There is not a marketer in the country who doesn't appreciate the value of word of mouth (WoM). Having a friend, relative or co-worker recommend a product is more motivating, more convincing than a pile of ads, no matter how well conceived or executed, could ever be.
As is obvious from the findings of a recent study from Osterman Research, the factors that businesspeople feel are important to driving good WoM, service satisfaction, product performance, newsworthiness, are the bedrocks of brand building.
Nevertheless, according to a new report, "Managing Word of Mouth Online," from JupiterResearch, large and medium-size companies are lagging behind smaller companies when it comes to leveraging this powerful marketing tactic.
"More than 90% of large companies believe that consumer recommendations are important in influencing other consumers' purchase decisions," said Emily Riley, Jupiter analyst. "Yet many large companies are not focusing efforts on managing the conversation among consumers."
Jupiter found that while 66% of small companies monitor WoM marketing on an ongoing basis, roughly half that, or only 33% of large companies, do the same.
In fact, Jupiter discovered that large companies are more likely to assign WoM management to PR and marketing groups or third-party agencies, a practice that largely insulates employees from the affects, both positive and negative, of the feedback and means missing key opportunities.