Word of mouth advantages and disadvantages

Advantages and disadvantages of word-of-mouth marketing

This article aims to identify some of the advantages and disadvantages of word-of-mouth marketing. It also explores the definitions of word-of-mouth marketing and provides the readers with a comprehensive insight into the topic.

Definitions of word-of-mouth marketing

According to Kotler et al. (2009) word-of-mouth (WOM) is an interpersonal communication of products and services where the receiver regards the communicator as impartial.

According to the Cambridge dictionary (2021) word-of-mouth (WOM) refers to people talking about something or telling people about something.

The idea of word-of-mouth has changed over the years. The traditional method that relied on spreading a message orally from one person to another, has been largely replaced with targeted efforts using social media. In fact, social media have unleashed the power of word-of-mouth marketing.

Advantages of word-of-mouth marketing

Word-of-mouth has a number of advantages and can be an important part of an integrated marketing communications. It can work alone; however, it often performs best in association with the other promotional techniques such as advertising and sales promotion.

According to Nielsen (n.d.) cited in Whitler (2014) 92% of consumers believe word-of-mouth i.e. recommendations from friends and family over all other forms of advertising. Most of the marketing executives also consider it as the most effective form of marketing. When real customers give positive feedback about a product/service, it becomes more trustworthy. The unbiased positive feedback can help persuade potential customers to consider a brand positively.

Word-of-mouth is very good for creating brand awareness. When someone shares something with a friend or a family member, there is a strong possibility that that person will share the information with others as well. Especially, at a time of social media, if something goes viral, it works like a magic and creates massive brand awareness even though the conversations are not translated into purchases.

One of the biggest advantages of word-of-mouth marketing is the affordable cost. It is usually cheaper than other types of marketing. As it is an oral communication, it does require pens, papers, computer systems, or any other supplies resulting in a bit of saving for companies.

According to Kotler et al. (2009) a key aspect of social networks is word-of-mouth. More and more companies are becoming aware of its power. It is virtually impossible to find a company now-a-days not using social media to spread positive word-of-mouth.

Disadvantages of word-of-mouth marketing

One of the biggest disadvantages of word-of mouth marketing is the limited coverage. A satisfied customer may tell a friend or even two about a product/service who then may purchase and use the product/service and share the experience with others. This type of marketing is usually limited to family and friends and can take longer to spread the message than other forms of advertising. Therefore, organisations need to use social media to make the best use of word-of-mouth marketing.

Limited control over the message is a problem in word-of-mouth marketing. There will always be some people who will complaint about a company and share their frustrations online and offline. It only takes a few outspoken dissatisfied customers to create negative brand images which is damaging for a company.

Word-of-mouth marketing strategies

Harrison (2019) proposed three effective word-of-mouth marketing strategies i.e. 1. Encouraging user-generated content, 2. Adding testimonials and reviews, and 3. Creating sharing incentives.

Most people now-a-days love to share things. Therefore, if organisations can make their customers satisfied and provide them with good reasons and ways, they would not hesitate to share their experience with others. It is worth noting that most if not all organisations today apply targeted efforts to encourage satisfied customers to share their satisfaction with others.

Examples of word-of-mouth marketing strategies

1.Some telecommunications companies offer their customers discounts on their bills if a new customer signs up based on their recommendations.

2. ‘The Scarecrow’ – Chipotle’s emotionally powerful video to encourage word-of-mouth.

3. Since its inception, Starbucks has been focusing on creating unique experience for its customers to encourage them to share their positive brand experience with others. No wonder why people keep on coming back to it even though its products are expensive.

4. McDonalds made use of word-of-mouth marketing very convincingly in China. For instance, in 2010, it offered customers to purchase McSpicy Wings at a discount rate with discount coupons from any restaurant in the country. It promised to give out free chicken wings at seven of its restaurants if one million customers shared the storey of McSpicy Wings online. Interestingly, within four weeks, McDonald’s achieved the target with pledges from over two million people (Magni and Atsmon, 2010).

We hope the article ‘Advantages and disadvantages of word-of-mouth marketing’ has been helpful. Hope the definitions of word-of-mouth marketing are clear to you. You may also like reading Personal selling – definition and examples. Other relevant articles for you are:

Advantages and disadvantages of branding

Advantages and disadvantages of franchising

If you liked any of these articles, please feel free to share with others by clicking on the social sharing icons.

