Word of mouth marketing has been around long before the dawn of modern electronic communications and long before the Internet. Therefore, it is surprising to see that to this day, the two concepts are considered mutually exclusive and not complementary to each other.
What is word of mouth marketing?
This form of marketing is often also known as Word of mouth advertising, which involves the process of actively encouraging and influencing an organic word-of-mouth discussion about a product, brand, resource, or even a specific corporate message or event. Then it is up to your employees, clients or clients to spread the news and defend the core message. A more commonly used phrase for this is referring to it as viral marketing.
It is well known that it has the advantages of being positively accepted if it reaches the intended market. However, it has its disadvantages if the message is not clear and has an intentional bias towards a certain group, be it racial, cultural, sexist, religious, rich, poor, etc.
Online marketing, on the other hand, needs little introduction, as we are bombarded with it on a daily basis via websites, social media, and other digital media platforms. In more formal terms, it’s about capturing and expanding the customer experience at crucial points. It’s also about building a relationship and continually adapting through different channels to reach specific customers.
So where is the synergy between word of mouth marketing and online marketing?
The answer is undoubtedly with affiliate marketing, which consists of selling or promoting someone else’s goods and services and then charge for it. This can be physical goods through Amazon or digital goods through online marketing platforms like ClickBank. The affiliate simply looks for a product that has high external or personal appeal, then promotes that product or service and is rewarded in one way or another.
In many cases, companies encourage their workers to inform their friends or family about new offers and will issue discount vouchers, etc. Employees in turn will be incentivized according to the level of commitment. In this case, the marketing is most likely word of mouth, but essentially the employee is now acting as an “affiliate marketer” for the company.
Online Marketing Has The Potential To Make People Big Money regardless of the same differences mentioned above, that is, race, gender, social position, etc. It has a very low barrier to entry and a multitude of companies to join. Another advantage is global reach, so you are certainly not restricted to just marketing in your local or national geographic area.
If an affiliate marketer has a very good product and uses a properly executed word of mouth strategy as a free form of advertising, cost significantly less than any paid marketing channel. Potential buyers generally tend to search online for reviews and information before making a purchase decision. However, a substantial amount also depends on friends, family and colleagues before making the purchase decision.
Therefore, it is obvious that the vast potential of integrating the two previous concepts has not been fully explored. I would suggest that people looking for methods in how to earn extra money, seriously consider having a good grip on affiliate marketing and using word of mouth to expand your customer base.
