Word of mouth marketing is also known as the word of mouth advertisement. It is quite different from the original word of mouth in many regards. It takes an effective management to transform the simple “word of mouth” into the coveted “word of mouth marketing” that is majorly result oriented. The three managerial steps for the same are:
- The foundation for the word of mouth marketing has to be built strong enough
- Indirect word of mouth marketing: Under this, managers only have a limited or a moderate control over the events.
- Direct word of mouth marketing: Higher controls over the set of events
The prime key is to make people know about you product. If they do not know about your product, it is a sheer waste. This is one prime reason why word of mouth marketing is of utmost importance. You have to keep a record of what people have to say about your product online or offline so that you can moderate your sales plan accordingly. Successful Word of Mouth marketing requires strategic thinking, careful analysis and serious work.
Principles of word of mouth marketing are:
Identify who is talking about your product: Word of mouth starts with a group of talkers. You have to identify your talkers.
A hot topic for a conversation: Thisprovides a platform on which the talkers can have a conversation. Topics need not be fancy but should be spicy enough so that they can generate an effective conversation.
Choosing your tools right: Tools can be blogs, social network and other online tactics like coupons’, postcards and samples. These tools are effective channels to make people aware of your products.
Being an effective member of the conversation: This is one the best strategies. Reaching out to the people who have been talking about you can help you earn a few brownie points for yourself. You should share relevant information and effective ideas so that it works as a positive for you.
A constant measure and track of results: Tracking and measuring the results have now become an easy affair with all that technology available at hand. Freely available tools like Google analytics, tracking links and Google alerts can easily make all the relevant information available. Technology has made it so much easier, now you know, everything you want to know at a click.
One has to extra cautious while carving out the word of mouth marketing strategy. Few steps that need careful analysis are:
Targeting the influencers: By making sure that they know about everything you do and thus creating a niche for your product. Speak to all the leaders and prime influencers of the concerned areas.
Build a niche of social media for your product: The best way to do this to converse directly with your target and prospective audiences. Verbal word of mouth is the best way by which you can share effective information with your friends using online as well as other mediums.
Being a market leader: Is all about being unique. It is easy to become a leader but maintain the position is a herculean task. You have to make constant efforts to serve everything that is new and unique, so that you can effectively maintain the leadership. The strategy so formed has to be in accordance with the idea to maintain the position of a leader in the market.
Honesty is the best policy: this builds a trustworthy relationship with the prospective and target audiences. You have to make yourself the best for being a topic of conversation throughout.
Summary
Word of mouth marketing is a strategic approach to make your product reach a larger number of people through the most effective channel that is direct communication.
