Should Word of Mouth be your main marketing strategy?

Is word of mouth really marketing?

Word of mouth is not marketing. I’ve always had this view for a good while every time I speak to a business person. And we talked about marketing and they say the best marketing is word-of-mouth marketing. They say all my marketing comes from word of mouth. And I mean that’s great you want to have word of mouth. But word of mouth is not your marketing, it’s your customer’s marketing. So, let’s break that down into a couple of points. The first point is; word of mouth is a secondary form of marketing. For you to have word of mouth, you had to have gotten to the customer in the first place. So, that’s the first point of word-of-mouth that it’s not a true marketing.

No. 1:  it’s not marketing by yourself or by your business. It’s by your customers. And No. 2: it’s a secondary marketing. Let’s go back and break that down. I remember talking to some businesses and they’re telling me well, things are slow. So, I’m holding back on my marketing. So, that’s like one of the first things that people start doing and that’s kind of crazy. You want to accelerate your marketing when things are slow. Then the second part is they talk about well all my business comes from word of mouth.

That’s terrible because if your business is slow that’s like saying I’m gonna sit here. And wait for Suzy, or John, or Tom to tell a friend to come over to my business. That’s the laziest, worst strategy you could possibly have. If your business is slow and you need customers you need to go get them. You need to shout, you need to market, you need to talk, you need to call, you need to knock on doors. Whatever the case is for your business. But relying on your customer to keep your business afloat, relying on your customer to do your marketing for you is a terrible strategy. In my view, it’s a lazy strategy.

So now let’s go to the flip side. It’s good to have, it’s basically social proof. It’s what reviews are all about but the point here is that I don’t want you to think that is your main primary marketing. Because then you get lazy and late. You’ll be out of business. So, the marketing is something that you’re gonna generate that you have control over. When things are slow, you’re gonna get out there. Hustle on whatever different mediums it might be. But don’t get complacent with your customers doing the work for you. That’s a lazy strategy. It’s a losing strategy as far as your primary marketing.

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