According to the Business Dictionary, Word of Mouth Marketing is:
Oral or written recommendation by a satisfied customer to the prospective customers of a good or service. Considered to be the most effective form of promotion, it is also called word of mouth advertising which is incorrect because, by definition, advertising is a paid and non-personal communication.
We define Word of Mouth Marketing a little differently here at Convince & Convert:
Turning your customers into your most effective sales and marketing asset by doing something they don’t expect, thus giving them a story to tell.
But as a practical matter, that’s not quite nuanced enough either. Because even when you succeed in getting your customers to talk about your business, there are still two different types of word of mouth: reactive word of mouth, and proactive word of mouth.
To achieve either, you need to first understand that competency doesn’t create conversation. When you do exactly what your customers expect and anticipate you will do, they do not mention that to anyone because there is no STORY there.
I have never said — to anyone — “Hey, let me tell you about this perfectly adequate experience I had r… Read More