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There are multiple instances when you purchase a product or a service and then tell your friends and family about it. Later, based on your reference, the person purchases the same product or service. This is what is called “word of mouth”. It also happens the other way around, when you purchase a product based on a recommendation from a friend or family member. Similarly, many people also rely on brands recommended to them on social media.

Word of Mouth is essential in marketing as almost 48% of businesses worldwide rely on it. This form of marketing doesn’t incur any cost and relies heavily on loyal customers to spread the word about the product or service offered by the business. 

According to the data, 90% of people will rely on a brand recommended to them, even if the recommendation comes from a stranger. The data also reveals that 21% of people will stop relying on a brand if they hear negative things about its products or services. Thus, we can ascertain that word of mouth is important in marketing to increase sales.

In this article, we will discuss marketing strategies that you can use to promote your brand through word of mouth.

1. Influencer marketing: You can collaborate with a digital marketing agency that services influencer marketing to feature your products on social media handles with great traction. This method helps you to create a buzz around your products and to generate sales.

2. Use of hashtags: You can create a hashtag on social media using your business name. Soon, many customers and followers of your niche will start using the same hashtag for their posts too, making it more popular. Once your hashtag becomes popular, there is a high probability that your business is found easily on social media, driving more sales. With good understanding of what social media marketing offers, hashtags can bring your brand the traction it deserves, if done correctly.

3. Create user-generated content: You can ask your users to share contents associated with your brand. For example, if you are a jewelry brand, then you can ask your customers to share photos and videos of them wearing it. You can announce offers and incentives for promoting your brand. For example, you can ask users to send their pictures with your products in return for some discounts or gifts.

4. Get a product review: Many people tend to buy products that have a good online review and rating. Hence, it is important for you to ensure that your customers have a good experience with your products and services. If any customer has some issues with your products, then make sure to tackle it through your customer support team.

5. Create a referral program: When you provide some discounts or offers to your customers for referring your product or service to their friends and family, then it is called a referral program. You can provide a financial reward to your customers or offer a promo code as a token of appreciation. It will help businesses increase their customer reach. For example, Ola, Uber, and CultFit are some of the brands that offer discounts to their customers for referring their apps to friends and family.

6. Affiliate marketing: You can ask customers buying your products to sign up for an affiliate program. According to this, once they have made the purchase, they can ask their friends and family to buy those products. For every sale that a customer generates based on their referral, they receive a commission.

While this method offers a monetary incentive, the risk of loss is very low as you only pay a commission for sales. Even if sales are not generated, brand awareness is created this way. Amway is one of the best examples of a business that flourishes based on affiliate marketing.

Word of mouth marketing always helps you to ask your customers to talk about your brands. You may initially make some investment, but soon a buzz is created and your brand continues to grow. While it has endless benefits, all it needs is for you to be a bit creative.