Word Mouth Marketing - 3 Most Important Points

When starting this book, I was already looking for answers on why word of mouth marketing is important. Sure, it is easy to look around at numerous modern and successful companies and notice that they are participating, but I was wondering if it was actually making a difference. Then I came across this idea in the book: "word of mouth is about genuine consumer conversation." That is exactly the point, GENUINE. There is nothing more detrimental to trust than realizing someone is not being genuine. A similar point to this is drilled into leadership students who study that authenticity is one of the most important traits a leader should follow. Marketing is the same in that you are going to trust authenticity (or genuineness) more than not. This quote solidified the idea to me that people will be influenced much more by their trusted friends and acquaintances than by marketing campaigns.

The second idea that struck home with me is that word of mouth marketing only works if you have good "stuff", or products and services. In other words, "give people a reason to talk about you." Like Andy said, the conversation will not last long when you are the only person talking. This idea very much follows the pull philosophy, as opposed to push. If you can get the customers to create the buzz for you, then you have genuine communication from customer to customer. Instead of perceived non-genuine communication between the company and the customer. Talk about a lot of output with little effort., versus less output with a lot of effort.

The first two points illustrate why word of mouth is important, and the main idea behind how to do it. The third point I was searching for had to answer another question - how to sustain the conversation? The answer to that question starts on page 121 of book and says "Your Job: Make it easier for the message to spread." I believe the most important subset of this is to build word of mouth into your product. To me, that has to be value of some kind. Whether it is the most unique and interesting thing, or the most simple but great experience. I think hands down, if you have a product that inherently has the capability to keep the conversation going between customers, then you have a winner.