2004 Dell had 8 million customers. Those 8 million customers passed on 40 million positive comments, creating 1 million new customers through word of mouth.*
The numbers don’t lie.
Word of Mouth is the most effective form of marketing.
Today you can expect between 1 – 5% ROI on your traditional above the line media spend. Given Dell’s numbers you just cannot compare the value of word of mouth to traditional media — even digital media — as up to 90% of word of mouth happens off line.
So why do people talk and how can you leverage it?
There are five primary reasons why people talk to each other about brands and products. Each has a different focus and there are different ways you can leverage it — which in some cases just requires some creative thinking as opposed to a structured approach:
1. Survival.
This is the most basic reason. Human beings need to talk in order to survive. Whether its to warn your fellow human that a dinosaur is about to come charging around the corner or if its to talk about the safety of a car, we have an innate need to share and talk.
This survival mechanism is built into our lizard brain and we need to share and have others share with us. It is hardwired into us and just as we share we expect a reciprocal action.
2. Alliances
Man is a political beast. We all have an agenda to some degree, some good and some bad. We volunteer information to develop those alliances. We find individuals who can help us along our path to achieving our goals and we share. We expect that goodwill to be returned.
3. Express Ourselves
We all want to be liked, to be heard and respected. We want our opinions to be noticed and we want to be respected for them. Hence we share, sometimes a bit to much 
.
4. Connect and Bonding
We have all been to the office party, the cocktail drinks or some occasion and we make light chit chat. We connect about talking about the weather, the wonderful day we had in some shopping mall (ja right) and so on.
Women have book clubs where they niter natter about kids, school, husbands and so on. Men have golf days where they brag about work, their perfect golf swing and their latest gadget, toy or car.
This is what makes us human and moves us out of the survival conversation to creating emotional connections.
5. Self Identity and Confidence
We all have an image of how we see ourselves and how we want others to see us. These mental images form part of conversion, they define what we talk about, how we express ourselves and ultimately define how we feel about ourselves.
What if no one is talking about me, my brand or my business
Its all very well and good knowing that there are different reasons why we talk but what if no-one is talking about my brand.
Research shows that the average American talks about 700 brand per week – or on average ten times a day. These are what we call natural organic which crop up in the normal day to day conversations that take place daily. These five reasons define the type of conversation we have.
To trigger these conversation you need to:
- Understand who your customer is as a person based on the five reasons
- Find the passion conversation
- Create an experience that will stimulate the conversation
*Fred Reichheld, author of the Ultimate Question
About Michael Cowen