Why Word of Mouth Marketing Will Never Go Out of Style
Marketing is constantly evolving. People who work in marketing must keep up with the latest trends and technologies to make sure their product or service remains relevant. In decades past, marketing relied on print media like newspapers and magazines, as well as TV and radio commercials. Today digital marketing reigns supreme relying on the internet and a plethora of social media websites to reach an audience. However, one thing that remains the same throughout the years is this: humans love to talk about stuff they like with their friends. This can be as simple as a girl asking her friend where she bought her cute dress, a new mother talking about a baby product that changed her life, or a couple recommending a local restaurant to another couple as a great date night. Once people get talking about something they love or a new thing they just discovered, it’s hard to get them to shut up about it! The secret to good marketing is this: how do you get humans so excited that they won't shut up about what you are trying to promote? Once word of mouth starts spreading, expect growth to follow.
Finding a niche
When I lived in Chiang Mai, Thailand I was part of a small expat community that called the city home. Everyone had different reasons for moving, different home countries, different visas, different life philosophies; but we were all united under the “expat” umbrella and a special bond developed. Facebook is a major form of connecting and communicating with other expats in Thailand. There were dedicated facebook groups for everything: visa advice, secondhand buying/selling/trading, hiking meetups, stupid questions, local restraunt recommendations, motorcycles, teaching jobs, etc.
I joined every group I could in order to get a feel for my new city and the local community. One group in particular called “Chiang Mai Nomad Girls” became my go-to resource for all my questions and recommendations. As the name suggests, the group was targeted towards females (mostly between the ages of 20-45) who made Chiang Mai their temporary or permanent home. The group had a positive, friendly, and helpful vibe that instilled a feeling of trust and sisterhood among the members.
Within the group was a weekly thread called “Self Promotion Mondays” where any member could comment and post a link to their business. I obsessively followed the thread every week and discovered many products and services I came to love. Since I shared many interests with other members in this small niche market, I trusted these women’s recommendations. If I was looking for a good hair salon, a place to visit on my school break, a restaurant when I was craving “American” food, I always searched in the group and found exactly what I was looking for. Chiang Mai Nomad Girls enthusiastically talked about all the hidden treasures they found in the city and wanted others to know about.
Around half of the businesses shared in the Facebook group never did any direct promotion themselves, relying only on word of mouth marketing and the buzz created by the expat community. Other times, local businesses offered discounts exclusively to members of the group like 10% off a manicure if you mentioned “nomad girls” sent you. This created more goodwill amongst the group and further encouraged word of mouth to spread. Businesses that aligned with the interests of the Facebook group quickly discovered a thriving niche market that passionately shared their products or services with all their friends.
The Unifying Power of Movies
Another industry where word of mouth marketing is a powerful tool is cinema. As someone who loves going to the movie theater, I can tell you that no matter how good a trailer looks, if my other film buff friends tell me they didn’t like the movie, I won’t go see it. Conversely, if they recommend a movie I have never heard of before, I’ll trust their opinion and watch it. I don’t care as much about “film critic” reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, but I do care if other people with the same taste as me like or don’t like a film.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is a great example of how word of mouth marketing builds momentum over time. Though superhero films are common enough today, I remember back in 2012 when the first Avengers movie came out. I went to see it with a group of friends and we all were amazed by this new idea of having multiple characters from other movies team up. I loved the movie so much that my best friend and I saw it in theaters a total of 4 times. From then on, discussing Marvel films with each other as well as online with other fans became a regular passtime of ours. From 2012 to 2019 we saw almost every Marvel movie in cinemas together, and if circumstances prevented it we sent detailed reviews of the films to each other comparing notes and opinions. When I moved to Thailand, we could no longer watch the movies together but continued to discuss the newest films with each other as well as in the many online MCU fan forums.
During the pandemic when most movie theaters were forced to close and Marvel pivoted to streaming shows on Disney + I wondered how that would affect the overall reception of the MCU. What I discovered was that not even a global pandemic could stop Marvel’s tremendous word of mouth marketing. With everyone stuck inside and streaming shows, people turned even more to the internet to talk about what they were watching. People shared their opinions, detailed theories, and innumerable memes online and spread the word about Black Widow, WandaVision, Loki, and other Marvel projects. I and many others felt that this fan community filled a need for human connection during a difficult period when everyone felt isolated. These movies and shows were a form of escape and a way of coming together despite unfortunate circumstances. Despite living far away from my friends, our shared love of the MCU kept us connected across long distances. Humans love to talk about stuff they like, and no pandemic was going to shut us up.
After I returned to America and local Covid cases seemed to be in decline, I once again had the opportunity to watch the latest Marvel movie in theaters with my best friend just like in years past. Spiderman No Way Home promised to be a once in a lifetime moviegoing experience and we wouldn’t miss it for the world. In the months leading up to the film’s release, the online fan community ran wild with theories and I’ve rarely experienced so much anticipation for a movie before. Sitting in the darkened theater, the entire audience reacted as one entity laughing, crying, and cheering at the screen. After it ended the theater erupted in applause and people immediately turned to their neighbors to talk about what we just watched. Spiderman No Way Home proved to everyone what a unifying force movies can be as it shattered box office records in a post-pandemic world. Positive word of mouth spread like wildfire both online and in person, and my friend and I ended up watching the movie twice in one day just to relive the experience!
In Conclusion
In marketing, finding the correct niche is vital to helping word of mouth spread about a business. Once you click with a community, they transform into a dedicated and enthusiastic fan base that can become an unofficial extension of the marketing team. Humans will trust people they know more than a generic promotional campaign so if they get a recommendation from a friend, they are more likely to try it out. This concept is universal and timeless. Once word of mouth spreads beyond the niche, there is ample opportunity for growth as the target audience spreads the message to wider circles of friends and reaches new demographics. There is a reason why marketing teams dream of their product going viral, it is simply word of mouth amplified by the extraordinary reach of the internet. This is why, no matter what form it takes now or in the future, word of mouth will always be the bread and butter of marketing.
