Sunday, November 11, 2007

Branding Word of Mouth

WOM is Here…….Again!

By Harish Bijoor

WOM is here…once again, it seems!

Word of Mouth is today becoming the biggest thing going in the world of marketing. Call it Buzz, call it Viral Buzz, or simply put, word of mouth, is the biggest weapon in the arsenal of the marketing man, woman and child out there in the great big marketing space where consumer meets products, services and brands.

Did it ever go out of fashion? Not really. All the same, word of mouth has played a varying degree of a role in the marketing mix of many a product and service that satisfies our latent needs.

In the very, very old days it was only word of mouth. The only known form of advertising, marketing and indeed selling, was word of mouth. Positive and negative strokes that a brand got in the great marketplace of yore. If a product was good, it got its plaudits. If it was bad, it was condemned immediately. Whatever was the verdict, it spread through the marketplace to the benefit or detriment of the brand in question. All brands were indeed bought or not bought on the strength of consumer verdict of the friendly neighbour in question.

The best research you could embark upon when in search of a brand in the market was the way early consumers of the item were reacting to it. The early adopters were not only the guinea pigs of marketing society, but they were also the harbingers of WOM marketing. You wanted to buy into that rather expensive brand of Murphy radio, the best way to do it was find out from all the accessible owners of the Murphy transistors you could catch and trust. Murphy radio and its immense success in the early years of the last millennium is attributable most certainly to the role of WOM!

WOM played its role not only in the realm of the consumer durable. It played its potent role in the case of many a fast moving consumer good that costed even much less in the marketplace. Det detergent, Swastik detergent, and a host of early Indian consumer brands were built solely on the firm tenets of WOM marketing. One satisfied consumer spreading the good word to seven others and these seven evangelists spreading the word even further with the gusto that can only be best felt in the realm of WOM marketing!

Many a brand failed in the early years of Indian marketing thanks to WOM as well! A potent tool in the early years of Indian brand building. A double-edged weapon of the marketer at large! The consumer verdict was immediate and damning as well. A bad product could not aspire to survive long enough in the Indian market. WOM was its nemesis!

For many, many years the Indian practitioner believed word of mouth marketing to be something of an adjunct to the marketing process itself. There are indeed many in the marketplace even today who believe word of mouth to be something that just about happens on its own. Something that is organic to the marketing process itself. Something that is natural and something that cannot be controlled, calibrated and leveraged. How wrong they are!

Word of Mouth marketing today is a recognized form of marketing itself. Yet another mantra in the marketing Vedas being written and re-written all the time! Word of Mouth is possibly the most potent form in the entire marketing mix that can be leveraged to the benefit of your own brand, and surely to the detriment of the competitor’s offering, if properly and intelligently used.

Yes, while the consumer verdict is natural and immediate, it is certainly one that can be technically leveraged, channelised and disseminated meticulously to ensure a sure-fire and quick strategy that makes or breaks brands, either yours or the competitors!

Word of Mouth is it! I have just returned from a travel into the continent of Europe, parts of South East Asia and lands akin. Wherever I have been, there is but one product that best signifies the role being played by Word of Mouth marketing in contemporary days. The product is the collapsible scooter, a two-wheel push-along contraption, which many of us have played with in the early days of our childhood, an item that is a rage across markets today in a more sophisticated and sturdy format. All steel, all rugged, suiting the requirement of all heights and weights and ages of consumers. Rubber and silicon wheels and a trendy look that is today fast spreading across markets. The US, UK, Continental Europe, all of Asia literally and large parts of the landmass everywhere else is caught up with this product.

Incidentally, this is not an advertised product. Its best advertising is the satisfaction of its ever-expanding user-base across all ages. Its best advertising is its wide usage across streets in the busy metropolises, on the French Riviera, across the boulevards surrounding Lake Geneva, in crowded supermarkets, airports and railway terminals alike! There is a big buzz about the product. People pay the equivalent of anything upwards of INR 3600 to possess this brand new rage. A rage best attributed to the positive use of WOM marketing! The most contemporary use of WOM indeed!

WOM marketing is indeed less expensive and more reliable in its delivery than the mediums of advertising, sales promotion and other marketing mantras the modern marketing man is used to. If used well, if used judiciously, consciously, responsibly and technically, WOM marketing will pay dividends much richer than the traditional means we have used over the last decades gone by.

And guess what? WOM can be used for the latest brand of liquid gel-filled push-up bras that offer a natural feel and so also for your brand of ‘chakki fresh atta’ with equal panache and effectiveness!

Thursday, November 1, 2007