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.

How to Brand your Business

When you want to brand your business, the first thing you do is to make an honest examination of your product/service. Identify the qualities that you expect to appeal to your target market and emphasize them in your brand making sure to leave out the qualities that might appeal to others, but not necessarily appealing to your target market. If we accept the definition of American Marketing Association that a “brand” is a "name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers", we will then come to terms about how to brand any business we are involved in. Practically, and in a business sense, a "brand" can represent any organization, project, campaign, or cause and can take many forms; including a name, sign, symbol, color scheme, slogan or any combination of a name, sign, symbol, color scheme or slogan. Anything, just anything that distinguishes a business very distinctly from any and all others defines a brand. 


 
Anytime any day, it makes a very good marketing sense to brand your business taking into consideration that an effective brand requires an attention grabbing name, logo, slogan and color scheme among many other very distinct and unique qualities. Specifically, you have no other choice but to do the following as a matter of necessity if you want to brand your business and make any meaningful impact with the business.

Choose a unique name for the business

The name you choose must be sufficiently unique as to identify you and you alone in the entire business world. Any name you choose must in addition be in compliance with the local laws in your clime taking into consideration all Intellectual Property issues so as not to infringe on the exclusive legal rights of others. Because your name is an essential part of your brand, you must endeavor to choose it very carefully. Your choice must as of necessity, convey the positive qualities that make your business so unique as to appeal directly to your target market. 

Create a unique logo for the business

Every marketer must recognize that a logo is a “graphic, a symbol of other design, used to express the identity of a business.” To create a catchy and unique logo, you must let your imagination run wild depending on what you want to create. What is very important here is that your logo must convey succinctly what you want it to convey, that is, your attractive qualities which will appeal to your target audience. At a glance, that message must be decently and uniquely conveyed. If you are unable to create a logo on your own, there are many free or very inexpensive Websites that can help you create your own logo. Very handy is the Google "Free Logo Creator" which you can use freely and easily.

Create a slogan for the business

Creating a slogan could be very tricky indeed because of the dicey nature of English as a universal business language. You must know what you are doing and what you want to covey. A slogan is simply a way of playing around with words to meet the unique needs of your business. A lot of thought must be given to the words you want to use and how you want to use them to convey the qualities of your product/service.  A good slogan must be a short, striking and memorable phrase that conveys your business identity. It must be all words and nothing else, not even graphics or photos. A good slogan must be made entirely of words which can be included in your logo to pass on a business message uniquely and quickly.