Dave Balter’s “Grapevine: The New Art of Word-of-Mouth Marketing” is an easy-to-read book that describes various word-of-mouth (WOM) strategies. This book is written for marketers and non-marketers alike so you, as a small business owner, can learn a great deal from the many WOM examples Balter included. But what is WOM mean?
According to Balter, WOM is product storytelling told by anyone and everyone. WOM is when a person like you, a mom, a kid, a business owner – anyone – converses about a product or service to another person. A WOM campaign is a strategy to get people talking about a product or service. Balter has devoted the past decade to this strategy and created his own company called BzzAgent. Not to give away too much of this book, But Balter specified six reasons why people talk about a product or service:
- To help or educate others
- To brag about oneself
- To related to others
- To validate a personal idea to others
- To brag about association with product or service
- To share for social needs
A WOM marketing campaign could be an ideal strategy for attracting local customers to your business. The downside is that this strategy can also be hard to measure. WOM campaigns that can draw criticism may include anything from gorilla marketing tactics (stunts to provoke conversations) to undercover employees who appear in popular places like cafes or malls paid to talk about a company. But there are other more specific WOM campaigns designed to attract a specific target audience.
Word of Mouth Campaign Example
So what type of a WOM strategy can you create that is inexpensive and will generate sales? One idea (I came up with this, not Balter – that would me bragging) is a referral campaign. Create business cards with five lines on each. You hand out a card to a customer after they complete a purchase, write their name on a line and tell them they need to refer another friend. That friend can have his or her name written on the next line and they can hand it off to a third friend, etc. After all lines are filled every person on that card can have a specified discount for their next purchase. Logistics would have to be determined (how will the previous customers know they can cash in on the discount, etc.) but this campaign is designed to attract new customers, increase sales, increase foot traffic into your physical store and promote your company.
Do you have any other WOM strategies? Leave a comment and share!
