Gather round, Flairy friends! It’s time to talk about
Word of Mouth in 2022
Back in the 80’s and 90’s, t’was a simpler time of TV ad jingles and letting your fingers do the walking on the yellow pages. Back then, it was whoever was the most memorable, and the flashiest ads that got the most attention.
Not in 2022! Particularly, marketing with word of mouth (probably the Flairy favourite way of marketing!) is a little more complicated in the suspicious times that we now live in.
Word Of Mouth Example (the Uncle Jerry):
Say your Uncle Jerry tells you about this great service he got from a particular lawn mower maintenance place. What do you do next? Call them? Heck no!
(We’re not going to trust Uncle Jerry! He’s the guy that put shaving cream on poor Nanna’s hand when she was napping last Christmas!)
Most people will stalk them on Facebook, Instagram, Google Search Profile and website. In addition to this, you might look up videos and articles about lawn mowing, see who of your friends are following their IG and Facebook pages, look up how many reviews they’ve had and if they have any 1 star whingers, as well as how they’ve responded to said whingers. Depending on how much of a Santiago you are, your research could get rather exhaustive.
The bottom line is, word of mouth helps, but most of us still need to back it up with our own research before making that purchasing decision.
So from a small business perspective, how can you encourage and strengthen your word of mouth marketing to ensure that chatter ends in results??
1 – Sturdy up your socials
Even if you are posting once a week (although 2-3 times is ideal) – consistent social media posts tell those social stalkers that you are still in business.
Although it seems counterproductive since it feels you are always needed working in the business, not on the business, the world we live in, social media still heavily influences audiences’ buying decisions. [ComputerWeekly.com]
2 – Get those reviews and recommendations live!
While we don’t necessarily trust our Uncle Jerry, we seem to trust complete strangers on Google Reviews or acquaintances doing a recommendation on Facebook more! I know, it’s weird and doesn’t make any sense, but 88% of people trust online reviews written by other consumers as much as they trust recommendations from personal contacts. [BrightLocal]
3 – Update your website – both in visuals and copywriting
- No more profile photos from the early 2000’s (just a note for those of you thinking this is recent – that was over 20 years ago!). No more photos of the premises before that hedge grew taller than your office window.
- Blogs and FAQ’s are vital to showing your business is worthy of the recommendation and therefore the business. If you can get an affiliate, or even a regular client to write a blog on your website, even better! This not only helps you get in front of researching audiences with increasing your Search Engine Optimisation, it also shows you know what you’re talking about within your industry.
Got 99 problems and your socials and website are some of them? Give us a call – we can get you sorted!