Tag: communities

The Power of WOM; Converting Consumers into Marketers

“Have you heard of the new place in town? Everyone is talking about it!”

Surely, you have been approached by someone saying this at some point in your life. Every day, we encounter millions of advertisements, but unknowingly, some of these ads could be run by our peers or friends around us.

Whenever you hear a recommendation about a brand or an organisation from a consumer, this is a form of “word of mouth” marketing or WOMM. Word of mouth marketing is a form of free advertising which could either be organic or spontaneously encouraged by companies.

Consumers have a tendency to recommend a brand when their experience exceeds their expectations. These types of consumers who are willing to advocate for a brand could be identified through various means. Such means could include the simple “Net Promoter Score Method” where advocates are likely to be the ones who vote 9-10 on the scale.

net promoter score method
Net Promoter Score Method

WOM happens to be a very powerful marketing tool which affects the consumers’ purchasing decisions and brand perceptions. Based on a Nielsen Study, friends and family recommendations are trusted more than other forms of advertising by 92% of people.

It is perceived by consumers as a form of trusted advertising since it comes from people they already know or can easily identify with.

Companies might also refer to influencers or opinion leaders on a local level to promote their brand and advocate for it. This type of advertising could be achieved through the brand’s offering and value proposition.

Encouraging it could also entail offering the consumers an exceptional customer service or exclusive offers and personalised items depending on the brand’s identity.  

Some companies tend to encourage WOMM through investing in various initiatives. They set up brand ambassadors schemes and tryvertising which involve groups of people who actually try the products and spread the word which later affects the consumers’ behavioural intentions.

In the digital era, WOMM has gone online. Brands have been creating triggers and shareable content to encourage their audience to interact and initiate conversations online. This allows increasing the brands’ associations and memorability. In addition, marketers tend to create campaigns which boost the word of mouth within online communities.

Oculus discussion forum

Some brands create blogs or forums to encourage discussions related to their products.

Some companies and brands combine this type of marketing with referral marketing. They do so by seeking social media influencers to extend their conversation or advertising online. They even have programs tailored specifically for them. The latter include special coupon codes or landing pages which benefits both of the company and the influencer simultaneously.  

Companies like Amazon have special referral programs where regular consumers act as affiliates and are rewarded with commission based on their performance. In addition, some brands like Nike utilise their values as part of their cause marketing which increases controversies and place the brand itself as an advocate.

Serena Williams Nike ad

Word of mouth marketing is very beneficial especially when establishing a brand. It helps generate awareness and build deeper interactions with the audience for it provides them with shareable resources.

When used effectively, it could also save up a lot of costs since this type of marketing has the potential for viral or exponential growth. It occurs in the form of “earned” media which results in more people trusting it and acting upon it.

In addition, WOM marketing allows the consumers to feel closer to the brand which might result in the change of their beliefs, evaluation, and their attitude about the brand later on.

It could generate positive feelings towards the involved brand. Also, this form of marketing helps boosts the consumers’ loyalty and advocacy which later translates into high customer’s lifetime value.

Although it helps in enhancing the brand’s awareness, WOMM’s effects aren’t guaranteed to be positive. The key problem lies in the fact that the word that gets out is not yours.

This creates a problem for it prevents brands to control the conversation. If negative words outnumber the positive ones then, this could be troublesome for the brand image.

It might even lead to brand boycotts and to the creation of anti-brand communities where people express their negative opinions and experiences with the brand. This adds to the importance of listening to each and every consumer including to the detractors and neutrals.   

Despite the fact that it is one of the most effective marketing tools, word of mouth marketing is yet to be mastered by many.

Most brands are reluctant to invest in it for they fear things they can’t control. However, one cannot expect any return without taking a few risks every now and then.    

The Mere Exposure Theory

It has been said that people tend to trust the things they’re most familiar with. When it comes to purchasing decisions or to building consumer’s loyalty, trust happens to be one of the most important drivers. It can play a huge role in making people change their perception of a brand. Although it takes a long time to build trust, it can be very rewarding on the long term.

One of the key drivers to building trust happens to be the brand’s strength. Such strength is derived from familiarity, either with the brand itself, or with its initiatives and marketing efforts. 

