Word of mouth is the most oldest way known by humanity to spread a message: someone talk about something and pass the message to another person who pass the message to someone else and so on. But as the message go further it comes with alteration and looses some of its effects . With viral spreading message, the message never fade because the person who heard the message already had the desire, the message is in own interest! While the message form mouth to ear have to get the auditor interest, the viral speaker simply have to spread the message like a contagion. The result, as more people get excited with the message, more people get aware (infected) with the message happily delivered. It like they already have a part of the message which in that case is the interest of the message content by the auditor.
Word of Mouth vs. Viral Marketing: What’s the Difference?
Word-of-mouth marketing or viral marketing? What’s the difference?
Recently I shared with you a few tips on how to generate word-of-mouth marketing for your business. I received a few emails as well as comment post on the difference between word-of-mouth marketing and viral marketing, so I figured what better time to explore the differences in these two types of marketing.
Word-of-mouth marketing is when a business does something and their consumer tells five to ten friends. Word-of-mouth marketing has an echo affect. The initial sound is loud and then it fades into the background.
Viral marketing unlike word-of-mouth marketing has a compounding affect. A consumer tells five to ten people and then those five to ten people tell another five to ten people. The driving force behind most viral campaigns is the passion a consumer carries. It’s like a virus that continuously infects more people and spreads without requiring anymore marketing effort.
While the two are similar as you can see they are not the same.
Word-of-mouth marketing is a key component to the growth of a small business. It’s often word-of-mouth marketing that keeps small businesses running in the early days of operation when there is little to no marketing budget. The consumer shares their experience with your products or services and they share it with their family and friends. This increases your consumer base and increases your sales.
Viral marketing is more about reaching out and touching the passion point of your consumer, so that the passion drives the message and the message continues to reach the masses without assistance from you. You can orchestrate a viral campaign, but very seldom are viral campaigns that are orchestrated as successful as those that are just driven by the passion of a consumer. In order for it to reach a level of success
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