While consumer brands have no problem seeing the benefits of word-of-mouth marketing, B2B companies struggle with quantifying the ROI. Perhaps that’s because of the marked differences between the two. In a B2C setting, marketers are selling to a consumer who will make a purchasing decision based, in some part, on lifestyle. In B2B situations, the picture changes. Buyers are purchasing on behalf of an entire company. For them, it’s business. It’s about their livelihood and people’s jobs may be at stake. Equally important is the length of the sales cycle. With multi-step B2B buying processes, the cycle of converting a new prospect into a buying customer can take months, sometimes years and it involves many more stakeholders. As a result, many organizations that are in the B2B sector overlook the opportunities and value that a word-of-marketing strategy can deliver.
Word of mouth is one of the most credible forms of advertising, because people who stand to gain nothing, put their personal reputations on the line every time they make a recommendation. And, those recommendations wield a great deal of power. In a study undertaken by Nielsen in 2012, it reported - Ninety-two percent of consumers around the world say they trust earned media, such as word-of-mouth and recommendations from friends and family, above all other forms of advertising—an increase of 18 percent since 2007. Online consumer reviews are the second most trusted form of advertising, with 70 percent of global consumers surveyed online indicating they trust this platform - an increase of 15 percent in four years. While the statistics above reflect attitudes of consumers, word of mouth can be a strong influence when used to advantage on the B2B stage. A Forrester Research survey revealed that few B2B customers ever buy anything without first asking around about experiences with the vendor and/or product. In fact, 84% of respondents said Word of Mouth recommendations influence their purchase decisions. Ranked second, at 60% was the salesperson, followed closely by the web site at 59% and print publications at 58%. Other sources for pre-purchase research were: in-person events (45%), analysts (43%), social media (43%), e-mail (41%), web events (40%), interactive media (30%) and blogs at 24%.
Building word of mouth into your marketing strategy means adopting a customer-centric mindset. As well as the face-to-face conversations that will inevitably be part of the equation, a series of messages and information need to be part of the mix that will take your prospective customer from the discovery phase, through consideration and on to decision. Key factors will be value, relevance, excellent customer service, content and how you can relate a good story to your prospect.
Remember, effective word-of-mouth strategies will stretch across multiple channels. And, they will…
Use recommendations - especially those with an influential voice on a specific topic.
Tell your story in a creative way - not only to increase brand awareness, but to build an understanding of your company and its people.
Provide relevant stories for your customers, prospects and influencer advocates to talk about. They’ll be interesting, relevant and authentic. Relevant stories positioned properly can play a pivotal role in increasing your chance of being considered in the next sales cycle.
Involve people and their social media circles. If you think social media has no effect on B2B, think again. Forrester recently surveyed B2B buyers to learn about their usage of social media. The results were eye-opening to say the least. B2B buyers are nearly 20% more active creators of social media and twice as active consumers of social content. Based on the survey results, Forrester told B2B marketers: If you’re not using word-of-mouth/social media as part of your marketing mix, you’re late to the party.
