WoM-маркетинг в современных условиях цифровой экономики
WoM-marketing in modern conditions of digital economy
Юдин Александр Викторович
Студент 2 курса Финансово-экономический факультет Финансовый Университет при Правительстве РФ
Россия, Москва e-mail: [email protected]
Yudin Aleksandr Viktorovich
Student 2 term Faculty of Finance and Economic Financial University under the Government of The Russian Federation
Russia, Moscow e-mail: [email protected]
Научный руководитель Быч Елена Ивановна
Старший преподаватель Финансовый Университет при Правительстве РФ
Россия, Москва e-mail: [email protected]
Scientific adviser Bych Elena Ivanovna
Senior teacher
Financial University under the Government of The Russian Federation
Russia, Moscow e-mail: [email protected]
Аннотация.
В статье рассматривается современное состояние сарафанного маркетинга с учетом его развития в цифровой среде. Предмет исследования: WoM-маркетинг, как инструмент, способствующий продвижению товаров и услуг. Приоритетными задачами определены рассмотрение текущего состояния сарафанного маркетинга, а также анализ его причин развития и последствия. Сделан вывод о том, что изучаемый маркетинговый инструмент обладает высокой эффективностью, особенно при рациональном использовании.
Annotation.
The article deals with the current state of word of mouth marketing, taking into account its development in the digital sphere. The subject of research is WoM-marketing as a tool to promote products and services. The main tasks are to consider the current state of word of mouth marketing, to analyse its causes and consequences. It is concluded that the studied marketing tool has a high efficiency, especially in rational using.
Ключевые слова: WoM, маркетинг, цифровая экономика, торговля, реклама.
Key words: WoM, marketing, digital economy, trade, advertising.
The modern market has depended on advertising. Oversupply and unstable demand leads to high competition. And only the one, who can pay attention of the customers to products, allocate them from a number of similar offers, make consumers remember and understand that these goods and services are necessary, will have a benefit in the era of consumer civilization.
One of the methods of goods promotion, which is as equally effective in the Internet as in everyday life of modern customers, is WoM marketing [1, p. 23].
This article can be relevant and useful, as nowadays the word of mouth has stopped to be spontaneous and has become controlled. It has been developing faster than any other form of marketing and now it can be influenced.
The purpose of the work is to show the effectiveness of WoM-marketing in the promotion of goods and services and sales stimulation.
The following tasks will help to achieve the goal:
- study of research on the subject;
- extension of the hypothesis;
- conducting a survey;
- analysis of the results;
- proposing recommendations and conclusions.
In recent years, many researchers and practitioners are trying to formulate a definition of WoM marketing, but there is still no consensus [3, p. 22]. S. Gerasimova believes that word of mouth marketing is a marketing technology that allows to provoke positive conversations about the brand among potential consumers [2]. There is another point of view. E. Sernovitz, one of the popularizers of this marketing method, defines WoM marketing as "more than marketing, but maybe not marketing at all" [3, p. 21].
Thus, WoM-marketing is a kind of advertising, marketing B2C2C (from business to consumer, and from this consumer to another), which is a system of informal (oral, printed) forms of distributing information about the service, product or a company from the user to other people, and carried out both at no charge (only because of personal sympathy for the object of distribution), and as the paid work of marketing agencies.
The technology is based on the peculiarity of human psychology - to trust the advice of friends and acquaintances about goods and services. In today's world, advertising surrounds a person from all sides - and it is more important than ever to get an independent opinion about the product. The consumer is getting more and more wary to advertising promises every year. That is why choosing new products, he turns for a recommendation to the members of his inner circle. It is supposed that such people can't fool and give bad advice. If the consumer is faced with a choice of what he can trust, traditional advertising, or advice of a friend, he, of course, will choose the latter.
During the research, a hypothesis was put forward: one of the most effective digital channels of information distribution is WoM - marketing. To prove or refute it, a survey was conducted in the form of a questionnaire. The selection consisted of 100 people, the majority of respondents belonged to the age group of 18-25. The respondents were given the following question: «Which marketing channels (form of advertising) do you think are more popular? » The results of the survey are shown in fig.1.
Which marketing channels (form of advertising) do you think are more popular?
Television Media WoM
E-mail newsletter Social networks Sites of distributors or manufacturers Advertising in the streets
I 2 I 2
30
28
58 56
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 Figure 1. The chart with the results of the questionnaire (people).
Source: questionnaire
Author's calculations
As you can see from the chart, the most inefficient advertising channels (within the framework of the study) are the media and television, and the most effective ones are social networks and sites of distributors or manufacturers (it can be concluded that consumers monitor the sites of goods and services they are interested in before buying). It is interesting that the results of the survey demonstrate the effectiveness of advertising in the streets in the era of digital technologies. Therefore, with the transition to the digital sphere, one should not underestimate some of the traditional channels of advertising. E-mail newsletter has not the last place and is also quite effective. Perhaps, more companies should use the practice of buyers filling out questionnaires when purchasing goods to increase the probability of re-purchasing them. As expected, the WoM method demonstrates its effectiveness - distribution through communication and discussion of sales in social networks (for example, bloggers can share information with their subscribers, while they are the opinion leaders for a certain group of consumers and can significantly affect the demand for a particular product or service), almost one third of the group noted WoM - marketing as crucial method.
Thus, one of the most effective channels of information distribution is word of mouth. According to the results, about 1/3 of respondents noted that they learn about promotions, new products and services through WoM-marketing. At the same time, we should not underestimate the importance of traditional channels: almost 40% of respondents turned their attention to street advertising.
Knowing about the benefits of WoM - marketing, it is advisable to offer companies the following recommendations:
- create atypical and unusual advertising campaigns (for example, viral advertising videos), which will cover more of the target audience, because of the desire of people to share with each other what they see in advertising.
- focus on current trends, information occasions and popular tendencies to make the most effective using of the power of WoM marketing.
- be careful, a failed advertising campaign or marketing strategy can quickly provoke the spread of negative opinions about your company, at the same time it will attract attention, but the risks are too high.
- take advantages of the digital environment, such as hashtags, links, QR-codes, etc.
The results of this article can help further researchers in determining the most effective marketing tools. The question of simplicity and cost of WoM - marketing application in practice remains controversial.
In conclusion, we can say that WoM-marketing in modern conditions is one of the most effective methods aimed at promoting goods and services. The undoubted advantage is that its impact is effective both offline and in the digital environment. At the same time, the maximum result is achieved with the help of planned WoM, which is a part of the overall marketing communication.
Список используемой литературы:
1.O. A. Alekseeva, D. M. Kuchaeva WoM marketing as a method of informal promotion of goods (works, services) // Scientific forum: Economics and management: collection of articles on materials of the XIII Intern. science-prakt. Conf. - № 1 (13). — M., Ed. MCNO, 2018. - P. 23-30.
2.Gerasimova S. What is the word marketing? (15.11.12) [Electronic resource] URL: https://www.sostav.ru/blogs/98983/10185/ (accessed: 01.03.2019)
3.Sernovitz E. Word of mouth marketing. How smart companies make you talk about yourself. - M.: MYTH, 2012. - 210 p.