Word of Mouth Marketing in a Digital World

 

UNIVERSITY OF PYLYMOUTH- GSM LONDON

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Word of Mouth Marketing

 

in a Digital World

 

 

 

 

 Marketing, Planning & Promotion

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

14

 

 

CONTENT

 

I. INTRODUCTION ………….............................…………………………………………………………3

 

II. MARKETING COMMUNICATION & KEY STAKEHOLDERS................................. 3

 

1. WHAT IS MARKETING COMMUNICATION......................................................... 3

 

2. MARKETING COMMUNICATION TOOLS........................................................... 4

 

2.1 ADVERTISING…………………………….................................. …………………..4

 

2.2 SALES PROMOTION…………………………………………………………........ ……..4

 

2.3 PERSONAL SELLING………………………………………………………................. 5

 

2.4 DIRECT MARKETING……………………….................................................. 5

 

2.5 PUBLIC RELATIONS........................................................................... 5

 

III. WORD OF MOUTH…………………………………………………….................................. 5

 

1. ELECTRONIC WORD OF MOUTH……………………………………………………..................6

 

2.  DIFFERENCES BETWEEM WOM & EWOM…………………………….............................6

 

3. NEGATIVE WORD OF MOUTH.......................................................................... 7

 

IV. CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (AIDA)................ 8

 

1  AWARENESS……………………………………………………………................................8

 

2  INTEREST…………………………………………………………………..............................8

 

3  DESIRE…………………………………………………………………..................................8

 

4  ACTION………………………………………………………………….................................8

 

V. STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT & RELATIONSHIP MARKETING.................... 9

 

1. LOYALTY LADDER………………………………………………………………………................ 9

 

1.1 Prospect.............................................................................................. 9

 

1.2 Customer............................................................................................ 9

 

1.3 Client................................................................................................. 9

 

1.4 Supporter........................................................................................... 9

 

1.5 Advocate............................................................................................ 9

 

1.6 Partner............................................................................................... 9

 

VI. CONCLUSION................................................................................................ 10

 

VII. BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………………………........... 11

 

 

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Introduction

 

A couple of decades ago, people used to listen to adverts on the radio; they used to listen to sales people at their doorstep. The web has changed all of this. Nowadays people have access to instant information. With the emergence of digital technology, the marketing world has been entirely shaken to its core. We now live in a society where consumers decide the prices and the power remains in the hand of the consumers. They have the power to filter out all the marketing noise. Consumers have the information they need wherever they are. They listen to people they trust and what these people have to say about brands. The World Wide Web has opened many sources for selling of their product providing consumers’ unbelievable quantitative as well as qualitative information within seconds at the click of their mouse. With this shift in power, there has been significant amount of pressure in the dynamics of marketing. Using technology as a tool, consumers are now ‘unforgiving’ and not afraid to publicize their views on products. Wind,J; Mahajan,V (2002) This new realm of the digital technology has consequently brought around many changes within the business environment. There are now a set of new principles for marketing in a digital age which are slowly trying to form an innovative discipline of marketing. A distinctive characteristic of digital marketing is that virtual communities or groups can be created for consumers who have similar interests. These virtual communities have transformed the fundamentals of marketing. Marketing on these communities are done through personal referrals and testimonies of consumers which is beyond the control of an organization. This report is going to examine the different marketing communication tools used and also evaluate the benefits and disadvantages of word of mouth and electronic word of mouth. It will further discuss how has consumer behaviour changed with the emergence of information technology. Wind,J; Mahajan,V (2002)

 

MARKETING COMMUNICATION & KEY STAKEHOLDERS

 

What is Marketing Communication?

 

Marketing communication has been defined as “a management process through which an organization engages with its various audiences” Fill,C (2005)

 

Organizations should work in such an approach that they first need to understand the way in which various stakeholders groups like to be communicated with and then look to build up or converse back to these stakeholders using those communication tools. If the stakeholders are entertained with the response, a positive attitude is expected from them. Therefore it can be said that marketing communications is about promoting both the company and what the company has to offer. Marketing communication also demonstrates the responsibility of an organization in process of marketing consequently making an impact on the stakeholders’ minds. Organizations need to work on their corporate strategy in such a way that it brings the message right across and target the right group of stakeholder audiences. Organizations must recognize the need for public relations the reason being the high reliability of the messages spread by the public with comparatively low marketing costs therefore leading to success of corporate strategy. Fill,C (2005)

 

 

 

 

 

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Marketing Communication Tools

 

Marketing communications is related mainly to the ‘promotion’ element. With this use of information technology, these marketing tools are now used on a completely different level. Marketing communication tools are broadly divided into five categories: