McKinsey Weighs in on Word of Mouth -- "The Most Powerful Form of Marketing" - Ed Keller - MediaBizBloggers

The upstart word of mouth marketing industry got a big boost recently from a bluechip source McKinsey ampamp CompanyA recent article in the McKinsey Quarterly made some rather bigand justifiedclaims about the power of word of mouth Some headlines that are worth notingamp183 quotThe rewards of pursuing excellence in wordofmouth marketing are huge and it can deliver a sustainable and significant competitive edge few other marketing approaches can matchquotamp183 Word of mouth is the primary factor behind 20 to 50 percent of all purchasing decisionsamp183 While word of mouth has different degrees of influence on consumers at each stage of their purchase journey quotit is the only factor that ranks among the three biggest consumer influencers at every step It is also the most disruptive factorquotThe McKinsey report differentiates between three types of WOM1 Experiential word of mouth which results from a consumer39s direct experience with a product or service McKinsey notes that this is the most common form of word of mouth2 Consequential word of mouth whereby brandrelated conversations are triggered by marketing activities In consequential word of mouth consumers who are directly exposed to marketing campaigns pass on messages about them3 Intentional word of mouth which McKinsey defines as instances in which marketers use celebrity endorsements to trigger positive WOM eg for product launches McKinsey calls this the least common form of word of mouthMy firm39s research has long supported the notion that there are multiple ways in which brands can spark conversation but we also have found that they are not mutually exclusive In fact we find that when they work in combination the result for brands is often the most powerfulLet39s start with experiential WOM Keller Fay39s word of mouth research over the past four years has documented that word of mouth based on direct consumer experience is a major fault line in determining whether word of mouth has credibility and impact especially purchase intent For example word of mouth conversations that are driven by personal experience increase the likelihood to purchase based on that conversation by more than 20 percentage points compared to WOM that includes no personal experienceBut while we see that customerdriven word of mouth drives impact our research shows that the combination of customer experience plus a marketing stimulus is actually the most impactful For example word of mouth that is driven by both personal experience and includes references to media or marketing is the most likely to spark strong recommendations to buytry the products being discussed Similarly WOM that includes both personal experience and discusses mediamarketing is more likely to lead to conversations with othersThe important learning here is that while personal experience is the sine qua non in word of mouth brands can create a quotsecret saucequot which mixes experience plus well designed and executed marketing programs that are designed to spark conversation And yet our research shows that in less than half of the instances in which people talk about their personal experiences with brands are they also talking about mediamarketing There is a clear and compelling opportunity for marketers to drive this figure higherToo often marketing remains focused on driving new prospects to become customers Advertising and quottraditional marketingquot usually operate independently of word of mouth and social media initiatives In today39s word of mouth era the two must come together There should be a strong focus on reaching people who already have prior experience with the brand Marketing provides them with new things to talk about and the language and motivation to recommend the brand to others It cues them to talk At the same time their customer experience conveys confidence and credibility which in turn drives the people with whom they talk to take action based on the conversationsIn other words market to your current customers and encourage them do what for you is the hard work but for them comes naturally amp8211 namely the recruiting of new customersEd Keller CEO of the Keller Fay Group has been called quotone of the most recognized names in word of mouthquot The publication of Keller39s book The Influentials has been called the quotseminal moment in the development of word of mouthquot Ed can be contacted at ekellerkellerfaycomRead all Edamp8217s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Ed Keller MediaBizBloggersCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBlogger

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McKinsey Weighs in on Word of Mouth -- "The Most Powerful Form of Marketing" - Ed Keller - MediaBizBloggers

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