Word of Mouth (WOM) Communication as a Potential Promotional Tool in promoting an organization, company, product, service, or even yourself.
By Takhta Pandu Padmanegara Graduated from President University Majoring in Public Relations "WOMC is seven times more effective than newspapers and magazines, four times more effective than personal selling, and twice as effective as radio advertisements in influencing consumers to switch brands" (Ennew, Banerjee & Li, 2000) The Effectiveness of WOMC Public Relations is defined as "the practiced in organizations that range from giant, multinational telecommunication companies to small human service agencies and fledging social movement organizations" (Lattimore, 2004, p.5). Public Relations is a leadership and management function that helps to accomplish "organizational objectives, define philosophy, and facilitate organizational change" (Lattimore, 2004, p.5). Robert L. Heath (Encyclopedia of Public Relations, 2005) defined Public Relations as "a set of management, supervisory, and technical functions that foster an organization's ability to strategically listen to, appreciate, and respond to those persons whose mutually beneficial relationships with the organization are necessary if it is to achieve its missions and values." Therefore in every organization or institution Public Relations has important roles to gain positive image from its public and to maintain internal and external relationship. The essence of Public Relations, which are creating positive image from the public and maintaining relationship in order to achieve the organization goals, should be prioritized by the institution. Public Relations practitioner has a lot of activities that related to promoting an entire organization. In research on PR activities two broad roles consistently emerge in public relations: the technician and the manager. The technician role represents the craft side of public relations: writing, editing, taking photos, handling communication production, running special events, and making telephone calls to the media. The manager role focuses on activities that help identify and solve public relations problems. The activities of Public Relations will affect the progress of the organization. Consequently, Public Relations is one of the key of successful tools in an organization, company, or institution. (Lattimore, 2004, p.6) Public Relations also has roles to collaborate with marketing to promote the product or service. There are many ways for Public Relations officer can do in promoting the products or services and building its image for the organization or company. They can use the promotional tools; such as brochure, banner, poster, flyer, etc; using advertisement through media, doing direct and indirect sales marketing strategy, and also establishing an event to increase the awareness of the product/services. All of integrated activities between public relations and marketing could be defined as Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC). (Belch and Belch, 2004) Although Public Relations and Marketing officers already maximized the promotion using many promotional tools, it could not be effective if they do not deliver the message clearly and suitable to the products or services that are offered. That is why in IMC there is one promotional tool that many Public Relations and Marketing officers forget, it is Word-of-mouth Communication (WOMC). As Walter J. Carl (2005), said that peer-to-peer conversations and recommendations are among the most trusted forms of communication. WOMC has strong influential power in leading and guiding messages received when searching for information, allocating searching efforts, and undertaking the decision process (Thakor & Kumar on Carl, 2005). WOMC can be encouraged and facilitated. Companies can work hard to make people happier, they can listen to consumers, they can make it easier for them to tell their friends, and they can make certain that influential individuals know about the good qualities of a product or service (WOMC 101, a WOMMA white paper, 2006). Word-of-mouth communication (WOMC) is one of most influential decision making factors in the service purchase decision and yet it remains beyond the control of marketers both for individuals and organizations (Swan & Oliver; Wee, Lim & Lwin on Carl, 2005). Types of WOMC There are two types of WOMC which are Organic WOMC and Amplified WOMC (Carl, 2005). Organic or Natural WOMC occurs naturally when people become advocates because they are happy with a product and have a natural desire to share their support and enthusiasm. Practices that enhance organic WOMC activity include, focusing on customer satisfaction; improving product quality and usability; responding to customer concerns and criticism; opening a dialog and listening to people; and earning customer loyalty. Amplified WOMC occurs when marketers launch campaigns designed to encourage or accelerate WOM in existing or new communities. Practices that amplify WOMC activity include creating communities; developing tools that enable people to share their opinions; motivating advocates and evangelists to actively promote a product; providing advocates information that they can share; using advertising or publicity designed to create buzz or start a conversation; identifying and reaching out to influential individuals and communities; researching and tracking online conversations. (Carl, 2005) Organic WOMC is arguee to be more effective because it is a reflection of customer satisfaction and it is an ethical PR practice (Carl, 2005). While amplified WOMC can be potentially unethical if the procedure or act that is used by which corporations seek to influence buying decisions is not a proper way. For instance to create the impression that a person is an actual consumer describing one's experience with a product when the person is not an actual consumer (e.g., a paid third-party posting information on blogs or message boards, the message that is delivered is not the truth or real information, and so on). WOMC can greatly affect the impact of message. Whatever it is called, WOMC is cheap because it does not rely on expensive media buys. It can, however, be reinforced by media stories, which is where public relations come in (Holmes, 2000). WOMC is a powerful tool because of its high level of credibility. And, if the topic is hot, it can spread like wildfire (Belch and Belch, 2004). How does WOMC works? (Because limited of words left, check my explanation and the process through the figure and theory at www.padmanegara-chronicle.blogspot.com) Thanks, Pandu Desember 23, 2008 (This essay is my introduction chapter in my undergraduate thesis) http://mediacare.blogspot.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
