Advertising by Word of Mouth

 Advertising by word of mouth may sound old fashioned but it is still very potent, efficient and effective. There is research evidence supporting the fact that at 21 years of age, the average young person already knows at least 800 people very closely. The numbers can be staggering when you factor in that most of these people will be youths who each also knows other 800 people very closely. Just get out a word into such a group and you will be amazed how far and how fast such word will travel within the loose network. That is the power of word of mouth particularly in advertising. 


 
Unarguably, one of the most viable alternatives to the traditional established media outlets, that is, television, radio, newspapers and others for disseminating information is word of mouth. This is because word of mouth retains the capacity to spread information cheaply to a huge number of people in a short period of time. Before the advent of modern media outlets like newspapers, radio, television, or even the Internet, word of mouth was the only viable way to spread information effectively and efficiently to a very large audience within a short period of time. It is still that effective even at the moment.

Word of mouth is cheap, effective and it comes very naturally to most humans. Over the ages, human beings have relied more upon word of mouth to convey and preserve information than any other form of propagation. It simply comes naturally for most people. Because modern media outlets exist to make a profit for their owners, they have no choice but to charge for advertising. This at times amounts to very huge costs which most marketers can ill afford. Keeping down costs is one smart way marketers rely on to increase their profits. The main reason why word of mouth is still around with us and still helping us out in our daily lives and businesses!

If you are in business, there is no doubt you’ve heard someone say: “pass the word on fella!” That is word of mouth in information propagation. Marketers have since found out that it is historically true that for news to spread by word of mouth, it must be newsworthy. “Have you heard?” is one common phrase everyday people use everywhere they interact with themselves and others. Traditionally, the human being is a social animal and it is part of his life to habitually interact with others. That is what helps to spread word of mouth information cheaply, quickly and very widely. If you’ve ever been the subject and the butt of gossip, you’ll get to appreciate what I am driving at. The newsworthiness of any event directly controls how fast and how far it is spread. Good news or bad news, people always want to hear it particularly when it is coming from people they know and routinely interact with. That helps the spread more than any other form of pecuniary considerations including financial.