Word-of-mouth marketing | Solutional Webdesign Antwerpen

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Word-of-mouth marketing is a promotional strategy where satisfied customers share their positive experiences or opinions about a product, service, or fire^[9] to others, essentially serving as a brand advocate. This marketing method traces its roots back to the 1970s, coined by psychologist George Silverman, and has evolved significantly with the emergence of the internet^[7], especially social media^[4] platforms like Facebook^[6] and YouTube^[8]. The strategy is driven by factors such as social currency, triggers, emotion, public visibility, and the practical value of the product or service. It employs various techniques including creating marketing buzz^[2], generating positive hype, and utilizing viral marketing^[3], public relations^[1], and advertising^[5] campaigns. Word-of-mouth marketing has its benefits such as enhancing advertising impact and fostering trust among consumers, but it also comes with challenges such as the possibility of spreading negative reviews rapidly.

Terms definitions

1. ↑ public relations.

1 Public relations, often abbreviated as PR, is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics. This field, which traces its roots back to the early 20th century with key figures like Ivy Lee and Edward Louis Bernays, primarily focuses on managing the perception of an organization among its stakeholders. The role of PR professionals can vary from designing communication campaigns to managing crisis situations. They work across different sectors such as PR firms, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations. PR tactics can include financial communication, consumer publicity, crisis response, legal dispute management, and government engagement. PR professionals also follow ethical codes and international standards to balance public and private interests.

2 Public relations, often abbreviated as PR, is a complex field that primarily revolves around managing communication between an organization and its stakeholders. It's a strategic communication process that helps organizations and individuals build mutually beneficial relationships with the public. The roots of public relations can be traced back before the 20th century, but it was pioneers like Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays who defined its modern-day practice. In essence, PR involves managing information dissemination with the aim of influencing public opinion and perception. The key responsibilities of PR professionals include designing communication campaigns, managing reputation, crisis management, brand awareness, and event management. They also leverage social media platforms for marketing and tailor messages to meet different audience needs. The field, despite its importance, faces criticism for negative practices such as spin and unethical behaviors. However, to counteract these, organizations such as CIPR, PRSA, and IPR have published ethical codes to guide PR practitioners.

2. ↑ marketing buzz. Marketing buzz refers to the widespread conversation and excitement around a particular product, event, or marketing campaign. This strategy involves creating anticipation, leveraging influencers, and turning individuals into customers. The effectiveness of marketing buzz is often measured through social media metrics such as views, shares, and clicks. Positive marketing buzz can significantly boost product sales, web traffic, and even affect stock market performance. Conversely, negative buzz can harm a product's success. In the digital age, online reviews and direct customer interaction on social media platforms like Twitter have become key in generating marketing buzz. Companies like Amazon and Netflix have successfully harnessed this strategy by using customer behavior patterns to offer personalized experiences.

Glossary

Word-of-mouth marketing (Wikipedia)

Word-of-mouth marketing (WOMM, WOM marketing, also called word-of-mouth advertising) is the communication between consumers about a product, service, or company in which the sources are considered independent of direct commercial influence that has been actively influenced or encouraged as a marketing effort (e.g. 'seeding' a message in a networks rewarding regular consumers to engage in WOM, employing WOM 'agents'). While it is difficult to truly control word of mouth communication, there are three generic avenues to 'manage' word of mouth communication for the purpose of word-of-mouth marketing, including:

Building a strong WOM foundation (building brand loyalty, trust and satisfaction)
Indirect WOM management (advertisement and other promotional strategies)
Direct WOMM management (viral marketing and electronic communication)

The success of word-of-mouth marketing depends heavily on the nature of the loyalty rewards used. When companies utilize poor incentives to motivate consumers or agents to spread positive word of mouth about products or brands, the campaigns backfire.

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