|
|
Like this article? PLEASE +1 it! |  |
|
Who Joins a Word of Mouth Marketing Group
Written by: Ivan R. MisnerArticle Overview: Recently my Word-of-Mouth Marketing company, BNI, cooperated with Steve Brewer, a graduate student from St. Thomas University in the United States, as part of his Masters Thesis in Marketing. As a result of this research, we have acquired an interesting picture of the type of business person/entrepreneur who joins a word-of-mouth marketing group.
 |
Free Download - Sorting Out Who's Who By Ivan R. Misner |
Who Joins a Word of Mouth Marketing Group
Recently my Word-of-Mouth Marketing company, BNI, cooperated with Steve Brewer, a graduate student from St. Thomas University in the United States, as part of his Masters Thesis in Marketing. As a result of this research, we have acquired an interesting picture of the type of business person/entrepreneur who joins a word-of-mouth marketing group.
Based on this study, we learned that over 76% of all networking group participants we surveyed came because they were invited by someone!
OK, that's not a big surprise since networking is a "word of mouth" function; however, it is excellent reinforcement to what we already know - namely, that people mostly join word-of-mouth marketing groups through the "invitation process". Amazingly, only 24% came to their particular networking group from all other forms of marketing and advertising combined (including the internet, tradeshows, calendar listings, newspaper articles, etc). Traditional media exposure definitely supports recognition of the importance of word-of-mouth marketing, but what brings most members in is one person asking another person to visit.
According to the study, 74% of all networking group members surveyed identified themselves as business owners (entrepreneurs) and 23% said they were employees.
The overwhelming majority of those surveyed, or 70%, first visited because they were interested in some type of networking group. Roughly 6% were encouraged by their company to attend. But what's most interesting is that 5% of the people who visited and joined, didn't want to offend the person who invited them by not joining!
One of the questions asked in the study related to how comfortable people felt when they first visited. An astounding 93% of all people who joined felt welcomed by other members of the group they first visited.
An impressive 79% of all networkers surveyed reported that the business they generated from the organization had either met, or exceeded, their expectations.
Once when I was visiting one of my BNI Regions, I had a prospective member who was a local business owner who tried to tell me that the organization was made up of youngsters (which according to him were people under 30!). According to our survey, over half of the members, 58%, were between the ages of 30 – 49, with approximately 32% being over 50 and only 10% being 29 years old or younger. Now, I understand that one group may vary from another, but from my experience, most groups had a fairly even age distribution. As it turns out, the results from this study clearly conclude that roughly 90% of members participating are over 30 years old. The actual graph is a classic bell curve with the under 30 and over 60 ranges being the low ends of both sides of the curve.
Finally the last statistic from the study that I'd like to share in this article is one that has remained fairly constant over the last decade. The study found that roughly 41% of networkers in the survey were female and 59% were male. This roughly 60/40 split, was virtually identical to previous studies done in the past. Although some specific countries may vary substantially on this one area, we have found most networking organizations have this general distribution of men and women networkers.
So, what have we learned from this study?
Well, we've learned that the overwhelming majority of business people joining a networking group joined because someone invited them. We found that almost all of them found the group they visited to be very friendly.
We discovered that a very high percentage of these networkers generate as much, or more business from word of mouth than they expected and that over 60% of the members have been involved for more than one year. We learned that close to ¾ of our networkers surveyed are business owners between the ages of 30-50 and that approximately 40% are women and roughly 60% are men.
I believe this is valuable information for entrepreneurs who are considering becoming involved OR already actively participating in networking groups to have. If you are in a group already, I hope that you take the opportunity in the near future to discuss these survey results within your networking group.
As business people, we like to have the hard facts, the statistics, to support our actions in developing our new businesses. These stats clearly support word-of-mouth marketing as a viable, productive and effective way to market ourselves in our business environment today. As businesses become increasingly informed and educated about the tangible benefits of growing their businesses using a structured word-of-mouth program, I feel that these positive numbers will only increase!
