If there was ever any doubt about the wisdom and effectiveness of encouraging people to talk about what you do, here’s the evidence.
The Nielsen organization polled 28,000 people in 56 countries and found that people everywhere trust recommendations from people they know. Far and away, word-of-mouth was the most trusted (92 percent) form of communication. Next was consumer (donor) opinions posted online (70 percent).
If 92 percent and 70 percent of people, respectively, believe these media are most-trusted, wouldn’t it make sense to invest more time and resources in word-of-mouth marketing?
That’s the point raised by Andy Sernovitz, who’s written a book, Word of Mouth Marketing. You can order his book here, or you can download (free) the quick version by clicking here.
Sernovitz writes from the perspective of consumer marketing, but the concepts should apply equally well to the nonprofit world of donors.
“It all comes down to this,” he writes. “Happy customers (donors) are your best advertisers,” and “If people like you and like what you do, they will tell their friends.”
How do you use word of mouth to spread the good word about what your organization does?
