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It has been calculated that a
person receives more than 1,000
ad messages from different media everyday. The question
that arises here is how many ads/ad products can the person
remember out of these 1,000? Probably, somewhere between 2-5. If its
so, then many of the ad campaigns are just a waste of money. It is true
that we tend to believe the information given by people whom we know.
We, as customers, would believe some information given by a friend
more than a message conveyed through an ad. This is the
fundamental reason why the word of mouth concept originated. An Australian
multilevel marketing company first used this term,
word-of-mouth marketing, in the mid-1980s. WOMM (Word of
Mouth Marketing) is a tool which can give better results compared to
other promotional activities. This strategy has become popular and
is being used by all the countries across the world. FMCG giant,
Reckitt Benkiser, which manufactures popular brands like Vanish,
Cherry Blossom, Colin, etc., is now using social media marketing.
The company has initially planned to promote its products in
six countries (US, UK, India, Brazil, Russia and Germany) to create
a dialog platform with the audience. The objective of this campaign
is, not only to increase sales and create brand credibility, but also to
reach out to the next generation suppliers, consumers, employees
and shareholders. That is the reason why the campaign is targeted at
people in the age group of 20-32.
Today, social media has become an important element of the media
mix for every marketer. One cannot skip WOMM, especially when we
are talking about integrated marketing communication today. A
positive word of mouth can create repeat customer purchase and
can introduce new customers in a very cost-effective way. It also gets
the marketer closer to the end customer.
A global Internet survey by Nielsen found that 87% of
those who used the Internet trusted others' advice, rather than any
kind of advertising. This shows that word-of-mouth is the
most powerful advertising tool. Newspapers came second in
the `most trusted list', with 77%, opinions expressed online were
the third most trusted at 73%. India comes fourth among the top
10 countries in which customers trust the recommendations given
by other consumers, with Hong Kong topping the list with 93%. Most
of the top 10 markets in which consumers rely mostly
on "recommendations from other consumers" are in Asia.
They include Taiwan, Indonesia, South Korea and the Philippines. |
