We must dispel the myth that WOM marketing is cheap

We all love cheap now, right? The It-bags; the £35,000 cocktails; the massive mortgages; all those hallmarks of pre-recession mid-noughties extravagance are so… well, so 2006. Nowadays we brandish our Aldi own-label beans as if they’re a mark of social responsibility.

It’s nonsense, of course. We don’t value these mass-produced items, and we feel more nourished by the idea than the taste of our cut-price beans. We know that cheapness comes at a price: the sweatshop workers; the unsustainable farming methods; the two-for-one bulk. Cheapness always bites back. It’s temporary. It’s wasteful. So why is still so often cited it as a positive attribute of ‘social marketing?’

The social world rewards time and attention more than money and ads, so that’s what brands need to invest in. You don’t get passion, excitement, emotional fidelity and ongoing human loyalty by throwing a one-size-fits-all digital asset, or the odd chirpy tweet, into cyberspace. And no, those clever kids who created Facebook and Twitter haven’t done the expensive work on brands’ behalf and served them up a free marketing channel on a digital plate. They’ve given us new social spaces – accessible places where humans love, talk, create, trust, influence, and buy – but brands have to inspire those spaces with enthusiasm and loyalty.

Brands have crept into word of mouth marketing with predictable scepticism and caution, offering a tiny handout for an experimental advocacy programme here, or a piece of basic conversation monitoring there. It’s understandable – this can be a scary new world for companies constrained by annual budgets and rigid structures – but it’s also a waste. When they’re still happy to throw thousands at a microsite (does anyone want to gambol in a branded playground any more?) or a few hundred grand at a TV campaign (that research shows no-one’s paying attention to any more) – both of which have a pretty short shelf-life – it seems extraordinary that they’re reluctant to give a far more lasting marketing approach the equivalent financial respect.

What word of mouth, done right, really offers is not cheapness but good value. By doing less but better, in a highly strategic way, brands can achieve extraordinary results.

I’ve written more about this topic over on my monthly column for Admap, but I’d love to know what you think. Do you think this just self-interest talking or do you agree? If you work in the industry, are you starting to push back on clients on this front? How can we better get brands to value WOM?

Brought into the world on Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 and filed under 1000thoughts, Measurement.