example of using word of mouth marketing

When reading the WOMMA article, a program that my office (NCSU Study Abroad Office) runs came to mind. We have set up a program where we train volunteer students who have recently returned from studying abroad to give presentations around campus about study abroad in general and about their experience specifically. Other than the time it takes us to train these presenters and the money we spend making photocopies of handouts, this is a free marketing tool and one that we think is most effective. Other students on campus are more likely to find their peers a credible source than a staff member. Also, the enthusiasm of a returned study abroad student is much more powerful than the broken record message they get from staff. The way I see it is these students are going to talk about their experiences anyway, but if we train some of them, we are using them as a marketing tool because even though part of their presentation is personalized, they have been guided and so we have influence over what they say. We never sit in on presentations, so this truly is an honest form word of mouth! Other universities that run a similar program do supervise the presentations, but the way I look at it, the presentations are more credible if there isn’t a rep from the office sitting in on it.

In contrast to the post below, we have the mind set that any publicity is good publicity, so that even if the students focus more on the social aspect of study abroad rather than the academics, at least our name is out there and student interest is being sparked. I agree that it is scary to think people are talking about your organization and they could easily be saying negative things. But I do believe that having your organization talked about, even if it’s negatively, promotes awareness about your product, service, or cause. Hopefully the person who hears the negative message will be curious about your organization, visit your website, take the time to education himself, and form his own opinion. I think this places more responsibility on organizations in certain areas: providing excellent customer service, researching what others are saying, providing an environment for customers to spread the word and making sure others are there to hear, etc. As with the program run in my office, word of mouth marketing can be relatively inexpensive, but it does take efforts from the organization to be successful!