oldest and most valuable kind of marketing out there. In the offline world, word-of-mouth advertising is when people have everyday conversations and include brands and products in them. In the digital world, WoMM happens on social media networks, review websites, and digital communities where people gather around common interests.

To elicit such a conversation, the customer’s experience should be somewhat extraordinary in a positive or negative way. Otherwise, it is unlikely that they will want to share their excitement or frustrations with the world.

Types of Word-of-Mouth Marketing

There are three main types of word-of-mouth marketing you can leverage in your strategy:

• Experiential. This type of WoM is the result of a customer’s direct experience with the brand and is triggered by a discrepancy between expectations and reality. If the product or service is better or worse than what the person initially thought it would be, they may feel obliged to comment on it and to share their experiences with their peers.
• Consequential. Consequential word of mouth is when consumers are directly exposed to traditional marketing campaigns and pass on messages about them or the brands they publicize. The effect of the word-of-mouth interpretation of the advertisement can be even more powerful than the original message because now it has been saturated by the personal emotion it has provoked in the customer.
• Intentional. This is when companies contact celebrities and influencers to endorse a product and create interest around it. Intentional WoMM should be approached carefully because the reputation and actions – past and present – of the influencer or celebrity can influence the way people view the product.

How Does Word of Mouth Affect Marketing Success?

Word-of-mouth advertising has always been popular and influential, but the technological revolution and the en mass adoption of the internet are what made it matter at scale.

The digital age consumer is a social being. When they have an extraordinary experience they are eager to share it with everyone who’s ready (or not) to listen. If the experience was a good one, the customer may become a faithful brand ambassador and recommend you to others. If it was a bad one, they will be more than willing to rain hell upon you through every communication channel at their disposal.

Word-of-mouth advertising is all about passion and excitement, and these are truly contagious. On the internet, every user is directly connected to hundreds of other users, and, through them, indirectly to thousands more. People nowadays don’t spread the word only to their close circle of friends and family but to the whole online community.

And what they say can make a lasting impact on your image and your business performance.

Global research which includes people from 60 countries concluded that 83% of consumers rely on recommendations from friends and family as the most trustworthy source of information when making a buying decision. And 84% report that they follow up on these by actually making a purchase.

To make WoMM work in their favor, companies should produce quality products and work on maintaining a good online reputation, which is often taken for granted. But above all, they should compose a word-of-mouth marketing strategy and become involved in the conversation.

Defining the Digital Word of Mouth Marketing Strategy

There’s more than one way to create a buzz around a product or a service and, with a word-of-mouth marketing strategy, you can help set the discourse.

While with other classical marketing approaches, the brand has predominant control over the message it spreads, here the ball is in the consumer’s half and they are the ones who decide the verdict.

However, brands can still try to interfere by guiding the general direction of the conversation and have themselves shown in a favorable light.

Keep in mind that every product can become exciting and make people talk. Regardless of whether you are selling toothbrushes to B2C clients or SaaS software to B2B corporations, you have to make your audience care and talk.

As Suzanne Fanning, President of WoMMA (Word of Mouth Marketing Association), once said:

[…]Marketers need to focus on the three E’s: Engage, Equip, Empower. If you can master these, you can become the most beloved and talked about product in your category, which will ultimately lead to increased sales. We’ve seen a good WOMM campaign generate thousands of conversations, recommendations and triple sales in just a year (yes, even for the boring products).

The three E’s that Fanning is talking about are the foundation of every successful WoMM strategy, regardless of the channel where it unfolds. They are the most powerful tools in your arsenal when creating an extraordinary customer experience.

1. Engage

Building an engagement strategy enables you to stay in touch with your customers all the time and follow a consistent communication protocol that complies with your brand identity.

For your word-of-mouth marketing strategy to work, your customers should feel that you care about what they say and value their opinion. This makes your brand persona “part of the gang” and the center around which a community forms.

And while your most faithful brand advocates may feel connected to each other and start a brand-inspired community without your intervention, you should still join them. Being present and active will allow you not only to build loyalty but to influence their opinion and what they say about you.

2. Equip

Influencing word-of-mouth information is as much about your product and services, as it is about your customers. By knowing your target audience well, you can give them exactly what they need – a great product of high quality, the best customer service, and an extraordinary customer experience tailored to their preferences.

This is what can excite and inspire your regular consumers so they turn into brand advocates and become passionate about sharing your brand experience with others, and set the foundation of successful word-of-mouth advertising.

3. Empower

The freedom of speech that came with the internet has shown people that their opinions matter and their voices can be heard. You can leverage this, by providing different forms that challenge and inspire them to channel their WoMM energy and express themselves in creative ways.

The point here is that the efforts put into your word-of-mouth marketing strategy should start with you because when you are the one who gives someone power, you are the one who sets the rules.

Bottom line

Whether it is to praise you or level you to the ground, people will talk about you. By joining the conversation, hearing customers out, and guiding word-of-mouth in a favorable direction when necessary, your brand can become a part of the community you’ve inspired.