Word of mouth is the flowing of information from one person
to another through oral communication, particularly one to one communication.
In the digital age this can also take place through phones, blogs, chats,
email, text/IM etc. It basically is an
epidemic which flows contagiously. Take for example a sexually transmitted
disease (STD), which engulfs the next person which comes in contact with an
already infected one. The person
contacted is influenced by the information it is exposed to, this instigates
him to forward it to someone else.
In today’s era a consumer is thrown information about
hundreds of products in a day. It is very vital to capture the space in the
minds of the customer. Word of mouth helps in creating that image because it
comes from a trusted source, one to one communication. Particularly for brands
to become from mediocre to great word of mouth becomes a very important tool.
There have been several success stories coined with word of mouth in branding;
for instance ‘Snapple’ the brand of tea and fruit juices derived its success
through word of mouth in the late 1970’s, 'Hush Puppies' the famous shoe brand showed a dramatic turnaround in the mid 1990's through word of mouth. Contagious as it is it can also have
a negative impact on the brand image for example Cadbury insect infestation
issue, coca cola having pesticides these news spread like wildfire majorly through WOM. This significantly deteriorated the brand image of existing market
leaders and costs millions to the firms.
The system is also based on referrals made by existing users
of a product. It minimizes the risk and acts like a perceived incentive to the
prospective buyer. Slowly the trust is built and word of mouth marketing sails
through. Not every individual has the potential to trigger a word of mouth
epidemic. There are some major sources which play a handy role in spreading the
message across. That source is often referred to as ‘connector’. A connector is
a person which connects many individuals, a central node through which
information can be transmitted. The important trait of the connector is its reliability.
People tend to trust these types of individuals. These are amicable people who
make friends very easily, they do not judge people, do not get prejudiced and
follows them a huge network of people.
fig.connector at the centre
Malcolm Gladwell, the renowned management thinker in his book
‘The Tipping Point’ talks of that magical moment when ideas, trends, social
behaviors cross a threshold, tip and spread like a wildfire. That tipping point
is reached, thus making the ‘word of mouth’ a phenomenon. Before this tipping
point it is basically in the process of becoming an epidemic or a viral
phenomenon.
There is no doubt that word of mouth is an efficient
marketing tool in current era of cut throat competition. But there are some
reservations expressed about it when it comes to buying an expensive product or
any technical product where expert opinion is preferred over popular sentiment.
P.S.- Required a lot research but was worth it. My first related to the field of marketing.
When some close aid, a friend, a colleague, a teacher, an uncle or a relative dies, we make up from the shock after sometime. Its a compromise we make for we can not afford to be on the same page for a long time. The prospect of future is brighter than lamenting present, you consolidate it with the idealistic "move on" and eventually move with it.
That's what happens generally, my curiosity in the matter arose when I pondered over one such event of my life. A few months back my uncle died of an heart arrest, he had a sudden demise and I was shocked as death is an unanticipated, dreadful event though it is certain. Well a few days passed and he was no more a part of our conversations, he may rest in peace was said and gradually done. To this day I must have thought about him for he was a close companion of my Dad and I usually got updates about his family etc. But today was a different reason; I was messaging my friends.
Messages-->>Inbox-->>forward-->>add recipients, a list of contacts appear. I scrolled the list, marked some and there it flashed, his(uncle's) name. I moved down in the list but again came back to it, just something clicked and it doesn't wish to go back. All his memories flashed back in the back of my head.
A little later a series of questions started flowing in my mind. What happens to our contact number when we die?
Do people delete it when they know we are no more? What happens to our facebook profile? Does the timeline has an end to it? Have we ever thought of having a will for all this? And is there a proper time to have a will because you never know when you'll die? What is with these lifetime SIM's? What happens with the email address? So on and so forth.
I surely could not come up with any solid reason/answer to these questions. But I learnt one thing when I mistakenly stumbled into the contact detail of my dead uncle, it made me realize that no matter how difficult time I am having right now, I am still alive. And one day my time will come, when I will be no more, before that comes I shall make this count this is my present this is all I have got. And I remind myself this whenever I see any token of those who rest in peace.
Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them.
-George Eliot
So don't forget and get reminded...
That's what happens generally, my curiosity in the matter arose when I pondered over one such event of my life. A few months back my uncle died of an heart arrest, he had a sudden demise and I was shocked as death is an unanticipated, dreadful event though it is certain. Well a few days passed and he was no more a part of our conversations, he may rest in peace was said and gradually done. To this day I must have thought about him for he was a close companion of my Dad and I usually got updates about his family etc. But today was a different reason; I was messaging my friends.
Messages-->>Inbox-->>forward-->>add recipients, a list of contacts appear. I scrolled the list, marked some and there it flashed, his(uncle's) name. I moved down in the list but again came back to it, just something clicked and it doesn't wish to go back. All his memories flashed back in the back of my head.
A little later a series of questions started flowing in my mind. What happens to our contact number when we die?
Do people delete it when they know we are no more? What happens to our facebook profile? Does the timeline has an end to it? Have we ever thought of having a will for all this? And is there a proper time to have a will because you never know when you'll die? What is with these lifetime SIM's? What happens with the email address? So on and so forth.
I surely could not come up with any solid reason/answer to these questions. But I learnt one thing when I mistakenly stumbled into the contact detail of my dead uncle, it made me realize that no matter how difficult time I am having right now, I am still alive. And one day my time will come, when I will be no more, before that comes I shall make this count this is my present this is all I have got. And I remind myself this whenever I see any token of those who rest in peace.
Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them.
-George Eliot
So don't forget and get reminded...
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