Word of Mouth - Definition & Meaning

Published in Marketing and Strategy Terms by MBA Skool Team

What is Word of Mouth?

The word of mouth marketing is  through non promotional  campaign  where the buyers of a brand themselves become its marketers.  It  saves a lot of promotional campaign budget for the company.  It can be for a product ,service, experience etc. It carries additional weight-age  since the advocator does not gain anything by promoting the product but can put his image on the spot for his recommendation. This is because the association with the brand is strong enough  to get it transferred.

Elements of Word of Mouth

The most common medium of word of mouth marketing are social media, print media , electronic media , billboards.

Word of Mouth Chain Reaction


Examples :

The  two most common forms of word of mouth marketing  examples witnessed were  buzz marketing and viral marketing.

Buzz marketing is creation of a news  which adds fizz to the brand association as the product is seen sending a positive pulse  to the buyer .

Example could be  Jetta  introduced  by Volkswagen   because the German Manufacturer is considered to be a very  reputed brand and any new activity nin the market by them excites the audience. However there also have been negative buzz created for ceratin products  hitting their brand performance. 

Viral marketing is another form of WOM where the users sharing  pictures , videos , movies  can have a  cascading  effect  if spread using  Social Media .

This phenomena was behind the success of the song Kolaveri -D   its video  was shared  among more than 2 million users on the first day in You-tube and  the spiraling effects lead to its magnifying presence over the internet.  It is needless to say that it was compounded by the fact it also created a an initial buzz amongst its listeners.

Hence, this concludes the definition of Word of Mouth along with its overview.

This article has been researched & authored by the Business Concepts Team. It has been reviewed & published by the MBA Skool Team. The content on MBA Skool has been created for educational & academic purpose only.

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