Organic is good, right? Today everything from food to house cleaners to mattresses are better if they’re organic. That goes for marketing too. We’re talking about word of mouth marketing, the organic way of spreading information through natural channels – A.K.A. kickin’ it old school.
Word of mouth marketing has been around a long time. Yet there is value in your company giving it active consideration as it’s usually free and has real potential in terms of payout. It’s based on a pretty simple theory. Word of mouth marketing happens by creating an event or experience so memorable for a customer that they tell someone else about it.
It’s important because customers trust their friends. Nielsen data indicates that 92% of consumers believe suggestions from their friends and family more than they do advertising. Furthermore, 91 percent of all business-to-business sales are also influenced by word-of-mouth. Plus, people are four times more likely to purchase when referred by friends.
So how do you go about generating positive conversation around your company? You start by considering the differentiators your company possesses and how to position those as selling points. Hopefully, they match up and demonstrate an understanding of what is most important to your customers. So then you can build community by connecting with customers who are already aware of you. Here are six tactics to get you started:
Be relevant
You really do need to know what your customers want. You may have to do a little research to make sure what you think customers want is actually what customers want. Being on point with this will help you better relate to your audience and find those vocal and loyal followers.
Share Customer Reviews
It will also help you capitalize on achieving positive reviews that you can use to convince others with. You need to post honest, heart-felt feedback in as many places as possible as consumers are reading multiple reviews before granting their trust in a company. They are the social proof your company needs to validate the quality and performance you believe you’re delivering.
Incite Emotion
People are emotional, tap into this. Find something – your slogan or a cause your company believes in and highlight the activities your business does in support of this. Another example would be to redesign your trade show tactics around word of mouth marketing, meaning create trade show messaging and incentives that boosts your customers’ egos and brings them some joy. Look fun and sound interesting and others will be more inclined to participate and share.
Stand Out
You have to have quality products and services to start with and they shouldn’t be described like everyone else’s in the market. If you want to be remembered in the marketplace you need to trigger a memorable experience that shows how you’re not just like everyone else and how you go beyond just meeting customer expectations.
Create Amazing Experiences
There is a good deal of noise in the marketplace. So you need to generate excitement from your customers to cause a spark of interest in your company that moves you from the mundane to the memorable category. It has to be a feeling, thought or action that they haven’t gotten anywhere else, if you want them to turn to a friend and relay the experience. No one is talking about an average experience.
Encourage User-Generated Content
Oh yeah. Social media is a natural fit for word of mouth marketing. It’s a great place to create a unique hashtag so as to identify content created by customers that can be shared across platforms and on your website as well. It builds trust in the marketplace in a unique way that companies can’t duplicate on their own.
By giving word of mouth marketing time and thought, it helps your business determine what specifically you want customers to remember about you and tell others about. Focus your tactics around these goals and you’re bound to build confidence and trust in the marketplace. Modern Marketing Partners has the expertise and tools to kick start your word of mouth marketing efforts and help you increase your fan base too.
