Case in Point: The Value of Word of Mouth Marketing

Hey You! Talk to Me About Your Product and Then I’ll Go Tell My Friends

Recently, fellow Daily Anchor Editor Rebecca Novack and I had the pleasure of volunteering for a fundraiser here in the Bay Area. It was pretty typical: A silent auction, a few media sponsors, catered food, a live band, and wineries set up tables and brought the winemakers to pour and talk about their wines. We helped set up and were then told that one of the wineries sent a few cases of wine but no one to pour, so that would be our job for the night. My first thought was ‘why wouldn’t you send a representative from your business to talk about your product to 300+ wine drinkers?’

Who Are We To Talk About Your Product?

All we knew about the wine was what was on the bottle: It was a 2003 Merlot from Oakville, Napa with an alcohol content of 14.8%. This was a wine-competent group asking questions that we were not able to answer; “what is the price point?”, “where in Oakville is your winery located?” and “do you have a wine club?” . We would reply with “I am sorry, we are not with the winery, just pouring for them.” Quickly that person would shoot us a look like, “why don’t you know about the wine your pouring?”

By the end of the night, we were pros. Party goers were coming back for more, we were directing people to the winery’s website and engaging people in conversation about the wine. People liked talking about a product they enjoyed! They would send their friends to our table to try the wine. We had the opportunity to probe those that were familiar with the winery and get more information about it so we could better promote it. Although we thought it was a successful night, we still had no clue as to what the winemakers may or may not have wanted to promote about their wine and winery and unfortunately, they were not there to do it.

Painting Your Own Picture of Your Product

The quality of a product is not going to promote that product by itself. In this case, the wine was wonderful, but people wanted to know more about it, how to get it and if there was a wine club they could join, yada yada yada. This was their opportunity to tell consumers about their product from their point of view, using certain vocabulary and painting the picture they want about their product. These days, when the money may not be there for advertising, website revamps, and extra collateral, there is no better way to market your product then getting out there yourself and talking about it. It is called word of mouth marketing. Best of all, this is a Do-It-Yourself strategy.

Elements of this type of marketing allow you to educate people about your product or services and listen and respond to the thoughts and opinions of consumers on the spot. It also let’s you identify those that share your same thoughts. Once you start talking about your product, it starts to make it’s way into other peoples conversations. Place your product into the right hands at the right time by providing samples and information to influential individuals.  Another aspect of word of mouth marketing is to identify key communities and opinion leaders who are likely to talk about your products and who have the ability to influence the opinions of others. Get your product into their hands and talk to them about it. Then they talk to others about it and so on and so forth.

Another way to get out in the community to talk about your product is to support social causes and earn the respect and support from people who feel strongly about the cause. They are more apt to give your product a second thought knowing that you both support the same cause. Or maybe they never knew about your product in the first place. Now they do. A few other low-cost but highly effective ways to generate buzz about your product are viral marketing, blogging, grassroots marketing, buzz marketing and social media. It may not be you talking face-to-face to the consumer about your product, but it still gets people talking.

A happy customer is a great promotion in itself. By finding the right people and connecting to them, they will go out and tell those around them. It feels much more personal too. Word of mouth marketing builds on our natural desires to share experiences with family, friends and colleagues. It gives you an opportunity to showcase your passion about your products. And hopefully, others will feel the same way as you do.

For more word of mouth marketing strategies, see Dosh Dosh

Tagged as: Buzz Marketing, Networking, Word of mouth marketing