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How Does Word-of-Mouth Marketing Really Work?
| Posted on March 12, 2015 at 9:46 AM |
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 Word-of-Mouth Marketing (WOMM) today is both online and through
face-to-face interaction. At times we
think of WOMM in terms of marketing buzz,
the interaction of users of a product or service that amplifies the brand and
in some cases goes viral. In reality, regular old everyday “buzz” is not as glamorous as
we marketers like to imagine. Recommendations
from friends and family don’t often come with viral like excitement, but from a
place of more practical experience. This perspective was driven home for me during a lecture with
some senior business students during their capstone marketing course. The class had been working through a
marketing media planning session focused on a national plumbing company. The
students did an excellent job. In fact, I was impressed with their
recommendations to leverage social media in addition to the traditional media
typically used for advertising in the plumbing industry. Of course, most 22 years olds have never actually
had to call a plumber, and that fact came out in the following exchange: Alan: “What I would like for you to
do is to close your eyes and imagine that you have recently purchased your
first home. You walk down into your basement and you notice water on the floor
because your hot water heater is leaking. What’s the first thing you are going
to do?” Student: “I’ll probably still live in
this area, so I’ll pick up the phone and call my dad.” Alan: “You’re not going to leverage
one of your social media communities, or go online and do a search on plumbing?
… Is your dad a plumber?” Student: “Well – no; but he will know
who to call.” When I think about it, it’s not hard for me to imagine that the
situation above would play out the same in my home. I can hear it now: My 24 year old daughter: “Dad – my hot water heater is
leaking!! Can you help me?!” Alan: “Yes, don’t panic, I’ll be over
in a second and we’ll figure it out.” So, which plumbing company do you think will get the
business? Well, when is the last time I
used my plumber? Do I still have their
number? Should I do a quick online
search? Should I grab my yellow pages
directory? Didn’t I recently get a direct
mail coupon from a plumbing company? Should I send a tweet asking my followers
for a local recommendation? Perhaps I should
grab some tools. No, I definitely should
not do that because I’d create a disaster!  |
