It is widely accepted that word of mouth is the most powerful marketing tool… It’s free but you have to earn it and it can make or break your business.
Did you know you can kick-start your own word of mouth marketing, instead of sitting back and waiting for others to do it for you?
You can create stories about what you do and make sure they spread like wildfire to get tongues wagging.
The reason why word of mouth is such a powerful marketing tool is because of its ability to impact the speed of your prospect’s decision about whether or not to buy.
In the book ‘Secrets of Word-of-Mouth Marketing’, George Silverman says you can shorten the decision cycle by making decisions easier for your prospect. You do this by focusing on your prospect’s decision roadblocks, bottlenecks, friction points and rough spots.
You need a story Silverman says every word-of-mouth program needs a ‘story’ that is short and simple, and worth talking about.
In the book 'All Marketers Are Liars', Seth Godin says promoting the features and benefits of your product or service is no longer enough to be a successful marketer. He says marketing is about spreading ideas, and that stories spread… features and benefits don’t.
The key message Godin has for marketers is that people buy things because of how it makes them feel AND consumers want to believe a lie. So you need to tell your story (your lie) to an audience that already wants to believe you.
“Storytelling works when believing it makes your product or service better,” Godin wrote. This book gives the example of how buying organic produce makes us feel like we are doing something better for our health and the environment, even though there is no proof to support this.
Tips for creating word of mouth • You need a referral strategy to drive your word of and generate more!
• You don’t need a big marketing budget to increase your sales or to use a ‘hard sell’
• You do need to think outside the square and be creative • Recruit a team of people who will do your marketing for you, including your customers • Make it easy for people to talk about your product or service • Talk powerfully and naturally about what you do • Understand exactly what people need to know to refer you • Ask people to refer you and script them exactly what to say when they recommend you • Reward people who refer you • Create something worth talking about / find a compelling idea • Use testimonials and endorsements from your customers in your sales and marketing • Use experts in your field to present information and accelerate the decision making process • And of course… go out of your way to please your existing customers.
Create word of mouth with media publicity and newsletters Media publicity is a powerful word of mouth marketing tool because it’s a third party endorsement by a journalist that results in high credibility.
You can circulate published media clippings and stories to kick-start your word of mouth program. Or you can publish your own news to spread your story in the form of newsletters.
For most businesses, word of mouth is the most effective marketing tool…
Imagine what could happen when you proactively create and drive your word of mouth referrals.
Word of mouth matters - To learn more about this author, visit Chelsea McLean's Website.
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