Called the father of modern networking, Dr. Ivan Misner is a New York Times bestselling author and Founder of BNI (www.bni.com), the world’s largest business networking organization. His latest book, Truth or Delusion can be viewed at www.TruthorDelusion.com. Dr. Misner is also the Sr. Partner for the Referral Institute, an international referral training company (www.referralinstitute.com). He can be reached at misner@bni.com .
Engage Your Staff in The Word of Mouth Process
The Power of Word of Mouth
Talking Behind Your Back is Good
Scorched Earth Word of Mouth Marketing
They're Talking About Your Competition
Article Tags:
|
About the Author: Ivan R. Misner RSS for Ivan's articles - Visit Ivan's website  Dr. Ivan Misner is the Founder & Chairman of BNI, the world's largest business networking organization. BNI was founded in 1985. The organization has over 5,800 chapters throughout every populated continent of the world. Last year alone, BNI generated 6.5 million referrals resulting in $2.8 billion dollars worth of business for its members. Called the "Father of Modern Networking" by CNN and the "Networking Guru" by Entrepreneur magazine, Dr. Misner is considered one of the world's leading experts on business networking and has been a keynote speaker for major corporations and associations throughout the world. He has been featured in the L.A. Times, Wall Street Journal, and New York Times, as well as numerous TV and radio shows including CNN, CNBC, and the BBC in London. Dr. Misner is on the Board of Trustees for the University of La Verne. He is also the Founder of the BNI-Misner Foundation and was recently named "Humanitarian of the Year" by a Southern California newspaper. He is married and lives with his wife Elisabeth and their three children in Claremont, CA. In his spare time!!! he is also an amateur magician and a black belt in karate. Click here to visit Ivan's website   Scorched Earth Word of Mouth Marketing Help Im an Introvert Contacting Prospective Customers The 10 Commandments of Networking Become a Networking Mentor |
Related Forum Posts
Measuring Word of mouth
- [quote="jvprosperity":2l2ujat4]I couldn't find the Part 1 Doctrine on the site but I believe from reading the blog posts it had to do with the distractions entrepreneurs and their customers face daily. He may have also talked about Word of Mouth and the true way of measuring it.[/quote:2l2ujat4]
Hi Andy,
So how can one measure "Word of Mouth" marketing then?
Re: What's Up With Word Clouds?
- I would like to see Word Clouds used in conjunction with a Survey. I've been experimenting with Word Clouds within Google Docs forms using the advanced Word Cloud Widget.
Word of Mouth
- Word of Mouth marketing by its very nature takes time. You need to develop relationships before people will refer you.
Why not boost it a little by making a few partnerships? You could partner with a gym or put on seminars. Think who else targets the same people and how you can work with them and help them.
You can also write articles and become and expert in your field - put them online, write a column for a community paper on health, etc.
Even a door to door flyer drop with a simple one pager can help drive some clients.
Good luck!
BNI Groups - do they work?
- Hi Lesley,
From the members in my Mastermind Group I've heard a number of positive and negative things about BNI Groups. Just like a Mastermind Group, it all depends on who the people are. If the personalities fit and the members can add value to your business it can be worth checking out. The best bet is to go to a meeting as a guest to get a sense of who is in the group and if it is for you. It doesn't cost you anything except a little extra sleep the morning of.
Good luck!
Re: What is your Business?
- We are running a Online Marketing Firm and we have some good clients to which we are offering a complete Digital Marketing strategy like Search, Mobile Marketing, Branding and Design. I think in Online Marketing company online presence can be a wining factor for the success of the company.
Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.
Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.
by: Kim Castle, Business Brand Creation
February 2012 Top 100 Leadership Experts to Follow on Twitter
Please Stop Calling it Coaching!
Measuring the Quality of Your Hires
The fine line 
Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!
Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.