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Word of Mouth Marketing: Strategy Guide + Examples

• 28 April 2026

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Imagine that we want to buy a product. What is the first thing we do?

I believe that the most popular answer that many people have. The person who thinks about it must be an inquiry from an acquaintance who has used the product. or reading reviews from real users It may not necessarily be a review from a famous person online. But it is someone we can trust.

For this reason, ‘Word-of-Mouth Marketing’ or as we know it, ‘Word of mouth marketing’ is therefore essential for businesses of all sizes in every era.

In this article, we will introduce you to word of mouth marketing. (Word-of-Mouth Marketing) from how to start creating organic awareness for businesses of all sizes. to real business examples, complete, all in one place!

What is Word of Mouth Marketing?

Woman telling secret

Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM) is a brand marketing strategy that focuses on creating satisfaction and a good experience for customers so that those customers are willing to spread the word or recommend the brand’s products or services to their acquaintances. This could be friends, family, or people around you. The brand’s goal is to make customers who have used the brand’s products share their impressions in the form of general conversations that occur in everyday life. Whether in the online world or in the real world. If anyone still can’t figure it out, try thinking about beliefs that have been passed on for a long time, such as “If you wear a hat indoors, you will be bald.” “If bird droppings fall on you, you will have good luck.” These are also words of mouth. 

Types of Word of Mouth Marketing

word of mouth marketing Or what we call WOMM for short, there are many different types we see today that brands can use to drive product or service referrals. Each type has its own characteristics and different objectives, including:

  • User-generated content:
  • Referral marketing:
  • Partner programs:
  • Influencer marketing: Influencers Influencers
  • Brand ambassador marketing:  Brand Ambassadors
  • Affiliate marketing:
  • Reviews and testimonials:  

Why should businesses use the Word of Mouth Marketing strategy?

Although word of mouth marketing (Word of Mouth Marketing) is a strategy that has existed since the past, But today it is still important to both small and large brands due to many factors including:

People trust people around them more than brands.

Nielsen 92% 1,000 RRD 55% 40% 28%

Influencer Marketing is growing

Influencer

Sideqik 2022 7 10 Influencer 66% Influencer HubSpot 2022 68% Influencer 34% Influencer Marketing 50-500,000 emarketer Influencer Marketing 34% 2021 Influencer Marketing WOMM

People often research products and services from real users before making a purchase.

Oberlo 85% Think with google 53%  89%

User Generated Content is becoming increasingly important.

Nosto 79% User Generated Content WOMM User Generated Content

Advantages of using Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Increase Brand Awareness

Customers talking about a brand or product widely helps build brand awareness quickly and widely. Make people know and remember the brand more. In addition, doing WOMM helps create a good image for the target group as well. This is because having people talk about the brand in a good way helps create a good image in the market and makes the brand widely accepted, such as Viral that we see on social media, whether it’s a random box from PopMart, a super hit like Labubu, which people know all over the city from User Generate Content.

Information is passed on without limit.

Word-of-mouth

The use of word-of-mouth marketing strategies tends to spread naturally over time. Or as many people have heard, the Viral Effect, which allows information to spread to different groups of people. quickly and continuously without being limited to any one group Because of this, it can reach a wide range of target groups, which may not only be people who are customers of the brand. but can also reach new target groups Or people who are likely to become customers in the future as well.

Increase reliability with quality guarantees from real users.

in purchasing products Of course, we want to choose the best for ourselves. Therefore, it is not strange if we need confirmation to guarantee that the products and services we decide to pay for are of good quality and really meet our needs. From the above statistics, it can be seen that people tend to value hearing from friends. family or people around you rather than traditional product advertisements Therefore, having customers who have used products or services recommend or tell others will create more credibility because consumers tend to trust information from real users more than advertising.

Save on advertising budget

Save Money

Using a WOMM strategy can help brands reach more customers without having to promote their products through advertising. Therefore, it can help save on advertising costs that brands have to spend to promote products and services. It also achieves better performance than advertising with less investment because WOMM is a strategy that costs little or no cost when compared to traditional advertising. Because it is a recommendation from a customer without the need to invest in creating advertising media.

Strategy deployment Word-of-Mouth Marketing and Business

Pay attention to the quality of products and services

The first thing that brands need to focus on is ‘Quality of products and services’ is like the heart of presenting products and services to people’s eyes. Due to having good quality products Does not change with time and answer customer needs This will allow customers to still receive quality products every time they come back to buy. When products are of good quality and are able to impress customers, it is no wonder that customers will want to tell the good things to people around them.

Open your mind to listen to both positive and negative thoughts.

‘There are people who like it, and there are people who don’t like it.’ Of course, we cannot make our products to meet the needs of everyone in the world. It is normal for people to dislike our products. But when we know customer opinions, both good and bad. It is wise to listen to all opinions and respond appropriately to suggestions. This is because the constant development of products and services will help create a good image for the brand as a brand that truly cares about consumers and cares about them.

Continuously communicate with customers through comments or chat channels.

Continuous communication with customers through channels such as social media comments, chat, and email helps build intimacy and engagement between brands and customers. A quick and friendly response will leave a better impression on your customers. It also helps create a good memory for customers as well.

Make your customers feel special.

Making customers feel special and cared for through special privileges Special promotion Or a special gift can encourage customers to speak positively about the brand and leave a good impression on them. For example, creating interest in promotions by revealing “secret formulas” or special offers that not many people know about. For example, 3CE gives trial-sized lipstick samples to customers who say ‘I love 3CE’, and Haidilao gives angel wands to customers who say ‘Wo Si Xian Ni Lai Zi Hai Di Lao’.

Haidilao Secret Code

Cr. Sale Here

Examples of successful businesses with Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Wendy’s

Wendy’s social media marketing and exposure on These viral contents help increase brand awareness and drive sales. Wendy’s currently has more than 3.7 million followers on X.

Dropbox

Dropbox uses a Referral Marketing strategy whereby users who refer friends to Dropbox receive additional storage for free. And referred friends also get more space. This strategy helped Dropbox quickly expand its user base. without having to invest in traditional advertising The number of users grew from 100,000 to 4,000,000 within 15 months.

Dropbox referral program

Cr. Dropbox

Spotify

Spotify wrapped: a year in review

Spotify uses its marketing strategy to share songs and playlists using its social media platforms. Spotify uses user data to inform users of their favorite songs, artists, podcasts, and more that they listen to throughout the year. Then summarize the highlights of the year. It connects to social media such as Facebook, Instagram and X so that users can share music listening statistics with friends. Saw it and helped build a community of online users around the world. Also, the design is clean. Fun message And the huge insights are also encouraging more people to try Spotify.

Cr. Slpecho

Summary

Viral marketing is a highly effective strategy for brand growth and success. Each brand can use methods that suit the nature of their business, such as creating engaging content, using referral programs or affiliate programs. It’s important to understand customer needs and behavior in order to create a positive experience and encourage referrals.

After reading, many people will understand the use of word-of-mouth marketing strategies more. Don’t forget to bring various techniques. Take this article and apply it to your own business to increase marketing efficiency without the need for expensive advertising.

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Pisinee T.

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Pisinee T.

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