Posts Tagged ‘word of mouth marketing’
Word of Mouth Marketing Gets an A for Influence Among Its Own Customers
In many respects marketing by word of mouth can be said to be the “hidden statistic” for all programs, as it’s well near impossible to actually gauge the effectiveness of marketing done this way. Saying that, however, it should be noted that almost every product in this increasingly digital age has, at one time or another, relied on this method of marketing to increase public and corporate awareness of product or service availability.
A recent study showed that fully two thirds of online marketing is expected to be done on this basis alone in the coming year, which when coupled with the advent (in leaps and bounds) of Web 2.0 social networking and social marketing sites point towards promoting your product by word of mouth may be both more cost effective, and have an increasingly better ROI than more “traditional” online advertising media.
Think about the business model of the current social networking sites. There has yet to be a successful site of this type that charges for any sort of membership, relying instead as they do on ad generated income to fuel their corporate engines. While there is no metric that can be used to measure marketing by word of mouth, there is one method of knowing if your campaign is worth while – sales.
A company should know from their output volume exactly the change between before a campaign, during a campaign and after a campaign. This in itself gives businesses a measurable statistic to show effectiveness of this marketing methodology. It is true that not all businesses need or desire this form of sales technique, but is also through that not one business turns away prospects garnered from the by word of mouth method either.
Whatever you sell, a great study completed by Hill and Knowlton in February this year showed that decision makers are largely influenced by personal experience’s (58%), with recommendations and industry reports coming in at 51%. Coming in at a smaller than expected third was direct marketing at 21% with internet advertising lapsing to 17%. These figures may only reflect the purchasing habits of key decision makers, but a young lady in Oregon deciding to buy one car insurance or another IS the key decision maker for that purchase, and her buddy Becky telling her to go with this company over that company will have a greater influence than any gravel-voiced actor pushing the product in a TV advert.
In essence, this statistic can be shown to reflect into any industry, any segment or niche, if every purchaser is considered the key decision maker. This makes the re-appearance of the world’s oldest method of marketing a no brainer – so get talking or tweeting, but tell everyone!
What a Good Marketing Agency Can Do For Your Viral Campaign
Before you hire a viral marketing agency, take a moment to look objectively at your website. A marketer may be able to drive tens of thousands of visitors to your website, depending on the technique used. However, you are defeating the purpose if your website does not or does not have the capability to sell your products or services.
If you are confident in your website and the products that you offer, then there are many companies you could choose from. You can even take a class and learn how to “do it yourself”. Take time to do your research and look around. Read about the company’s strategy and see if it makes sense to you. Find out how many people are part of the network. Research any available testimonials.
There is one company that operates very quietly, almost hard to notice. The method that they use may work, but YouTube would not be too pleased. Moreover, their services can not be customized. They recommend the same strategy for all of their customers.
If they are to effectively grow your business, a viral marketing agency should tailor their solutions to suit your products or services. They should offer ways to keep in touch with your current clients and turn your clients’ friends into your customers.
A highly effective technique is a regular newsletter, sent via email. If you have no clients, you may need to purchase a list of quality email addresses. Some of these lists were compiled by other companies. They ask their customers if they would like to receive information from affiliates. If the customer says “yes”, the company adds them to the list.
You might find an agency that specializes in viral marketing and could also provides this sort of list, as well as offering other services you may want to engage. To be most effective, you want the list to be targeted to include people in your niche market. If you are selling a toy, parents would be your target market. It would be a waste of time to send dozens of e-mails to senior citizens.
Another effective method you can concentrate on yourself is “social networking”. Become a member of an online forum or group, whose members have interests that are similar with your target. If you have yet to identify your niche, you may need a little more help than a viral marketing agency can offer. Everyone has a unique niche. Sometimes, it’s just hard to see it, from the inside, looking out. Someone outside of your business might offer solutions to help you find your target market and grow your business.
Using Word Of Mouth Publicity To Introduce Your Company
Word of mouth publicity is the best kind of publicity there is, it’s free. Creating and generating word of mouth publicity is another method. There is oodles of competition out there today, simply offering a new product at a fair price will no longer ensure your success.
Consumers today are at a much higher level of sophisticated than as only a couple of years ago.Due to the fact that shopping comparison blogs and sites, blog posts, consumer review sites, and ongoing mini-feed posts on some social networking sites are allowing every individual who owns a computer to start commenting on anything they find of interest, it’s important that great PR is required for a product to stand out as a great one. To get great results, there are some methods that will work well.
1. Offering something that’s above what’s needed, such as an additional product or a new and innovative type of product is always great, as it makes the consumer believe that they’ve gotten a better than expected deal, which is more likely to have them positively comment on your offering.
2.Give your clients service that exceeds expectations and always note their comments or feedback. When dealing with consumers it’s always paramount to keep them happy, especially in light of the way that online commentary influences the purchasing decisions of others. Address any needs as they are brought to your attention, and rectify issues that may arise with your service or product efficiently and quickly.
3.Generate ongoing “buzz” about your product by designing your own dialogue sourced from a recognizable brand or personality, this will create a spotlight on your product and create new sales. This too will get your word of mouth publicity, and make sure ahead of time that the necessary outlets are aware of your upcoming known figure’s participation.