Last update: 30 March 2021

References:

Cambridge Dictionary (2021) Word-of-mouth, available at: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/word-of-mouth (accessed 30 March 2021)

Harrison, K. (2019) 3 Powerful Word-Of-Mouth Marketing Strategies That Can Help Your Small Business Grow Faster In 2019, available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kateharrison/2018/12/30/3-powerful-word-of-mouth-marketing-strategies-that-can-help-your-small-business-grow-faster-in-2019/?sh=5b3ace5c2420 (accessed 30 March 2021)

Kotler, P., Keller, K., Brady, M., Goodman, M., and Hansen, T., (2009) Marketing Management, 1st European Edition, England: Pearson Education Limited

Magni, M. and Atsmon, Y. (2010) The Power of Word-of-Mouth in China, available at: https://hbr.org/2010/04/the-power-of-word-of-mouth-in (accessed 30 March 2021)

Whitler, K. (2014) Why Word Of Mouth Marketing Is The Most Important Social Media, available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kimberlywhitler/2014/07/17/why-word-of-mouth-marketing-is-the-most-important-social-media/?sh=31e739c154a8 (accessed 29 March 2021)

Word of mouth (WOM) marketing is when customers share their product or service experience with their friends, relatives, and family members after using it. Other people would start using the product or service based on your recommendation. We’re living in the era of the digital age, but the significance of WOM is still there. Today, we’ll discuss the word of mouth marketing advantages and disadvantages.

Word of Mouth Marketing Advantages 

Some of the pros and advantages of word-of-mouth marketing are as follows;

Creates Impact

Before implementing any other marketing and promotional strategy; it is significant to keep in mind this statistical figure that 50% of the US people would prefer word-of-mouth recommendations. When they have to select one valid source of information out of many about a particular product or service, then they would prefer the recommendation of their friends. (Word of Mouth Marketing Advantages and Disadvantages)

Almost Free of Cost

Your loyal customers are sharing their positive product or service experience with their friends and acquaintances, and you don’t have to pay them for their referrals and recommendations. WOM marketing allows you to approach such an audience that you can’t reach through any other medium. However, WOM is a type of strategy that works well with other marketing and promotional strategies like content marketing, ad campaigns, and SEO strategy.

Valuable Referrals

It is possible that people are familiar with your brand name through marketing and promotion. But if they receive recommendations and referrals from their friends about your brand, it would help your business to attract a lot of new customers. According to an estimate, approximately 84% of customers believe in the recommendation and referrals that they receive from their friends.

Keep Multiplying

Word-of-mouth marketing is a completely different form of marketing and promotional strategy. Other strategies require consistent investment and work, but WOM doesn’t. You just have to develop and maintain the quality product, and it would make people keep talking about your product and service. Ultimately, the growth of your customers would keep on increasing.

Easy to Launch

As I mentioned earlier, another form of marketing strategy requires huge investment and planning to start, but WOM is very simple and easy to launch. You just have to make sure that your product or service is adding value to the lives of customers and that they are successfully engaging with it. All it requires is your creative approach; you can launch and boost your word-of-mouth marketing campaign with a very limited budget.

Establishing Relationship

WOM marketing campaign allows you to connect with people and establish a relationship with them. Ultimately, it amplifies your probability of increasing your sales and revenue and the success of your company or business. (Word of Mouth Marketing Advantages and Disadvantages)

Develop Trust

We are living in the world of the internet and digitalization. Marketers and advertisers are bombarding our minds with advertisements all the time like on the bus station, TV, web applications, browsers, etc. In short, you see ads for various products all the time intentionally and unintentionally. WOM marketing develops trust among customers and they would trust the referrals and recommendations of their trusted source, rather than being skeptical about it.

