January 2008
A recent study highlighted in Ad Age noted that spending on word-of-mouth campaigns has increased (free subscription required) from $76 million in 2001 to $981 million in 2006. Word-of-mouth spending is expected to grow to approximately $3.7 billion by 2011.
A recent Nielsen Global Survey of over 26,000 people found that nearly 78% of respondents trusted "recommendations from consumers," a total 15 percentage points higher than the second-most credible source, newspapers.
BusinessWeek’s
first installment of This Year in Advertising confirmed that the old days of advertising executives telling consumers what to buy via pithy catchphrases are gone: “A brand is what a friend tells a friend it is. Not what a company tells them,” says heard Scott Cook, founder of Intuit. To see this evolution in action, you need look no further than any of the popular user-generated consumer Web sites, like Yelp.com, where the experiences of thousands guide you to the perfect restaurant or the cheapest mechanic.
But social marketing is incredibly effective on a personal level – as we’ve seen in the work of promotoras and the creative use of barbers to promote prostate exams – and can facilitate real change and growth when the message is one of hope fulfilled and needs met.
Our recommendation: incorporate grassroots components in any major public education efforts to build credibility quickly and indelibly.