Today's Marketing Topic: Word of Mouth Marketing (WOM)

Your products and services will always be subject to those who like to gossip and share information on their blogs, Facebook accounts, and tweets.  Knowing this simple fact is the key to using Word of Mouth (WOM) marketing. WOM is the best way to make your business famous.

WOM strengthens the consumer-marketer bond, makes people talk about your company and gives customers the opportunity to comment on your products by ‘spreading the word.’

Basic Elements - Word of Mouth Marketing

• Products and services information

• Gifts and rewards for customers

• Sending messages among friends and family

• Gathering people by similar hobbies and features, for instance, the wish to be famous

WOM should not be used to mislead potential customers, but rather to leverage your audience in a positive way. Your customers are meant to be respected and valued. Show them with integrity and intelligence that you appreciate them being your customers and encourage them to speak to others about your products or services

Using resources like online newsletters, emails, and blogs are a great way to provide value and get others to share knowledge of your brand or products with others.  When valuable content is distributed, provide tools people need to share it with like minded people.  This could include: social bookmarks, email a friend, etc.  Making it easy for others to share your information goes a very long way.

Viral marketing is like the ripple effect on water when throwing a pebble into it. One valuable step to get big results!  If you've been reading my blog, you know how much I love blogging.  If you have your own blog or are thinking of starting one, consider the following benefits of blogging from the perspective of WOM marketing.

•No costs for promotion –uses others to help distribute your content.

•Increases reputation and credibility by people spreading the word about your blog and company.

WordPress’s Tell a Friend Plugin – Spread the Word Quickly!

Some blog sites have added great tools to help distribute valuable content that you may offer.  The ‘Tell a friend’ plugin of WordPress is the most famous tool used for viral marketing. It is a free plugin added in blogs that lets people pass along sites to others.

• Visitors will click on the ‘Tell a Friend’ button, if you place it in your blog. In this way visitors will spread the word easily from the pop-up.

• Telling others about your blog has never been so easy. Just fill out the e-mail form and send them to your friends!

This tool supports major free e-mail providers such as Hotmail, Google, etc. Once you are in your account, it pulls your address book! It sends hundreds of e-mails at a time choosing the addresses from your contacts. It will give your blog a larger exposure.

When ever you initiate an online marketing campaign, consider the value of Word of Mouth marketing.  By leveraging your customers and other who are interested in what you have to offer, you can take your marketing to new heights!

Thanks to Mark Doyle from Internet Marketing Agency for his guest post today.  Mark can be reached at mark@theoutsourcingcompany.com

P.S. If you liked today's post, reach out to Mark Doyle, leave a comment, or retweet it!