Brand Awareness

WOM marketing doesn’t stop when a person refers a product or service to their friends and social circle. Rather they would share it with their friends and acquaintances if they like the product or service, and it would keep on spreading the brand awareness of your business. (Word of Mouth Marketing Advantages and Disadvantages)

High Sales

One of the common reasons that attract the attention of customers is the low price. If customers are doing WOM marketing of your product or service due to low price, then it would spread even faster and amplify the sale to a great extent. However, it would mean more revenue and sale for your company. It happens because people trust the source of reference that is recommending the product or service.

Short Term Scalability

The most important benefit of WOM is that it offers scalability in a short time and gives you immediate results. You can launch your WOM marketing campaign, and then you can see its results whether it is increasing the conversion rate or not. It means if you produce something valuable and interesting, then people would keep on sharing it and recommending it. It would amplify your growth and allow you to approach more people.

Word of Mouth Marketing Disadvantages 

Some of the cons and disadvantages of word-of-mouth marketing are as follows;

Uncontrollable

The thing about a WOM marketing campaign is that it is out of your controllable, you can stop people from saying things about your brand or product. They say good things or bad things about your product or service, and share it with their friends and social circle. However, you don’t have control over the views and opinions of other people and why they say things. (Word of Mouth Marketing Advantages and Disadvantages)

Double-Edged Sword

WOM marketing is like a double-edged sword and it can work both, it works both ways. It could either boost your brand and promote your products, or jeopardize the growth of your business if they say negative things. However, your competitors could spread false rumors about your brand or product, and they aren’t good for the growth of your business.

No Exact Metrics

WOM marketing doesn’t offer you any type of exact metrics and KPIs to measure the performance and growth of your business and conversion rate. You don’t have sufficient data to make improvements in your current marketing strategy or remarket things. (Word of Mouth Marketing Advantages and Disadvantages)

Low Coverage

The other flaw of the WOM marketing campaign is that you can’t approach the global audience with it. It would only allow you to approach the local audience of a few regions, and its coverage rate is very low. However, you don’t know for sure whether people would share your product and service experience with friends or not. (Word of Mouth Marketing Advantages and Disadvantages)

Bad Press

If negative reviews and bad referrals and fake memes start spreading over social media, they would like a spark on the haystack and jeopardize your entire marketing effort. It is important to keep in mind that false rumors spread faster than good recommendations.

Employee Opposition

If the employees of the company aren’t happy and satisfied with their paychecks, working conditions, and holiday plans, then they would go on strike and share their experiences on social media. Such types of news and reports would push away from your brand because you aren’t treating your employees fairly.  

Conclusion: Word of Mouth Marketing Advantages and Disadvantages 

After an in-depth study of the word of mouth marketing advantages and disadvantages; we have realized that WOM marketing is highly beneficial for your business. If you’re running a WOM campaign for your business, then you should keep in mind its pros and cons.

«WOMM» redirects here. For the American radio station, see WOMM-LP.

Word-of-mouth marketing (WOMM, WOM marketing, also called word of mouth advertising) differs from naturally occurring word of mouth, in that it is actively influenced or encouraged by organizations (e.g. ‘seeding’ a message in a networks rewarding regular consumers to engage in WOM, employing WOM ‘agents’). While it is difficult to truly control WOM, research^[1] has shown that there are three generic avenues to ‘manage’ WOM for the purpose of WOMM:

• build a strong WOM foundation (e.g. sufficient levels of satisfaction, trust and commitment),
• indirect WOMM management which implies that managers only have a moderate amount of control (e.g. controversial advertising, teaser campaigns, customer membership clubs),
• direct WOMM management, which has higher levels of control (e.g. paid WOM ‘agents’, «friend get friend» schemes).

The success of word-of-mouth marketing depends largely on the nature of the rewards that are used. Research has shown that when the wrong incentives are used to motivate consumers or agents to spread positive word-of-mouth about products or brands, the campaigns can backfire on the organization.^[2] Proconsumer WOM has been suggested as a counterweight to commercially motivated word of mouth.^[3]

HistoryEdit

George Silverman, a psychologist, pioneered word-of-mouth marketing when he created what he called «teleconferenced peer influence groups» in order to engage physicians in dialogue about new pharmaceutical products. Silverman noticed an interesting phenomenon while conducting focus groups with physicians in the early 1970s. «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!»^[4]

With the emergence of Web 2.0, many web startups like Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, and Digg have used buzz marketing by merging it with the social networks that they have developed.^{[citation needed][clarification needed]} With the increasing use of the Internet as a research and communications platform, word of mouth has become a more powerful and useful resource for consumers and marketers. It has become possible because, with the advent of the Internet, the process of communication has been simplified due to the disappearance of such communication barriers as distance, linguistic and others. People have become more willing to share their opinions, create thematic communities, which ultimately influenced the WOM.

