How can you get your brand noticed? As a business one of your primary goals is to increase brand awareness in order to increase your profitability. While there are various marketing methods that you could employ to promote your brand, products, or services, consideration must be given to budget and cost.
So what avenues of advertising can businesses incorporate into their marketing campaigns? One of the most effective forms can be utilizing word of mouth marketing. This method allows the customers to do the majority of the marketing on behalf of the business generally leading to greater brand awareness and promotions that cost little to nothing for the business. This is especially beneficial for small businesses that may not have a large marketing budget, to begin with.
This form of marketing can be highly effective. Statistics show that 92% of consumers trust recommendations coming from friends and family more than any type of marketing.
Word of mouth marketing can happen organically but it can also be managed and facilitated. A business can set up different campaigns designed to garner referrals, recommendations, and engagement from the consumers. The objective then becomes to find ways to engage customers so they chose to talk with others about the products and services thus promoting the brand. This can be done through social media platforms, online communities, blogs, or off-line events.
Forms of word of mouth marketing.
Word of Mouth marketing can be highly effective. There are two types of word of mouth marketing that business can use to promote their brand, products, or services. Viral marketing that is spread to the masses over time building momentum as the content is shared and reshared typically via social media shares. Buzz marketing can be blasted to the masses at once and is typically centered around events where a large number of people can be reached at once. It typically uses unconventional methods to generate discussion around a product/service or brand. This can take place offline.
Buzz Marketing
Buzz marketing should aim to create a “splash in the marketplace” according to Philip Kotler and Kevin Lane Keller, authors of Marketing Management. This type of marketing creates a “buzz” around the brand by generating excitement through unexpected or unconventional methods. An example of buzz marketing is one that is centered around an event such as Super Bowl ads or another offline event.
One example is Taco Bell’s 2019 Bell Hotel Campaign. The campaign centered around a Bell Hotel where fans were invited to “book a getaway to a resort that includes everything from sauce packet pool floaties to themed salons.” The Bell sold out within two minutes of going live, CNBC reported.
Viral Marketing
Viral marketing encourages the promotion and sharing of online information related to the brand’s products or services. The consumers are encouraged to share the brand’s products/services, branded content (such as video), or other branded information via the online space. Creating content for social media campaigns can be cost-effective because you can basically advertise for free on most platforms and use organic reach.
ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
https://www.criticalmention.com/blog/marketing/the-difference-between-viral-and-buzz-marketing/
This campaign is a great example of viral marketing using word of mouth to promote an organization. This campaign was created as a way to raise awareness for ALS. It was effective because it tapped into human emotions and allowed the consumers or viewers to actively participate in the story while sharing the content instantly through social media.
Final Thoughts
The key to implementing word of mouth campaigns is creating content that people connect with and want to share with others. You can facilitate the connection tapping into emotions or adding a level of controversy or unconventional advertising methods as seen in the Taco Bell example. Word of mouth advertising can be effective and an inexpensive alternative to paid advertising by talking to people one at a time. If you are just starting out and need to get your brand noticed, you’ll want to implement some type of word of mouth marketing.
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