How often do you seek a friend or a family member’s recommendation before making a purchase? From buying a new car to a tube of toothpaste, it is ultimately credible and honest reviews that most buyers crave. A customer talking about their product experiences with another potential buyer is worth much more than when a brand toots its own horn. Did you know that 92% of customers have faith in referrals coming from people they already know (Nielsen)?
Now, there was a time when word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing was more straightforward, with only a handful of ways to get customers talking about your business offering(s). All of that has changed today, thanks to technology. Now, the way two people interact with each other is not limited to talking on the phone or meeting for evening strolls.
In today’s tech-driven world, people are more connected virtually than physically. Therefore, companies, especially startups delivering immersive and engaging human experiences by harnessing various online platforms are leveraging the most influential marketing method, i.e., Word-of-Mouth (WOM).
Albeit, wait a minute! Simulating word-of-mouth marketing is not as easy as it sounds. Creating avant-garde and buzz-worthy content that goes viral is no child’s play. So, how do you convert your current customers into brand advocates? How do you spark conversations between customers and potential leads, especially given the current COVID-19 crisis? Here are a few strategies that can work as catalysts for generating massive awareness and word-of-mouth marketing for your brand –
- Market through Influencers
There exist micro-celebrities who blog about their lives and have a significant influence on their followers. Your brand must identify the right influencer(s) who can promote your brand on their page. In the words of the marketing guru Jay Baer, “True influencers drive action, not just awareness.”
The main reason behind the success of influencers in marketing is that potential leads trust a blogger more than brands. While it is still a great idea to get a mainstream celebrity to be your brand ambassador, engage a team of micro-influencers for more localized word-of-mouth marketing. Most influencers have their blog sites and also use Instagram or other social media platforms to post content.
Once you have identified the right blogger, offer them your product and let them know of its benefits. Most micro-influencers (2000 – 50,000 followers) may charge a nominal amount to draft credible content and post it on their social media handle(s). Influencers with more than 100,000 followers may charge a substantial amount as they can reach a wider pool of people. WOM, when done right, through social media influencers, is especially helpful for smaller businesses.
For instance, the antiseptic brand Dettol, known as Lysol in the U.S.A., was unable to create brand awareness in the big cities of China through TV adverts. The brand then decided to leverage influencers by distributing 48,000 product bottles to 4,000 influencer moms. Doing this ensured that the brand reached 46% of its target audience. Influencer-based marketing for Dettol got countless followers exchanging conversations about the brand, thus increasing the purchase rates from 21% to 42% within a matter of two months.
- Offer Seamless Customer Service
If you want your small business to make a big name, offer the best customer service possible! Only excellent customer support can convert buyers into fans. And fans can’t stop talking about your brand with other leads.
Excellent customer service is less about offering freebies, gifts, discounts, etc., and more about how you treat the people that help your business stay afloat. Lousy customer service can tank even the best of business offerings. If your after-sales service is lackluster, dedicate the right team to research and figure out the underlying cause.
The online retail giant, Amazon, tops nearly every list when it comes to exceptional customer service. How do they do it? Simple, they are always there for their customers! It sounds like a cliché, but they follow this policy to the T. If a package gets lost in the mail, they send another one while tracking the original shipment. The website’s user interface makes it exceptionally easy for a customer to get in touch with the company in several ways. Amazon is a conglomerate, but, you need intent more than money to offer seamless customer service.
- Give Customers a Way to Leave Reviews
If your customers don’t have a way to rave about your offering, forget word-of-mouth marketing. According to BrightLocal, a whopping 86% of customers read online reviews before making a purchase or even booking a table at a restaurant.
Are you worried about negative reviews? Don’t fret! Even the best of companies receive negative feedback. This is not necessarily a bad thing because pleasing every customer is impossible. Moreover, negative feedbacks are a great source of learning and improving your products and services. Receiving only positive reviews reduces the credibility and legitimacy of your brand. However, good reviews must always get high visibility. Therefore, make sure that your ratings are visible on your website or a third-party site, and the comments are not disabled.
If possible, reach out to each of your aggrieved customers who leave negative comments or reviews on the same portal with public visibility. Doing this creates a helpful and trustworthy image of your brand.
- Encourage User-Generated Content
This engagement is possible by encouraging your customers to share their experiences with your brand on their social media handles. Alternatively, if you see that a customer has clicked a picture or shared a story featuring your product, repost it on your company handle and tag the customer, thanking them for the share.
Create edgy and shareable content around your product like polls and contests and have customers tag your brand using a hashtag. Hashtag marketing improves the searchability of your content and gets people talking about your brand. You can also incentivize your social media followers by launching a referral program where the advocate receives a freebie to refer your offering to a potential customer. This referral program can also be extended to include incentives for customers that write testimonials for your offering(s).
Over to You
The bright side of word-of-mouth marketing is that it is inexpensive. Therefore, whether you run an established business with deep pockets or a small company with a modest budget, WOM can work equally well.
Remember what Philip Kotler said, “Satisfied customers do the best advertising”. But remember also, if you don’t have a great product that genuinely addresses your prospects’ pain points or need gaps, word-of-mouth marketing campaigns will never gather traction.