In October 2005, the advertising watchdog group Commercial Alert petitioned the United States FTC to issue guidelines requiring paid word-of-mouth marketers to disclose their relationship and related compensation with the company whose product they are marketing.^[5] The United States FTC stated that it would investigate situations in which the relationship between the word-of-mouth marketer of a product and the seller is not revealed and could influence the endorsement. The FTC stated that it would pursue violators on a case-by-case basis. Consequences for violators may include cease-and-desist orders, fines or civil penalties.^[6]

The Word of Mouth Marketing Association, a US American trade group that represents hundreds of companies, has adopted an ethics code stating that manufacturers should not pay cash to consumers in return for recommendations or endorsements.^[7]

Research firm PQ Media estimated that in 2008, companies spent $1.54 billion on word-of-mouth marketing. While spending on traditional advertising channels was slowing, spending on word-of-mouth marketing grew 14.2 percent in 2008, 30 percent of that for food and drink brands.^[8]

Word of mouth marketing today is both online and through face-to-face interaction. The Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science has shown that to achieve growth, brands must create word of mouth beyond core fan groups—meaning marketers should not focus solely on communities such as Facebook.^{[citation needed]} According to Deloitte, further research has shown that ‘most advocacy takes place offline’—instead it happens in person. According to the Journal of Advertising Research, 75% of all consumer conversations about brands happen face-to-face, 15% happen over the phone and just 10% online. On the other hand, some see social media interaction as being inextricably tied to word of mouth marketing.^[9] In 2003, Fred Reichheld implemented the strategy of word-of-mouth marketing by introducing Net Promoter Score, which analyzes the number of Promoters a brand has, who recommend the brand to other people they know through such marketing tactic.

FactorsEdit

According to academic research^[10] and Jonah Berger’s bestselling book Contagious: Why Things Catch On,^[11] there are six key factors that drive what people talk about and share.^[12] They are organized in an acronym called STEPPS, which stands for:

• Social currency — The better something makes people look, the more likely they will be to share it.^[13]
• Triggers — Things that are top of mind (i.e., accessible) are more likely to be tip of tongue.^[14]
• Emotion — When we care, we share. High arousal emotions increase sharing.^[13]
• Public — The easier something is to see, the more likely people are to imitate it.^[14]
• Practical value — People share useful information to help others.
• Stories — Trojan horse stories carry messages and ideas along for the ride.

Another key psychological driver of word-of-mouth is interest.^[15] As Sernovitz suggests, “nobody talks about boring companies, boring products, or boring ads,”.^[16]

Concepts/modelsEdit

Three modelsEdit

When further research went into developing the concept word-of-mouth marketing, many models behind the word of mouth strategy also developed. These models include the organic inter consumer influence model, the linear marketer influence model and the network coproduction model.

When dealing with the initial and simplest form of word of mouth Marketing it is related to the model of the organic inter-consumer influence model.^[17] This means that organizations having no direct input of what is being said about the particular product, it is just one consumer talking to another about product reviews and or customer service experience. The main motivation behind this model is for others to warn and inform potential consumers of a product out of their best interest not for personal gain.^[17] This model is referred to being organic because it occurs naturally, meaning it is not planned by the firm and occurs when the consumer wants to share their experience with a certain brand or product.

As research started to progress, marketers found the importance of «influential consumers».^[17] So the linear marketer influence model was adopted. The linear marketer influence model introduces the idea of influential customers creating conversations with potential customers and consumers about how a certain product can be beneficial for them to purchase. This model allows organizations to make sure that credible influential sources are spreading the word/ message of the organization and presenting the value proposition of the organization successfully and accurately to the target consumer.^[17] This can be done through «targeted advertisements and promotions through credible sources that review the product».^[17] Marketers found this model to be an effective model of word-of-mouth marketing and it decreased the chances of negative opinions and attitudes from being spread about a particular product of the organization.