4.Talk about your product or service yourself, anywhere you can. Ensure that this is reported for you, or ensure that it’s posted to all relevant media outlets that you would want it reported in. Join in the commentary on your industry in general, so that when the time comes that your name or company brand is mentioned, you are recognized as more of an expert in your field and not just an individual providing lip service here and there.
With all this, you are taking great measures to achieve effective word of mouth publicity you need to have your product or service spoken about by those who can be influenced, and those who can exert an influence. Similar to other methods to gain attention for your product, this will lead to sales of your product, which in turn will then in turn promote more interest for your product and create further proof of its high effectiveness as a means to closing sales.
Getting Attention From Your Customer - How It Can Attract New Ones
As every businessman or woman knows, if you want your company to be truly successful, you must learn how to utilize the most basic marketing concept known to man: word of mouth.However, if you are similar to most entrepreneurs, you might let viral marketing happen more naturally, where the customers promote your brand when they feel like it.If you rely solely on this method, generating sales may be slower than you anticipated originally. That’s why you may want to consider another, more unique solution: buying word of mouth referrals.
How can you buy word of mouth referrals? Well, first, like any word of mouth marketing campaign, you must form your promotion BEFORE seeking out referrals.Creating a buzz-worthy campaign is a must. A common example is when a company gives out free products in return for people sending them referrals.Referral tracking would be done through a coded unique tracking code in Internet campaigns or done through an actual lead.
Anyway, after forming your campaign, the next thing you need to do is actually buy your referrals.There are a couple of different approaches to this. If you have more money, you can buy your word of mouth referrals through a direct mail campaign.The cost will amount to a couple thousand dollars, but it will allow your customer to see a printed advertisement, for those people who still see this as a more valid way to communicate.
Another approach involves buying guaranteed signups. If you utilize this option, you can spend however much you need at a time. However, you do need to be careful.Some guaranteed signups are the result of paid-email scams, you must be aware that the goal of your sign-up is to receive whatever cash reward the paid-email network is offering.If you come up with a more useful incentive, you would have been able to overcome this thought process.
Of course, trying to figure out how to feed that desire will require some forethought and creativity.For certain companies this process is simple.For instance, by promoting any home business, guaranteed signups will probably take notice because they are motivated to make money. But if you’re promoting something more abstract they may not be as interested.
In this situation, you want to try to maintain their interest by giving them a complimentary product. A book is a perfect example.
Tony Robbins once gave away a book he had written to help introduce his beliefs to a largely European audience.Granted, he didn’t use guaranteed signups because he had the funding for a more sophisticated marketing campaign. If you create a buzz-worthy campaign, even people who started off uninterested will give you word of mouth referrals… simply because what you’re offering is so spectacular.
Discover the Secret to Great Word of Mouth Marketing Campaigns
Even in today’s technology driven world, word of mouth marketing is a very powerful way to get tons of new customers to your business. The concept behind word of mouth, or any other type of marketing campaign for that matter, is simple – you reward the person who brings you new business. What makes this type of marketing so highly effective? Let us take a look.
People love to get rewarded for their actions. People really love to get recognized for what they do as well. Combine these couple of things together and you have got an excellent incentive for a word of mouth campaign. In this type of marketing campaign, you can reward your customers who give you new business in two ways.
1.You can give them an incentive or reward. This could be many things – money, gift certificates or even service credits.
2.You thank them for their effort. A great idea is to display their names and thank them for their efforts in your business magazines or monthly newsletters.
These two things can make people very happy and satisfied – happy to get something useful and satisfied to know that their effort has been successful.
Here are some useful tips to help you set up your word of mouth marketing campaign the right way.
1.The incentive that you give should be valuable to the customer. Money is the choice that comes to mind first, but some people could feel uncomfortable with cash rewards. In my opinion, gift certificates are always the most usedful and an excellent choice. You can choose multiple denomination gift certificates from Amazon – they are always an excellent selection. You can also give free food passes for your customers at local restaurants, wine clubs, spas, movie theaters, and so on.
2.You must make sure you let your existing customers know that they are being rewarded for any referrals. In your office, put a magnetic board on the wall and always keep a list of the names of people who have referred customers to you on it. This way, your customers can see their names on the notice board every time they come to your office and this will make them feel really special.
3. When you send out business newsletters about your word of mouth campaigns, you can mention the names of people who have referred a lot of high value customers. Your newsletters reach everyone in your mailing list and you can imagine how happy your customers will be if they see their names in there. This clearly shows your customers that you appreciate their business and whatever they have done for your company.
4.When planning to conduct a sales event or a meeting, simply ask your existing customers to bring their associates or friends along and offer them gift certificates or some sort of discounts in return.
5.Whenever your existing clients bring some new customers, make sure to thank them immediately. Call them, send them a mail, send them a text message, or send them a thank-you card. Find a way to make sure they understand that you appreciate their effort.
This is pretty much what you need to know about word of mouth advertising campaigns. Remember – they cost so very little, they increase brand awareness tremendously, and increase your customer base. If you want to achieve the best results, be sure to set up a great marketing campaign today.
