To me it is quite clear. If you are in a market that is oversupplied. ( Offerings exceed demand) which is what virtually every business I can think of is experiencing at the moment, then you are not going to get much traction by trying to blast your way through the noise with advertising, because that is what everyone else is trying to do and it is clearly not working. ( People much more clever that I have written about this for ages – my favorite guru on this subject is Seth Godin – check him out).
The primary reason it is not working is that we are all subjected to so much noise that we are going crazy. On top of that we also desperately trying to cram more and more stuff into the same twenty-four hours. That leaves us with less and less time to filter all that noise and workout what is for real and what is just another attempt to trick us to part with our hard earned money.
(A person living in an urban environment will be subjected on an average to 3000 messages a day from companies trying peddle something to them).
So in order to cope we all resort to the same life line – ask a friend.
Word of mouth has become the single most important source of influence in virtually all purchasing decision. Whether you are planing your next vacation, searching for a new fridge or wonder what skies to get for the kids – chances are you will ask a friend for advise in order to get some clarity in all that clutter and noise.
So how can we generate word of mouth?
In my opinion there are to basic ways.
Either you are exceptionally good at what you do – so good that people are inspired to talk about what ever it is you do to their friends..
Or you deliver something at such a ridiculously low price that, that in it self creates word of mouth. Ryan Air is a good example of this. How often have you heard a friend say: ‘i just got these two ticket to Barcelona at this incredible price’ ( less often, if ever, do you hear a friend say ‘let me tell you about a marvelous flight i had with Ryan Air’)
Very few companies manage to be both fantastic and cheap – IKEA & South-West Airlines are two examples – both are exceptional in their categories.
But for most it is a choice about being Lido og Lidl. Delivering a fantastic experience or executing at a rock bottom bargain price.
What you do not what to happen is that you are caught in between, in the no-mans land of delivering an average product at an average price.
If you are not the best nor the cheapest… what are you then actually?