According to an article posted by eMarketer.com, “…when it comes to the question of which medium influences consumers most, the big advertising media all took a back seat to humble word-of-mouth (WOM), which may be far less manageable than conventional ad-supported media, but which also seems to be more effective…”
So how do you promote word-of-mouth (WOM) advertising? It’s as simple as 1-2-3:
- Provide a great product or service.
- Provide exceptional customer service … a great product/service experience can crumble to acrimony and dust if your organization doesn’t provide service and support to match. Conversely, great service and support can overcome a lot of product pitfalls.Case in point, I recently switched to a Blackberry Pearl phone and a new cellular plan provider – while the phone’s pretty cool and attracts a lot of attention, I’m constantly experiencing minor glitches with it. What’s saved my experience, so far, is that T-Mobile – my new cell plan provider – has provided unbelievably exceptional support. So while I might be a bit slow to recommend the Pearl, I won’t hesitate in the least to recommend T-Mobile!
- Ask your customers for referrals (just be sure you’ve earned the right to ask first) and give your customers the means to easily pass-on the good word.A prime example; eBags always provides a means to forward their product communications and offers on to friends and colleagues. And believe me, I do when I feel their product will appeal to someone I know because my total experience with them has been highly satisfactory.
So yeah, while it’s a heckuva lot easier to plunk down a bunch of money for an email, direct mail, newspaper, radio, or TV — i.e., a traditional media — campaign, the rewards you reap will be so much more significant if you can WOW your customers to spread the WOM on your behalf.
