Best Business Choice

Word of Mouth Marketing is fashionable and perceived to work exceptionally well in today’s world of information overload. But exactly why is it so powerful?

Here is the reason. Word of Mouth is all about what someone who is not perceived to have an axe to grind says about someone else’s product or service. We pay more attention to positive (and negative) comments from our friends and associates about all sorts of things than what we see, read or listen to in the media.

In today’s world successful marketing is all about speeding up the person’s decision making through the value of a third party’s recommendation. They are valued because:

• They are seen as independent;
• They have experienced the product or service and are seen as knowledgeable;
• Advice they give is seen as relevant because they are thinking of that person.

Let me give you a real example which brought this mind. Last week, at one of our networking lunches, one of our members Mark asked me if he should buy a service from another member Jill. It involved quite a lot of money and time so he wanted to be convinced he was making the right decision. “I want to make the right decision and I value your thoughts” is what he said. Knowing what was important to him and having experienced first-hand Jill’s service I was able to talk about her service at the right level and explain what benefit Mark might get.

In short I was valued because I had experienced the service, was seen as independent and was offering relevant and pertinent advice.

He bought it.

The moral of this story is that nothing sells better than a supporter who knows your service well and is motivated to help. At NRG we call them advocates and they are worth their weight in gold!

For more information read the NRG Advocacy Model.