Marketing Harmony: Striking the Right Vocal Chord

Around my neck of the woods there's a restaurant that, no matter what day of the week it is, is almost always operating at full capacity. Those of you who know Larnaca will almost certainly have been to Militzis and experienced it's wonderful cooking. And yet, despite its success, the restaurant seemingly does very little communicating with the community. No advertising, hardly any directory listings, not even the odd paid for, less-than-subtle restaurant review in the local press. So why is it so successful? Well, simply ask any local where to eat and a huge majority of them would likely refer you to the restaurant by word of mouth. It has a phenomenal reputation and Cyprus is traditionally fertile ground to carry a brand message orally.

We all engage in word of mouth marketing on a daily basis. Every time we express an opinion to our friends on where to shop, for example, we're passing on our comment on the status of products and brands and actively altering each others' images. This acts as an endorsement, a referral. What's equally interesting is the authority word of mouth commands. Two things contribute to this. The first is the way that it's circulated within individuals who are usually within a trusted circle of friends, where their own credibility is at stake. For example, if I say Militzis is a darn good restaurant, I've associated my own judgement and credibility with the statement. Secondly, it's often informal and as a result seen as honest, excluded from vested interests and over-thought through marketing slogans that the rest of the communications world can be guilty of.

So, what control do we have over word-of-mouth communications? Well quite a lot more than you'd think. Although word of mouth comes from an oral tradition, it's verbal form has enabled it to be embraced by modern technology. For example, take the boom in text messaging and, more recently social media. Cutting-edge brands have embraced these forms and simply recognised that, to be successful, you need to interact on a level playing field instead of the traditional hierarchy of speaking at your audience. This means being humble, having a dialogue, interacting, helping each other and, ultimately, humanising your approach. Getting a balance between having a consistent brand message and having the flexibility to adapt is key.

The traditional oral forms of word of mouth are no different. People do business with people, and so to reflect this, we need to approach the spoken mode personally and with humility. Of course, well constructed brand values should always be there, guiding us in the background, but we shouldn't be afraid to express ourselves as individuals freely reacting to the demands of conversation. Once you've given a good impression to someone else, they will carry that message forward for you.

So how can we go about creating an effective word of mouth campaign in Cyprus. Apart from the way you interact with your customers and your community on a day to day basis, formal networking groups are just starting to take off on the island, the most recognised of which is BNI (www.bni-cyprus.com). Here, groups meet on a weekly basis to share business referrals and effectively practice the art of word of mouth marketing. Just like endorsements that happen on a day to day basis, recommendations carry with them the guarantees of credibility, informality and honesty. Another way of getting started is to look at ways of embracing social media. Twitter, Ecademy and Facebook may be buzz words at the moment but they truly offer a platform for breaking down the previous geographical restrictions that word of mouth has traditionally been limited to.