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Word of Mouth Marketing

How to Leverage Word-of-Mouth Marketing

I have this friend. He works for a company called Whole Foods > specifically in the seafood department. His shift is from 4am – 3pm every day of the week. 

Now my friend Robert isn’t the biggest fan of working for Whole Foods…or even the biggest fan of Whole Foods as a brand. But one thing he is a fan of is their ready made meals. He LOVES the meals including lasagna, roast beef with mashed potatoes, even sushi! All of these meals are packaged for 2-4 people, perfect to check out, go home, pop in the oven or serve immediately for your family. You see, he wakes up super early [ 4 IN THE MORNING!!!] for work. So by the time he gets home, he is exhausted and doesn’t have a desire to cook, but with these ready made meals he’s been able to lose weight and save money by not eating out so much. 

Now what does this story have to do with Word of Mouth Marketing?

My friend Robert won’t.. Excuse my language.. SHUT UP about them! He has even convinced me to get a membership myself and purchase them for my family of two as we travel across the country! “Great deals” – “There’s one in every town you’ll visit” – “We can’t get enough of them”. You see, because Robert found something he does really enjoy at Whole Foods as a consumer – he shares with anyone he comes into contact with. 

This my friends is a prime example of Word-of-mouth Marketing. One man found a product that he LOVES and uses consistently from a company he visits everyday and he then shares that good word with his friends and family – and yes strangers too. 

Word of mouth marketing at its core is a tactic people use to generate natural discussion about a product or company.

5 Things about Word of Mouth Marketing: 

  1. Word of Mouth Marketing is one of the best marketing tools out there
  2. Word of Mouth Markeitng can be difficult to implement because it comes from people having a consistently excellent experience with your brand, product or service. 
  3. Word of Mouth Marketing happens on Social Media, online review platforms, in person community groups and spur of the moment conversations.
  4. Word of Mouth Marketing is a cost effective way to spread the word about your business. 
  5. Word of Mouth Marketing can quickly spread buzz about your business across state and national lines. 

Robert, even though he works for Whole Foods, doesn’t get any kickbacks or free meals for sharing about the product he loves. He doesn’t get a promotion or bonus at the end of the year because he has referred so many people and got them hooked on these family style ready meals. Instead he gets the satisfaction of finding a great product and sharing the joy it has brough him and his family with the people he talks to. AND Whole Foods gets expanded brand reach, brand awareness and new potential customers that might not be in their ad demographic or drive by their stores or billboards on their way to work. 

Whole Foods receives word of mouth marketing FREE OF CHARGE – and leverages it by continually providing ready made meals of various types. Then LISTENING to its customers when they want to see a change up in menu, or favor a particular meal at a particular location. 

In Closing my questions for you are:

  1. What product, service or aspect of your business is driving people to share it with their friends? 
  2. How are you serving your customers so that they have word-of-mouth worthy interactions with your business? 
  3. What are you going to do moving forward to ensure your customers will be talking about your business in a positive way and recommend it to their friends and family?
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