The Importance of Word of Mouth Marketing

How many times have you tried a new product or service because you heard about it from a friend?

We are bombarded with advertising campaigns every day, but we will usually trust the opinions of the people we know over the advertisers. Even the most convincing campaigns can be hindered by friends who report a bad experience, while products or services you have never heard of or thought to try may appeal to you when a friend gives a good recommendation.

This is why word of mouth marketing is such an important strategy to remember. People will talk about your company's product or service with or without your help, so using a word of mouth marketing campaign to encourage a positive discussion will only benefit you.

Another plus side of word of mouth campaigns is the cost effectiveness. In the video below, Andy Sernovitz, author of "Word of Mouth Marketing," gives an example of an inexpensive word of mouth campaign that worked. When Potbelly, a Chicago sandwich chain, opened a location in Austin, they rented a mailing list of people who had moved from Chicago to Austin. They mailed out coupons to the people, who may have been customers in Chicago, inviting them to bring 10 of their friends in for sandwiches. By doing this, not only did Potbelly get the old customers into the new restaurant, but they generated recommendations from people who had eaten their product before to new customers.

To learn more about word of mouth marketing watch the video below or click here.