In order to stimulate word of mouth marketing, there are many things that can be
done, but they must be instituted in a proper manner. In recent years, the concept
of Pay-Per-Lead has proliferated the internet and marketers have leveraged that to
generate leads. However, the approach can be as worthless as a 0.01% response rate
per 50,000.
This is why word of mouth marketing approaches must be far more targeted than CPA
programs, and far more dynamic than conventional and often simplistic permission
marketing approaches.
In my opinion, there are at least 2 ways you can immediately stimulate word-of-mouth
marketing right now.
Method 1: The Ethical Bribe.
This is a common method which you will want to use sparingly unless you know the
nature of your target market. Will they want what you are offering? Will you be able
to hit that raw nerve that will get them telling more people about your website or
service or product?
The ethical bribe when used can be very powerful. It’s simple to set up. Purchase an
email marketing software and create
an additional campaign and an additional page every time you run an advertisement.
Always redirect your main opt-in to the tell-a-friend page and set up your new
opt-in codes on that page, always remembering to give them your ethical bribe.
The biggest drawback is that an ethical bribe does not guarantee that people will
definitely tell a friend. They will tell anyone! Thus, the set up of the ideal
tell-a-friend sequence is important. To tell an individual to bring another
individual to a website has constraints which need to be addressed, and probably
will not be as effective as it ought to be. Technology can catch up and software to
generate tell-a-friend campaigns could be a little more efficient, and possibly
offer a buffet spread of items that a friend could select to gift their friend.
Method 2: Social Proof
Social proof is a psychological mechanism that gets people to act. If one person has
been told that something is good, they won’t be able to say it’s good. They need to
see that there has been a fairly large quantity of people who say it’s good before
they jump without thinking.
Social proof does have its flaws and I do understand that there are people who feel
that it is ‘unethical’ to create a buzz. Still, the method will work if you have a
good product or service that adds value anyway. People are still communal in nature,
and they will always tell their friends or associates in the appropriate discussion
environment about things that will benefit them.