I often ask myself these days, and as a matter of fact its quite a lingering thought of mine, on the effectiveness of word of mouth in the marketing domain. Word of mouth can be remarkably effective – think of Coke Zeros launch. However, it can also be remarkably dangerous – for marketers.
Firstly, word of mouth marketing is defined, by Wikipedia as interpersonal communication “which encompasses a variety of subcategories, including buzz, blog, viral, grassroots, cause influencers and social media marketing, as well as ambassador programs, work with consumer-generated media and more, can be highly valued by product marketers. Because of the personal nature of the communications between individuals, it is believed that product information communicated in this way has an added layer of credibility”.
According to an interesting article in the BRW written by Leon Gettler titled “Say What You Think”, word of mouth is “treasured by marketers”. “They know that consumers trust recommendations from friends and family far more than advertising. They also know that turning consumers into advocates for a brand is extremely cost effective, much more so than advertising or direct mail”. With this said, its relevant to understand that the effectiveness of the campaign deployed by brands and corporations in their word of mouth marketing initiatives is highly contingent on tapping into their key ‘influencers’.
Malcolm Gladwell, in the Tipping Point, outlines that these influences lie within a specific ‘context’ where “human behaviour is sensitive to and strongly influenced by its environment”. Essentially, a tipping point, in any dynamical system, is the threshold level at which momentum for change becomes unstopable. Gladwell, in his context, describes tipping points as a sociological term. More so – “the moment for critical mass”. So how is all of this related to word of mouth marketing?
Firstly, Gladwell draws an important distinction in the types of influencers or ‘change agents’. He identifies a critical subset known as “Mavens” – who are those type of people that are ‘information specialists’. Quoting Gladwell, he claims that Mavens start “word of mouth epidemics due to their knowledge, social skills and ability to communicate”. These are the types of people that marketing companies yearn to have, the knowledge worker who is armed with an arsenal of social media tools such as blogs, tweets and pod-casts to disseminate information to a wider audience. They create an organic enthusiasm for the brand.
These types of people, generally create awareness and tick all the boxes of interest, motivation and closing the sale for a brand. However, in an age of technology disruption and competition, how do brands in the first place support their key ‘influencers’ with the right technologies in the first place?
Todays problem with brands is that they resort to ‘broadcast’ messaging such as TV ads, direct mail, print advertisements and radio. They rely on these campaigns to trigger their influencers in the non-formal social arena such as gatherings or the pub. These initiatives are centrally controlled, plagued with anonymity, interruptive, individualistic and are all sent via a single channel.
The solution to the problem, at least from my perspective, would be to arm these influencers with the right tools and technologies to potray their message within, across and beyond their social communities (virtual and physical). As web and mobile technologies continue to coalesce and recent trends in social networking perpetually disrupt traditional advertising business models, there is a need to engage influencers with relevant channels and methodologies for their very purpose. Solutions need to drive intimacy with members, engagement with influencers within and across their communities, be trusted and refferal based and all via multi channel messaging.
Imagine, then, if a brand could arm their influencers with these tools, that tick all these and previous boxes, and one that also enables the brand to measure the success of their influencers; it would re define the era of marketing in its own right. With advances in web and mobile phone technologies these days into the spectrum of unified communications, its definately a plausible outlook on the future.
So that was my two cents on word of mouth marketing, and the challenges that commercial enterprises face in the emerging knowledge economy. The communication platforms need to be authentic and credible, one that has a multiplier effect on the quality and quantity of conversations that profilerate around a brands word of mouth marketing campaign.