The Network Coproduction Model: This saw marketers introduce «one to one seeding and communication programs».^[17] This model encourages conversations between customers about the certain product through releasing information on a particular product.^[18] This word-of-mouth model is more focused on online activities, using blogs and online communities as sources in communicating the message of the product. The network coproduction model gives marketers the opportunity to control and manage word of mouth activity online.^[17]

• Seeding is one example of how Marketers use the network coproduction model of word-of-mouth marketing. With seeding marketers can use various techniques and approaches these approaches can be indirect like engineering WOM conversations and direct approaches^[18][19]
• The engineering approach consists of marketers constructing conversations, so there is more buzz created and the number of conversations based on an organizations product increases.^[18]
• A direct approach to seeding is targeting special selected consumers and allowing them to sample products that an organization has. This allows these selected customers to present their feelings towards these products through online communities or blogs.^[18]
• Seeding campaigns can offer marketers the ability to reach a new set of consumers. It is most effective when the product is at the beginning stage of its product life style and helps to set the reputation of the brand and product into motion.^[18][19]

BuzzEdit

Marketing buzz or simply «buzz» is a term used in word-of-mouth marketing—the interaction of consumers and users of a product or service serve to amplify the original marketing message.^[20] Some describe buzz as a form of hype among consumers,^[21] a vague but positive association, excitement, or anticipation about a product or service. Positive «buzz» is often a goal of viral marketing, public relations, and of advertising on Web 2.0 media. The term refers both to the execution of the marketing technique, and the resulting goodwill that is created. Examples of products with strong marketing buzz upon introduction were Harry Potter, the Volkswagen New Beetle, Pokémon, Beanie Babies, and the Blair Witch Project.^[21]

Viral effectsEdit

Viral marketing and viral advertising are buzzwords referring to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of virus or computer viruses. It can be word-of-mouth delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet.^[22] Viral promotions may take the form of video clips, interactive Flash games, advergames, ebooks, brandable software, images, or even text messages. The goal of marketers interested in creating successful viral marketing programs is to identify individuals with high social networking potential (SNP) – and have a high probability of being taken by another competitor—and create viral messages that appeal to this segment of the population. The term «viral marketing» has also been used pejoratively to refer to stealth marketing campaigns—the unscrupulous use of astroturfing on-line combined with undermarket advertising in shopping centers to create the impression of spontaneous word-of-mouth enthusiasm.^[23]

Analyzing WOMEdit

Consumers may promote brands by word-of-mouth due to social, functional, and emotional factors.^[24]
Research has identified thirteen brand characteristics that stimulate WOM, namely:^[25]

1. Age of the brand in the marketplace: A long history of a brand or product can create an emotional relationship between the consumer and itself. This can stimulate WOM if the brand is known to be reliable or effective evident by the existence of its place in a market, this can be effective for companies for communicating their strength to other competitors.
2. Type of good: Depending on the type of product, experiences customers have with a product may mean that WOM can be used to suggest brands and products to others when in different forms of situations. An example of this could be a household or garden object.
3. Complexity: WOM is used in this instance to help explain the use of a product or its effectiveness to whether of not it will serve its purpose or need.
4. Knowledge about a brand: Similar to complexity, WOM can be used to describe the effectiveness of a brand, the history behind it and what the main purpose of the product is. WOM is also used to identify a company’s future whether it be positive or negative.
5. Differentiation: An experience with different products within a market can mean that WOM can offer solutions to others and explain which products and brands could be more effective than others when looking at similar products serving the same need. Previous consumers can help describe strengths and weaknesses of products and help make the correct decision.
6. Relevance of a brand to a broad audience
7. Quality: esteem given to a brand
8. Premium: WOM regarding premiums can refer^[26] too different packaging of a brands products e.g. during Easter or over Christmas. Different and exciting packaging and deals can stimulate a huge source of WOM communication and can lead to brands becoming extremely popular over short periods of time. An example of this would be supermarket ‘bulk buy’ deals over the Christmas holiday period.
9. Visibility
10. Excitement: WOM can be used to promote up and coming products which results in huge amounts of excitement. An example of this could be new technology being released to the public and advances in medical technology and vehicles. These examples are best used to demonstrate excitement as a result of word of mouth marketing.
11. Satisfaction
12. Perceived risk: WOM can be used to warn other potential buyers that a product is not what it claims to be. An example of this may be online buying as a result of marketing strategies from phony companies who focus on producing fake goods that look and seem like the legitimate product. An example of this would be fake iPhones and clothing (most significantly shoes and sports wear).
13. Involvement

This research also found that while social and functional drivers are the most important for promotion via WOM online, the emotional driver predominates offline.

