Today we’re going to talk about harnessing the power of “word of mouth.” Including the six-step process to success and the 30+ (that’s right, I said 30) ways to harness the power of WOM. So, let’s get started!

There are six steps to harnessing word of mouth:

1. Understand your customer’s values and priorities; this will help you understand why they would buy your products.
2. Understand the different adopter types: innovators, early adopters, middle majority, late adopters and laggards.
3. Identify which decision stages are needed for your product to be adopted.
4. Use the information from steps 2 & 3 to figure out which wording, and word of mouth tactics are going to work using the Decision Maker Matrix (we’ll talk about this in a minute).
5. Put together the resources for the highest word of mouth impact.
6. Create and implement your word-of-mouth (WOM) campaign.

The Decision Maker Matrix is based off years of trial and error by George Silverman. It essentially charts to different concerns you may come across when working with different adopters and then putting together a customized decision process for each one.

Now, 30+ ways to harness the power of WOM:

Use Experts

Experts can come in many forms and all their opinions should be taken into consideration when putting together a WOM campaign. Some experts from whom you could gather information include:

• Customers
• Suppliers
• Subject Matter Experts
• Salespeople
• Experts’ roundtables
• Experts’ selling groups

Seminars, Workshops & Speeches

These venues are a perfect opportunity to gather information. People who attend these types of events are used to giving feedback, so you can use a survey or other method to gather information you can look over later -a s well as gather contact information. Some events to use are:

• Speaker program
• Seminars
• Webinars
• Group selling
• Dinner meetings
• Peer selling groups
• Video conference experts’ panels
• Trade show events/opportunities

Referral Selling

As we’ve talked about before, a referral program can help with a variety of things in building your business. By using some of the following tactics and opportunities you can find out exactly what you need to do to generate positive word of mouth. These tactics and opportunities are:

• Testimonials
• Networking
• Referral Selling Program

“New” Media

The concept of “new” media is the use of up-and-coming media sources and opportunities to get the word out about your products and services and listen for the feedback about them. Most social media options could be considered “newer” media:

• TikTok
• Instagram
• YouTube
• Facebook, Facebook Groups, Facebook Messenger, and Facebook Live
• WhatsApp
• A host of others

Using Traditional Media for Word of Mouth

Using traditional media is a great way to get feedback. These are still considered mainstream ways of interacting with the public and consumers. Some traditional media outlets are:

• Customer service surveys
• PR
• Placements
• Events
• Promotions
• Word of mouth in ads, sales brochures, or direct mail
• Salesperson programs, sales stars, or peer training,
• Word-of-mouth incentive programs (“Tell-a-friend” programs)
• Customer gifts they can share with their friends (articles, how-to manuals)

Internal Word of Mouth

• Encourage employee word of mouth and sharing feedback with family, friends and others
• Offer rewards or commission for word-of-mouth success

As you can see there are tons of ideas you can work with to increase your level of positive word of mouth marketing. If you need help with any of this, please try our FREE test drive to access our exclusive resources that can help you put this whole thing together.