Five essential things you need to know about Word of Mouth Marketing
By Ted Wright October 21, 2019
Our own Sarah Neely had a chance to talk about the foundations of Word of Mouth Marketing at The Uprising, a small retreat for marketing thought leaders hosted by friend of Fizz, Mark Schaefer.
Sarah led a discussion that covered five essential “big ideas” about WOMM.
1. An advocate is not the same an influencer
An advocate is a personality type. About 10 percent of the population loves to share stories at a rate 10x the rest of the population.
If you give them the right story to share, the customer becomes your marketer. An advocate provides organic reach for your story. An influencer typically would be somebody paid to promote a product.
2. A WOMM story needs “AIR”
Sarah Neely advised that the ideal story to seed into your target audience is:
- Authentic – It has to be believable and true.
- Interesting – Does it make you go “wow” and provoke conversation?
- Relevant – Will enough people care about it?
3. Fish where the fish are
A key idea is to show up where people will care about your story. Roll up your sleeves, get out there, and talk to people!
Sarah told the audience of thought leaders that Word of mouth marketing takes patience and a presence in key communities.
4. WOMM can be operationalized and scaled
Word of Mouth Marketing is built on math. We can predict how stories will flow in a population. Based on these reliable models, it is possible to create strategies that can spread stories in a city, region, nation … and beyond.
Sarah discussed the Fizz process for identifying the best WOMM marketing managers to help lead the process of spreading stories in the community.
5. Success takes time, but once it hits… Boom!
If you need to boost next month’s profits, WOMM is not what you need. But if you’re ready for the most effective and reliable long-term marketing strategy, it’s time to look at WOMM.
It’s impossible to predict when organic conversations will occur. Sarah Neely talked about watching for patterns in available metrics like sales increases, web site inquiries and social media mentions that can point to an impact from word of mouth marketing.
If you’d like to hear more, or have somebody from Fizz talk about Word of Mouth Marketing at your event, give us a call!
Ted Wright is the founder of Fizz, the world’s leading word of mouth marketing (WOMM) agency. Ted is also an acclaimed WOMM keynote speaker and the author of Fizz: Harness the Power of Word of Mouth Marketing to Drive Brand Growth.