Advantages and disadvantagesEdit

Word of mouth marketing can be very effective in the communication of the advertising campaign as it can offer a solution to «penetrating consumers guards» to get them talking about a particular product.^{[citation needed]}

Many marketers find this type of marketing strategy advantageous to the entire advertising campaign of a certain product. One positive aspect of this marketing strategy is that sources of this word-of-mouth advertising are mostly personal. This means that they are not subject to persuasion from the organization for personal gains or subject to being biased.^{[citation needed]} This has a positive effect on the advertising campaign as it shows what consumers honestly think about a product and the motivation to try the particular product or services increases, due to the consumer being recommended by a trusted reliable source.

However, there are some disadvantages and criticisms with word-of-mouth marketing. Word-of-mouth marketing is subject to a lot of clutter. Unlike traditional word of mouth, electronic WOM is able to include not only positive reviews but also negative reviews made by former, actual and potential customers online in a timely manner.^[27] As a result, word-of-mouth marketing may sometimes not be beneficial in changing or influencing consumer’s attitudes and perception especially from an organic source as negative conversations may be held about the brand.^{[citation needed]} This is due to the organic source not finding the product beneficial and therefore has a negative perception of the product, which is then shared. Although positive word-of-mouth positively influences purchase intention while negative word-of-mouth decreases customer purchase intention, the effect is asymmetric. Compared with positive word-of-mouth, negative word-of-mouth has a larger effect on purchase intentions.^[28]

One more criticism about this marketing strategy is that people tend to be offput and feel deceived when they find out that a person who influenced their attitude about a product has been working towards or benefiting from doing that.^[29] This ultimately has the potential to make consumers change their attitude, which can have a negative impact on the firm’s product reputation. This may be the case as consumers feel that it wasn’t in the source’s interest to tell what their full perceptions were of the brand.^[29] Similarly, engineered word of mouth by internet-campaigns companies can be seen as artificial and sometime based on information considered private.^[19]

See alsoEdit

• Social media marketing
• Two-step flow of communication
• Evangelism marketing
• Viral marketing
• Marketing buzz
• Guerrilla marketing
• User-generated content
• Online Brand Defense — A type of consumer behavior that has been considered creating significant impact on Word-of-mouth

ReferencesEdit

Do you know what is word of mouth?

As all of us know that marketing includes so many methods.

So have you ever heard of the word of mouth marketing?

And if heard of it, do you know why it is so important?

Do you know why we should care about it?

And is it useful for your business growth?

As a business owner or someone who works in this field, you must know what is the best way to promote your business.

So before answering all of these previous questions, let us know about the definition and everything related to it?

The definition

Word of mouth (WOM) is all about information, which is being passed orally from person to person in an informal way.

It is more like storytelling and it is a kind of a promotion strategy.

In other words, people who have used a service tell friends, family, and strangers about their experience with your brand whether it was positive or negative.

You will know that you are doing the WOM every day without even noticing that.

The History of the word of mouth

In the early 1970s, George Silverman who is a psychologist created what he called ”teleconferenced peer influence groups”.

The groups were designed to attract physicians to talk about new pharmaceutical products.

But Silverman noticed an interesting phenomenon, where skeptics’ opinions on a drugmedicine were effected with the positive opinion from one or two of their peers.

It was very strange because even those people who had bad experiences with that kind of drug changed their opinions after a positive review about that drug with their peers.

Then and after this, the WOM was introduced to the world.

WOM refers to the oral communication between two people, the listener and the speaker.

The speaker who is in the deep meaning would refer to the product, the brand, or the service.

