It may seem, as certain cutting-edge elements become established in companies' marketing strategies, that more traditional methods are destined to disappear and have lost their effectiveness. However, taking that view and dismissing everything that simply sounds old-fashioned is neither the most appropriate nor the most intelligent approach.
Because, certainly, new formats and new methods have created a new reality and given brands a new element that works in their favour and helps connect with consumers — but the old methods have not died entirely and have not stopped being effective. What brands must learn to do is understand that they now play a different game, that they must use these methods in a new way to once again connect with consumers through them.
One of those traditional methods that has not entirely lost its effectiveness is word-of-mouth marketing — having consumers talk about products and spread the word about their benefits, so that the advantages reach other consumers bearing the seal of approval of their peers. The method is very effective and has great potential, as it makes recommendations seem far more trustworthy and reliable — far less like advertising or spam from the brand.
The truth is that this marketing method not only has not died with the arrival of new advertising formats and the incorporation of new tools into the marketing landscape — it has also found a kind of new reality and a new existence.
The internet has given word-of-mouth marketing a new lease of life and allowed it to connect with consumers in new settings. Social media and the internet are nothing more than an extension of this type of content, and tweets or Facebook updates in which we talk about a product and comment on its qualities and benefits are, ultimately, nothing more than the 2.0 version of the traditional format.
Word-of-mouth in the age of social media The format is also especially valuable for brands. "The value of word of mouth is that it's free," explains Jonah Berger, marketing professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. "If people share your content, it costs you nothing, but you do have to get them to share it," he notes, pointing out that brands have "a whole range of tricks and tips to do so".
In fact, he notes, in the world in which brands now operate, they already assume when talking about word-of-mouth marketing that it will happen on Facebook, Twitter, or blogs. "In reality, only between 7 and 10% of word-of-mouth marketing happens online. Most word of mouth is actually offline," he clarifies.
Recommendations, wherever they happen, hold great value for brands. According to a survey by the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) in collaboration with the American Marketing Association (AMA), 64% of marketing managers believe that recommendations received this way are far more effective than those conveyed through traditional marketing.
A Nielsen study, which asked consumers directly, confirms this: 84% of consumers trust recommendations from someone they know more than those they receive from a brand or any other source.
