What is Word of Mouth Marketing?
Simple word of mouth has been with us since humans first learned to communicate. We like to tell stories about ourselves. And we like to listen to stories that communicate useful values. This is true whether the value is a complicated moral lesson, or the best brand of lawnmower. Whenever possible, we prefer to learn from the experience of others, rather than make a mistake on our own.
It was December 2005, just a few days before Christmas, when Brian Anderson, 36 years old, was surfing with his friends at a popular beach in Oregon. He and his friends were already starting to leave when Brian felt something grab his leg. He looked down. “I was holding my board in the left hand and with my right hand the nose of the shark came up in my face.”
“It’s like your worst nightmare,” Anderson told the Associated Press. “It was grabbing me. It felt like getting clamped in a bear trap. It was a piercing pain and then it went numb. As a surfer, you kind of go over those things. What if I got attacked by a shark, what would I do?”
Brian Anderson was lucky. He already knew what to do. He had learned from watching and listening to other surfers describe their experiences on the Discovery Channel’s popular TV series, “Shark Week.”
“They usually tell you to hit it in the nose and the eyes,” he remembers. “I felt its rubbery feeling of the shark. And I could see the little black dots on its nose just really up close. I was able to punch it in the nose and that made it let go,”
The shark took a chunk out of Anderson’s leg and he needed 70 stitches for the deep cuts he suffered to his calf and ankle. But Brian Anderson survived this horrific incident due to, you got it, word of mouth. He listened to his fellow surfers discuss similar attacks on the Discovery Channel, and he followed their advice.
Perhaps you’ll never find yourself in Brian’s situation. But don’t you make life-changing decisions from time-to-time? We all do. We decide to go to college, get married, move to different cities, and we make large purchases like cars and homes. We get the word of mouth advice from people we trust even when making small decisions like where to eat at the best restaurant. So of course we get this advice when making big decisions.
Word of Mouth Marketing takes this common practice of sharing experiences a step further. We know that people discuss their purchasing decisions with their trusted friends and associates. Word of Mouth Marketing is a technique that you can use to get involved in these natural conversations to promote your marketing goals.
As defined by WOMMA, the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, “Word of mouth is a pre-existing phenomenon that marketers are only now learning how to harness, amplify, and improve. Word of mouth marketing isn’t about creating word of mouth — it’s learning how to make it work within a marketing objective. Word of mouth marketing empowers people to share their experiences. It’s harnessing the voice of the customer for the good of the brand. And it’s acknowledging that the unsatisfied customer is equally powerful.”
Round Rockit Media can help your business improve and harness the power of Word of Mouth Marketing by following 4 easy steps:
1. Have a great story. We’ll discover your company’s unique abilities and develop your voice so that people will listen to your message. It’s extremely important for you to be authentic in crafting your professional story. Telling a great story is about making you and your company the best that you can be in an open and genuine way that feels natural for you and your clients. In WOMM, authenticity rules!
2. Identify your ideal clients. We’ll examine your unique values and characteristics to identify the precise clients you are particularly well-suited to serve. Those clients are going to be your cheerleaders, your volunteer sales team, your best advocates, so you should select them carefully.
3. Tell your story. Now that we have developed your story and identified who needs to hear your story, we’re ready to amplify the volume and target your message specifically towards your past, present, and future clients. We will find the appropriate methods of communication for your audience and produce professionally crafted content.
4. Write a Business Plan. We will work together to incorporate the key concepts of WoMM in your written business plan. The goal of WoMM is not just generating buzz, we need measurable goals and financial results. We take the philosophy and apply it to your daily life at work.
Now that you know what we do… give us call. We would be happy to help your company launch to the next level.
We’re Round Rockit Media. Contact us today for a free assessment of your business marketing needs!