And the listener’s role is only about believing the speaker when talking about their experience.

And every one of both has a motivation in the WOM process.

The speaker: the motivation can be about self-involvement, like been experienced with a specific thing and they want to talk about it.

Also, it can be a message involvement like an ad and they want to tell everyone about it because of how interesting was the ad.

The listener: the motivation must be that they are interested in what they are hearing from another person.

So from this, we can figure out that the WOM happens because both the speaker and listener want something.

Types of the word of mouth

WOM has a lot of several common types such as:

Conversation

It is an oral kind of communication like which regularly happens between friends.

Communication

Such as messages or emails.

Media

Media creation such as public speaking, performances, graphics, radio, video, and etc.

Social media

Digital tools allow people to share and communicate together such as social media platforms.

Reviews

Reviews of products, services, or a specific experience.

What is the word of mouth marketing?

The word of mouth marketing (WOMM) is an oral or written recommendation by a satisfied customer to indirect convince other customers.

It is considered to be the most effective way of promotion.

According to HubSpot:

About 62% of consumers search online for reviews and information before purchasing a product and a whopping 90% believe brand recommendations from friends.

Is the WOMM considered as word of mouth advertising?

No, and even when it comes to the definition.

Advertising is paid and non-personal communication.

But we are talking about WOMM which is a completely personal and organic way of promotion.

WOM’s Audiences type

The road to WOM’s big success won’t happen suddenly.

It needs time and patience.

The first and most important step in your word of mouth marketing success is knowing your audiences.

And the best way to achieve that is to identify individuals with specific knowledge about your business brand.

It is very important to know the different types of audiences that exist.

Here are the three types of audiences:

Influencers

Influencers are those individuals in a community who affect our decisions.

Due to their influence, knowledge, and the relationship they have with the products.

Brand Advocates

They are individuals that spread word of mouth messages about a brand or business to other people in their community.

Brand advocates leave positive reviews about your product.

A brand advocate is anyone who positively supports your brand’s growth.

And this includes:

Customers: Customers who aren’t getting paid to make a review.

Employees: Employees advocate who knows everything about your business.

Their position and the knowledge they have, make a powerful tool to attract customers.

Business partners: anyone who is afflicted with your business makes a good tool.

Customer Advocates

Customer advocates are similar to brand advocates.

The only difference is that customer advocate is not only satisfied with your brand but also with your customer services as well.

The word of mouth marketing strategies

Like every kind of marketing, WOMM needs well-studied strategies to make the best performance.

So let me shed a light on a few of them.

1- Research your competition

Being aware of your competitors is an important step to be the first.

You need to understand your business and what it has to offer.

In other words, researching your competition makes you have answers for the necessary question that u must have asked yourself like what can you do to be better than your competitors?

2- Find your uniqueness

There has to be something that reminds people of your brand.

Something that will help you to be unique and will attract customers to talk more about your brand.

If you’re just like any other name in your field, your audience might not even remember you.

3- Build a strong social media community

Understanding your targets will make you realize the importance of the audiences’ role.

You need to follow them on the online platforms.

For example, Instagram, once you figure out that they are active on it, don’t hesitate to post videos,
photos, and even stories in order to make them interact with you.

4- Encourage the(UGC)

The UGC is referring to user-generated content.

First of all, you need to know that UGC is content shared and created by consumers.

In order to achieve this step you have to create a unique hashtag to know the content created by customers,
incentivize creating and sharing photos, videos, and gifs on social media platforms,
offer a free gift or launch a sale on your products.

5- Share customers’ reviews and rate your products

Their reviews help in measuring your performance.

Allowing customers to do that me them more comfortable with your business’s policy.

When it comes to rating your products, this is a tip which only depends on your business’s plan.

Maybe your plan allows you to give your customers the ability to rate your products.

For example, a tech company that sells several products will absolutely need to rate its products.

6- Add a human touch

Marketing and customer service may have become easier nowadays,
with all the new strategies and methods, but don’t let these modern tools fool you.

The more people getting connected to your brand the more recommendations you are going to get.

We want these recommendations to be positive ones.

To build a strong connection with your audience, you have to let them know that they are dealing with
a brand that has a personality and not just a robot that has the answer to all the questions.