Humans’ reactions might vary depending on the nature of the thing they’re exposed to and its uniqueness. The more unique a thing is, the more sceptical views it’ll receive. Upon receiving a stimulus, consumers have a tendency to categorise things and to associate them with similar existing concepts in their minds. This is mostly due to decrease the mental effort exerted and increase convenience.

 Since our minds tend to favor convenience, we tend to react positively to things we already know. This is an indicator of what’s known as “The Mere Exposure Theory”, in which humans tend to like the things they’re exposed to the most.

 In marketing, it can work for visual and auditory ads, and it could affect the people subliminally and alter their responses.

This sort of justifies the fact that some brands tend to show you the same ads everywhere and to communicate the same messages all the time to increase conversion rates.  When shopping in stores, some retailers tend to put the most familiar songs in order to evoke positive emotions in the shoppers and to make them buy more and spend a longer time.

“The Mere Exposure Theory” could actually aid in establishing a sense of familiarity which would get translated into trust. It might also reach a higher level and result in building brand advocacy later on. This could be one of the reasons why some brands try not to change their logo or brand identity which allows them to stand out from the rest.

Consumers tend to be at ease with brands they trust and are accustomed to. By initiating a sense of familiarity at every touch-point, brands will be able to establish trust which would allow for building a community of brand advocates on the long term.

Story-telling for a Price

Ever since we were kids, fairy-tales seemed to be our only refuge and escape from reality.  We used to constantly read and listen to stories. To say the least, stories have played a crucial role in our lives since our childhood. Till this very day, stories still affect us tremendously, and this resulted in many companies using them across their various touch points. Marketers seem to have found the best way to exploit and to use them in their marketing efforts.

Based on several studies, stories showed the tendency to resonate with consumers the most. When listening to a story, several parts of the brain are activated. This leads the customers to visualise what they’re being told.

 This has led many advertisers to resort to story-telling in ads and when trying to talk about their products with the customers. Stories are used as an attention-grabbing method since it happens to have a high impact on the consumers. Instead of using a traditional method, advertisers resort to storytelling for consumers tend to relate to it and remember it the most.

Storytelling has also made its way in sales. Sales-people started to talk to the customers about their products in the form of a story. In sales, it’s all about solving the people’s problem and making the customers the heroes of their own stories. To demonstrate this, the salesperson might act up as a sage who offers help to the hero aka the customer in order to solve their problem.

Through stories, marketers have been able to captivate and grab the customers’ attention. They also managed to motivate them and to drive them to take actions and pay a higher premium.

Some customers are willing to pay more for a cup of coffee from Starbucks than for a regular one. However, they would not be paying for the coffee’s quality or the product’s features; but rather, they’re paying for its story. A story which Starbucks constantly communicates whether about its products, its cosy place that feels like home, or about what it should symbolise to you. Such stories of value have merely made products become an extension of our own identity.

Stories help build a special bond and relationship with the customers. They tend to resonate with them the most. By putting a high emphasis on storytelling, it certainly allows for further communication of value.

At the end of the day, are we actually paying for the actual price of the item or for its story?

Brands; A Means of Belonging?

Are you willing to stand for hours in line for the brand new IPhone?

Has it ever occurred to you that a brand might provide a sense of belonging? That merely buying a product has a symbolic value or communicates a specific message about you? Well, as it turns out, there are a lot of people who are willing to purchase a product to achieve this very need, the need to belong.

According to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the need of “self-actualisation” resides at the very top of the pyramid. It’s defined as the highest need that a person might strive to achieve after achieving the basic ones such as food and shelter, etc. Brands have certainly become a tool to achieve and to foster such sense of belonging & acceptance.

Most brands have resorted to brand belonging as a method to build communities around them and to create loyal customers. How would we explain the huge crowds of people waiting in line to purchase the new IPhone model? And what would be the reason behind a group of people wanting to purchase a Rolex watch instead of a regular watch which has the exact features? 

 Brands have become a reflection of the person’s personality, attitude, social status, & wealth in the society. Owning a Tesla reflects wealth with a care about the environment, an IPhone shows that you are innovative, and a Rolex shows that you’re affiliated with a wealthy niche in the society. Each brand is managing to build its own community or tribe to forge meaningful connections with its customers.

The products we choose have become a symbol of who we are and what we stand for in our lives. So how much can we really tell about a person through the brands they consume?