Small Talk

November 8, 2011 »

A New King in Town

Once upon a time – about ten years ago – traditional advertising was King. Companies worked with the King to control their message and told consumers what they wanted them to know about their product when they wanted them to know it. Educating the consumer was completely in the hands of the business.

In the last decade we’ve watched this one-sided method of advertising be dethroned by more authentic marketing techniques such as content marketing (social media and inbound marketing) and word of mouth marketing. In today’s technological world, marketers can no longer buy the attention of consumers through mass marketing techniques. People are no longer interested in hearing about products only from the companies who manufacturer them; they want to hear it from people like themselves.

With this shift in consumer preference, coupled with the growth of technology, people now have the ability to control the ads they see and block those that are unwanted.  Check out some of these statistics from a recent infographic by Voltier Digital.

• 200 million Americans have registered their phone numbers on the FTC’s “Do Not Call” list (Are you one of them?)
• 86% of people skip television ads
• 44% of direct mail is never even opened

As technological innovation has made traditional methods less effective, word of mouth (WOM) continues to influence purchasing decisions more than any other advertising medium.  Recommendations from those in your social network are authentic, and therefore have a level of trust that cannot be matched. 

In 2007, someone that lived in a major city experienced 5,000 ads per day.  In order to sift through the advertising clutter, it’s only natural that we, as consumers, want to seek out trustworthy sources.  And who do we trust?  The people we speak to on a daily basis – our friends, family, and those in our social network. The Word of Mouth Marketing Association created a great infographic regarding some of the latest trends and statistics that can be seen in the WOM industry.  Check it out:

• There are 2.4 billion brand related conversations throughout the United States every day
• 66% of all brand related WOM conversations are “Mostly Positive”
• 59% of Americans believe offline (face-to-face or voice-to-voice) WOM to be highly credible
• 54% of respondents said that WOM is a driving force behind purchasing decisions

In its day, traditional advertising was king.  It has since been dethroned by a new king - a mix of authentic marketing methods like content marketing, inbound marketing, and word of mouth marketing. And it looks like the days of tapping into personal relationships to spread the word aren’t going anywhere. 

Long live the new king!

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