Have you ever had someone suggest - out of the blue - that you make use of a business product or service that they recently tried out themselves? It could be their favorite restaurant, a new messaging app, or just anything else.

How did you respond to this and who was it from? Chances are that you’ve experienced this many times, and when such suggestions come from family or friends, you tend to make no second thoughts about the service or brand in question. 

This is what makes word-of-mouth so effective: the fact that you would likely take what you hear without second-guessing it. You may doubt the best of advertisements, and in many cases, you don’t even view them till the end, but you will often take a friendly suggestion about a business or product at face value. 

What is Word-of-Mouth Marketing (WOMM)

Did you know? Humans hold lots of conversations daily and they say a mind-blowing average of 15,000 words. Each of these individual sentences could be described as word-of-mouth. But that makes the term vague, doesn’t it? 

To make things less muddled up, the phrase “word-of-mouth” is cleverly reserved for important pieces of information passed during a conversation - and not every word or sentence that is said. This solves the vagueness problem. 

The question now becomes how to determine what words are important. Ideally, that depends on the context of the discussion. For example, when referring to businesses, word-of-mouth points to casual communications mentioning a brand or promoting its interest. 

Research and Statistics Around Word-of-Mouth Marketing (WOMM)

Let’s take a look at the effect of word-of-mouth and by extension, word-of-mouth marketing. In a survey by Nielsen, 95% of consumers attested to believing their friends and family over any kind of advertisement.

This means that a simple reference in a discussion could be worth more compared to high-end marketing strategies such as digital ads. What is particularly interesting - beyond the survey figures here - is that word-of-mouth quickly converts into patronage among new customers and higher spending among existing customers. 

Another intriguing survey fact - which you should also know about - is that word-of-mouth marketing (WOMM) helps to introduce potential customers to the solution they need and in the process, brings many obscured businesses to light.

A good 42% of participants in a Dynata survey testify to this, saying that they learned about countless black-owned businesses simply through their discussions with people. 

Types of Word-of-Mouth Marketing (WOMM)

Word-of-mouth marketing might appear to be indistinct and non-technical, much unlike other forms of marketing out there. Its nature leads entrepreneurs to misjudge just how much potential it could add to their branding and marketing efforts.

We believe that business owners need to rethink their position on this, and we will help make it easy by outlining the different types of word-of-mouth marketing (WOMM). 

Publicity:

Publicity is a word-of-mouth marketing type that has the end goal of promoting and protecting the public view of a company. This marketing is used to create awareness, build a positive brand image, or address and manage a crisis. 

Employing the services of an influencer works well for building publicity both online and in the real world. Influencers are such a great option since they serve as a guide over the choices of their audience, including decisions on what to purchase and what brands to trust. 

Buzz Marketing:

The word-of-mouth marketing type described as buzz marketing is employed when a business has a new product or service release in its schedule. This marketing type aims to build interest in upcoming projects and grow as much social engagement as possible. 

Blogging:

Blogging also falls under word-of-mouth marketing. It involves businesses managing a blog through which they express their unique opinions or ideas on different subject matters. Business blogs usually focus on related products, markets, or niches.

In addition, they are often designed to soft sell a brand or its products, with a call-to-action (CTA) that suggests readers take a desired step. This is where word-of-mouth comes into play. Blogging serves as a platform for businesses to connect with customers; answer their questions, and build trust through a sense of shared values or preferences.  

Referral Marketing:

Referral marketing is an incentivized version of word-of-mouth marketing. The strategy directs customers to verbally promote a brand in exchange for a reward. Incentivizing customers like this has the potential to significantly spur customers to engage in word-of-mouth marketing for a brand.

However, it raises some questions since word-of-mouth is supposed to be a natural reaction from satisfied or well-served customers. 

Social Media Marketing:

Social media is another avenue to communicate by word-of-mouth. This is so much so that social media marketing is a type of word-of-mouth marketing on its own.

Platforms like Discord, WhatsApp, and Twitter (formerly X) have features such as rooms and live streams, allowing users to verbally communicate about the brands they admire in front of a large audience. 

Benefits of Word-of-Mouth Marketing (WOMM)

Word-of-mouth marketing presents enormous benefits, especially to businesses that are new and lack a strong market presence, and to those that want to expand or pivot to capture entirely new types of audiences. Unfortunately, many of today’s startups simply miss out on this.

This section, therefore, serves as a reminder to not let your business fall short of its potential reach by listing three of the most solid benefits of word-of-mouth marketing (WOMM).

‍Cost-Free or Cost-Saving Marketing:

Whether you own a day-old business, a startup, or a company, word-of-mouth marketing will get you the same impact for just about the same price. Nothing. The strategy is cost-free simply because it involves customers casually referencing a brand or speaking about their experience with a product or service.

It requires no special planning and takes no effort to implement, making it an easy and cheap way to market. 

Drives High Patronage:

The surveys say it all. People value and deeply believe the words they hear from close friends or relatives. This trust inspires the audience to easily try out the service or product suggestions they receive, generating high patronage for the brand in question.

Wider Variety of Customers:

Imagine what it would be like if the security personnel, cleaner, and assistant, all working at the same company, introduced the brand to their circle of friends. Imagine just how much awareness this would bring; the wide reach, and the vast category of people that will become aware of the company. 

Typically, word-of-mouth marketing creates some sort of explosive chain reaction where one point (an individual) branches out into as many points as possible (depending on the number of people this one individual reaches out to).

Each of these points equally branches off to as many points as possible (also depending on how many people these other people spread the word to). 

How Your Business Can Take Advantage of Word-of-Mouth Marketing (WOMM)

Make a Good First Impression

Have you ever heard the saying, “First impression matters?” This statement makes even more sense when it comes down to word-of-mouth marketing, and we will explain why. Imagine that a colleague informs you about this restaurant they’ve been to. You’ve known them a long time, therefore, you decide to give it a try. 

Your first visit to the restaurant is gracious; the service is impeccable, the atmosphere is serene, the waiters are polite, and the meals are delicious. The fact that you were referred there by your trusted colleague is one thing, but what means even more is that the restaurant did not disappoint. 

This explains why businesses must live up to the good words spoken about them during word-of-mouth marketing. If they don’t, the campaign could turn against them, spreading a negative word and quickly damaging their reputation.  

Apply Digital Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Businesses must understand word-of-mouth marketing as it relates to the digital world. They must figure out ways to take advantage of this simply because the journey and experiences of customers today are predominantly digital. 

Aside from spreading the word about their brand, a digital word-of-mouth marketing campaign works two ways. Customers get to know the business and at the same time, it creates an avenue for businesses to receive suggestions and feedback about their services.  

Conclusion

Word-of-mouth marketing may have traditionally existed within offline communications, however, things have changed a lot. Today, the marketing form includes blogging, social media marketing, and online referral programs.

If you’re a business owner looking for a cheap and effective way to grow your brand, this is a strategy you should consider. So what are you waiting for? Take the first step to spreading the word about your business today. 

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