Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Thank you for helping my mom. You saved our family.”

“My son passed along your YouTube video on preventing falls — my husband slipped and hit his head on the sink. I wish I had seen this earlier. Your help prevented a repeat!”

What do you do with comments like these from customers? You get approval to post them, pass them along and publish them. These are simple ways to push word-of-mouth along.

Kitchen table word-of-mouth recommendation has always been the best advertising. But today, word-of-mouth takes many forms and flows at Internet speed. Online and social networking tools have changed the game.

Word-of-mouth is the primary factor behind 20 to 50 percent of all purchasing decisions. Its influence is greatest when consumers are buying a product (or service) for the first time or when products are relatively expensive, factors that tend to make people conduct more research, seek more opinions and deliberate longer than they otherwise would.

Today, you can’t leave word-of-mouth marketing to chance. Take a deep breath. Think like your customers. What is their decision journey? Now, transport yourself into your customer avatars.

In your referral source avatar, you are examining HME sales personnel for their comparative services, street credibility and likeability. You require metrics that demonstrate performance and references. You contact colleagues to be assured that the company is the performer they define. You can’t afford to add or change suppliers and be caught with complaint calls.

In your consumer avatar, your medical professional may have suggested suppliers. You are confused and upset about what has happened and have gone online to research the condition, doctor and products. You’ve checked out supplier websites, online reviews, product ratings and comments. And if it’s a cash item, you’ve looked at online pricing, but don’t know if you can wait for, or want to pay for, shipping. You may have called your best friend to ask about his or her experience with a particular supplier.

Talk to your customers. Learn their decision journey and then place your company, your message and your shopping/service experience in the digital — not just the traditional — points on their path.

Where online marketing is concerned, you’ll find that:

• You need to give prospects and customers exceptional, authentic reasons to visit.
• Customers need and want content. Fresh, new content also keeps search engines scanning your website.
• Customers need creativity, events, testimonials and video action to spur them on.
• People share and post really good — or really bad — experiences based on what you promised.
• You can get some ambassadors through vivid customer experiences and loyalty clubs.

Here are a few word-of-mouth marketing online tips:

• Website Content. Tie new content such as “how to” articles to consumers’ decisions journey: their questions, your services, Medicare issues, product categories and service excellence.
• Video Testimonials. These are powerful when tied to your services. Feature customers, referral sources, entertaining observations, local celebrities, store experiences, etc. Don’t forget to post TV and radio coverage. You might consider setting up your own YouTube channel and posting your “how to” video series.
• Creative Events. Health care is serious business, but sometimes you catch the heart, mind and word-of-mouth with the unusual, such as a contest for the best story on “How my relationship was saved by CPAP” or picture submissions for the “Halloween Facemask Decorating Contest.”
• Facebook. This is one of many terrific online tools to share the latest information or gather momentum for issues support on changes in HME. But the ultimate new “digital kitchen table” is when prospects and customers relay their testimonials, positive messages — and your events — through their social networks.

Word-of-mouth marketing has taken on new power and speed. There are many more ways to attract, engage and keep customers. And more ways to get your messages out and passed along about your exceptional business. But it takes close scrutiny of your marketing and use of the tools your customers are using to make their decisions.

Read more Marketing Matters columns.

Colette Weil is managing director of Summit Marketing, Mill Valley, Calif., a consulting firm specializing in strategic marketing and program development. You can reach her at [email protected] or 415/388-5303.