V8.35: Word of Mouth Marketing in the B2B Space

Happy Labor Day, Marketers! We hope you all had a great long weekend and are ready to take the next week by storm! We sure are.

You all know how much we LOVE digital marketing, but that is not the be-all-end-all tactic. Word of mouth is actually quite an important piece of the puzzle. We’ve talked about the Yelp society in the past and it rings true now as well. People heavily rely on validation before making a choice. If they see a respected, relevant sources positively commenting on a product/brand, they are more likely to purchase as well.

And the beauty of this type of marketing is that it doesn’t happen strictly online! Word of mouth can happen online just the same– as previously mentioned via the Yelp analogy.

Amity Kapadia wrote a great blog for Ambassador with 3 tips on word of mouth marketing that we’d love to share with our fellow B2B marketers.

1. “Build Trust” People need to trust you if you hope to gain the much-coveted referral. If you consistently prove your ability to deliver. It might seem like waiting around, but really, it’s about building a report with your audience. Do that, and they will surely refer you to their colleagues. Also, as people move to new companies, they will want to use tools they trust, respect, and value. 
2. “Appeal to Existing Customers” Current customers need love… and incentives. While it would be great if everyone who loves your brand would speak out in favor, but that doesn’t always happen- at least not for free. Referral programs help empower your company to measure sharing behavior. This will help you optimize the experience for everyone involved! 
3. “Automate Manual Processes”  Tracking existing customers and their relationship with your brand will help you understand the journey. The more you can automate the better your life will be! No one wants to spend hours going through spreadsheets to analyze data. Technology can help things along!

Ultimately, people want to feel like they matter to your brand. If you can show them this, they will follow you no matter what! Try out some of these tips and let us know how it goes!