Why Word of Mouth is Now Your Biggest Media Channel

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Word of mouth has always been the most important marketing platform. It is the reason why so many businesses have exploded and stuck.

Whatever research you look at you will see that word of mouth marketing has had the biggest impact on business growth. Here are some numbers:

  • 67% of the US economy was driven by referrals (McKinsey & Co, 2001)
  • 90% of online consumers trust recommendations from people they know; 70% trust unknown users, 27% trust experts, 14% trust advertising, 8% trust celebrities (Econsultancy, July 2009, Erik Qualman, Socialnomics)
  • 92% have more confidence in info found online than they do in anything from a salesclerk or other source (Wall Street Journal, Jan 2009).
  • 75% of people don’t believe that companies tell the truth in advertisements (Yankelovich)
  • 70% consult reviews or ratings before purchasing (BusinessWeek, Oct. 2008)
  • 7 in 10 who read reviews share them with friends, family & colleagues thus amplifying their impact (Deloitte & Touche, Sept. 2007)
  • 51% of consumers use the Internet even before making a purchase in shops (Verdict Research, May 2009)
  • 45% say they are influenced a fair amount or a great deal by reviews on social sites from people they follow (46% say reviews in newspaper or magazine influence them.) (Harris Poll, April 2010)

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Why Marketing Is Not What You Say But What You Do

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Marketing has always been about what you say. The marketer has sat down and come up with the big idea, created the communication campaign and let rip with a big budget. And then sat and prayed.

The marketing hope has always been that awareness turns to sales and profits sky rocket.

Not so today. The customer does not care about your ad, your big idea or even about what you have to say. They now go to a credible source of information. They ask their friends, colleagues, and even strangers.

They go online and look at other people’s reviews; they track conversations about risky products and see where the biggest problems are.

Today’s customers are informed, opinionated people that talk. You can no longer see them as some dumb target profile that listens blindly to what you have to say. This is why word of mouth marketing is so powerful.

How Do You Stimulate Conversation

Word of Mouth Marketing comes down to what you do. It’s about the feelings that you create in a person’s life and how happy, special, loved, excited, or stimulated you made them feel.

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Why Copying Poster Child Campaign Like Old Spice Will Hurt Your Social Media Strategy?

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The Old Spice campaign became the poster child for social media and selling to The Mobile Consumer. Yet, after the initial word of mouth marketing explosion, when you look at the Old Spice engagement after the campaign there is a huge let down.

I went and looked at Old Spice after some conversations I had regarding South African brands that have bought into the Social / Mobile idea. They initially embraced the idea, hoping for some word of mouth marketing and then got quite badly burnt.

Burning Money On Poor Social Media

Many have spent a lot of money on building FaceBook pages, twitter profiles and so and got marginal returns on from these mobile / social strategies. And if there is one thing that marketers want to see is a return on the investment, or else they wind up in the dog box.

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Introducing The BuzzVine Network. Try and Tell for Word of Mouth Marketing.

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Most marketers’ job is to control the communication, influence customers and drive sales. Well, at least it used to be. And unless you have had your head under a rock for the last 7 odd years you will know that marketing has changed.

I know; it is starting to sound like an old drumbeat that is getting quite tired. Truthfully though, many marketers are adapting to this process and getting the importance of word of mouth marketing. Of course that is if you can call it a process.

One of the big changes is that you cannot control what your customer thinks about you. For many marketers this idea really is quite a scary thought and raises questions like:

  • How do we quickly boost sales?
  • What and how do I tell the board / my boss / exco that things have changed?
  • If I tell them, how do I get evaluated for my year-end bonus?
  • If this medium is no longer as effective, what do I use?
  • Surely this social stuff is the same as TV. It should work, shouldn’t it?
  • How do I know that I am getting a return on my money?
  • How do I make sure some dumb customer will not screw up my message?
  • How do I develop a word of mouth marketing strategy?

Getting Into the BuzzVine

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Is Your Marketing Prince Frog Marketing?

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We all know the story of the princess and the frog. The story goes that true love lies hidden until the princess kisses the little green brut. Disney just made a movie about it and my kids loved it.

But what would happen if the frog were swopped out for a prince. Along the way she has a bit trouble and he gallantly offers to help as long as the princess marries him. She is a bit dishonest and sees nothing wrong with this. She believes she can run away and avoid his advances. Of course that is until he kisses her and true love blossoms.

Surprise Is A Key to Word of Mouth

The prince version is a lot more boring, isn’t. You are not going to run out and recommend it to your friends, Disney certainly is not going to be making any movies about it, and my kids are not going to be inspired by it.

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Word of Mouth Marketing Manifesto

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I sat down to write a word of mouth marketing manifesto. It was going to be a few chapters long. Then I found Andy Sernovitz’s Manifesto.

He simplified the idea down to a page – and his english and grammer is a lot better than mine. And he was happy to share*. (You can find the original document here on is website, wordofmouthbook.com).

So here is the …

Word of Mouth Manifesto:

  1. Happy customers are your best advertising. Make people happy.
  2. Marketing is easy: Earn the respect and recommendation of your customers. They will do your marketing for you, for free. [Read more...]

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