By: Christine DeFelice
Welcome to Custom Discoveries, your Digital Design Company for small business owners who are ready to launch a reliable digital presence. Lots of small businesses have enjoyed organic growth through inexpensive and effective word-of-mouth marketing. This passing of information from person to person, using oral communication is very effective for family and friends. This is very valuable to a small business and the benefits of word-of-mouth marketing includes:
- Trusted recommendations If you’re looking for a great steak restaurant to take your dad to for Father’s Day, you’re most likely going to trust the recommendation from your older brother. He’s someone that you trust and know his restaurant recommendations are spot on.
- Immediate feedback When you crave getting a quick response to your questions, then immediate feedback from your older brother is extra helpful. It guides you in picking the best restaurant for you. Reputation building The result of positive word-of-mouth experience means repeat customers and trusted reputation in the community
- Reputation building The result of positive word-of-mouth experience means repeat customers and trusted reputation in the community.
There are some drawbacks to the word-of-mouth marketing strategy. Some of these drawbacks includes:
- Limited Personal Network When your personal inner circle of family and friends is limited to your geographic location, then your also limited by having less access to resources.
- Distorted Message When a recommendation or favorable review is shared and retold too many times the original details can get lost and the message gets distorted. The favorable review can turn into a unfavorable review.
- Difficult to Track Effectiveness Sometimes recommendations are based on opinion. What happens if your older brother recommended a great restaurant because he got excellent service from his waiter. Then on the night you go to eat there that waiter has the night off. This makes it hard to determine the quality of the experience.
Today, word of mouth, has been upgraded and modernized, to a digital presence. Word of mouth is still important. Now, it’s captured under reviews or testimonials in one place on a company’s website. This makes it accessible to all customers to review. The benefits of a company having a website includes:
- Greater Visibility Your website increases your reach. Pre-internet you could reach only people in your personal network. Now, you can reach potential customers all over the world.
- Increased Accessibility If your computer has access to the internet, you’re not limited to office hours or days you can shop for online products or services.
- Cost Effective Advertising As a business owner you have control over how much or little you advertise on your company’s website.
In keeping transparent, there are some downsides having a company’s website to word-of-mouth marketing. The obvious, is that you lose the effectiveness of face to face interactions. There are a few other downsides include:
- Websites are Impersonal It’s hard to compete with human-to-human interaction that can’t be replicated on a website.
- Lacks Trust Factor If a company is new to you, there is a level of risk. The trust factor isn’t there yet since this is a new experience for your customer.
- Maintenance and Cost Maintenance means keeping your website updated and working properly. This will cost you time and money. There is also the cost of creating your website and getting it updated periodically.
At Custom Discoveries we are committed to helping our clients excel in the digital age. In the past, you developed relationships through word-of-mouth. Today, you need to be digitally connected to build relationships that span outside your circle of influence and build trust. To learn more about creating a digital presence for your business, visit our Contact Us page to get a free consultation.