Your customers are real, and So Are You.

7- Invest in your customers

Word of mouth marketing is based on customers’ recommendations to each other.

The best way to get these recommendations is through positive brand experiences,
and that will only happen through a good customer service policy.

It is also a good step to turn your customers into loyal brand advocates.

You could give customers special offers, and always pay attention to their bad feedback,
and try to respond to it by solving the problem.

As a result of all of these reasons, Customer service is always an excellent investment.

How to improve your WOM marketing?

From the previous tips, you can easily analyze that WOM is so personal as well as being an organic
kind of marketing.

It is organic because people who promote your brand, they do that because of their passion for your brand.

So you need to ask yourself a very important question which is what do you have to do in order to
improve your WOM strategy?

I have the answer to it.

1- Develop your right message

Go after what makes your brand unique and different.

Figure out how you want people to be talking about your business.

Pick the right news and posts to share with your audiences.

2- Be whenever your followers are

By followers, I don’t mean those who are only following you on social media only, but also those who are following your brand in general.

You have to show them that your brand is caring about satisfying its customers.

Being active with them on social networks is so important, so is being active with them in the actual markets.

Your customers will appreciate your efforts and return the favor back by the good feedbacks and reviews.

3- Give your advocates the power

As you know and it is something that you must be sure bout, that your customers will talk about your
business whether with positive or negative things.

All you have to do is to encourage the positive side by getting to know your loyal advocates and thanking
them for supporting your business.

Also, you can value them by creating such groups on social media for your latest news, exclusive deals,
special offers, and the reviews about your different products.

The advantages and disadvantages of WOM marketing

Like everything in the business’s field, the word of mouth has its advantages and disadvantages.

Today, many business owners employ word-of-mouth marketing specialists to build their customer base.

So let me identify you with the most common advantages and disadvantages.

The advantages

It makes people understand: customers who always buy products from your brand and loyal to your site, are always having an idea of what they are doing and what you are offering them.

They understand everything because already someone told them before.

It builds trust: when it comes to buying products, people usually trust someone who gives, them a positive review about the brand because they believe that the person was satisfied
with the brand’s services or the products being sold.

According to Nielsen’s Global Trust in Advertising report:

92% of buyers say that they go for recommendations from friends and family over other forms of advertising.

It is not expensive: It is an expected result of an organic method.

Compared to the amount of money being spent to run an ad campaign in print, on television or
even those ads on social media platforms.

It builds your brand: this is a huge advantage especially to small businesses that are trying to take place in the market.

Using WOM marketing helps to build positive recommendations about your business.

The disadvantages

It Spreads Slowly: today and with all of these digital marketing tools, the WOM marketing spreads
a little bit slower than other marketing strategies.

It takes time for you and brand advocates to tell others about your brand, the products, and the services.

Limited consumers base: with word of mouth marketing you only market to a limited base of customers,
which comes from you, your employee advocates, and your loyal customers.

Negative reviews Effect: the ugly truth is that WOM marketing suffers from bad reviews as much as it
benefits from the good ones.

People tend to believe personal experiences without even trying to check if they are true or not.

So pay attention to what negative comments are being told and try to solve this as fast as you can.

Word of mouth marketing in the future

Regardless of the current superpower for marketing on social media, starting from facebook likes, and the followers on Instagram, and yet we never know what is going to happen in the future.

Surprisingly, WOM marketing will be the only kind of marketing that will count.

According to a recent study,

Only 7% of word of mouth marketing is online, meanwhile, 93% of word of mouth is actually happening offline.

This is so logical because you take action on the social networks when you hear a good recommendation
about in from your friends, from your family, or from someone who has direct personal experience.

So all of the marketing forms owe their success to the WOM.

The conclusion

Word of mouth marketing is a kind of traditional marketing that we have been practicing for so long without even noticing.

It is completely an organic form.

WOM has three kinds of customers who support the process of its growth.

The strategies in WOM are so important and setting up a good plan for it really helps in the growth.

Improving your word of mouth takes a lot of time and patience.

Like every kind of marketing, WOM has advantages and disadvantages that you must put on your consideration
while planning for your brand.

WOM is the essential base for marketing in the future.