Yeah. Sounds a bit optimistic to me too.
But a new study by TWI Surveys, Inc. on behalf of Society for New Communications Research (SNCR),points out some stunning findings. At the head of the list: 81% of all marketers believe that in five years they'll be spending as much or more on conversational -- or WOM -- marketing vs. traditional marketing.
Whether they call it Word of Mouth Advertising, Buzz Marketing or influencer marketing, I do see an increasing number of sophisticated marketers working to integrate WOM into their marketing mix.
Other finding from the study:
- 70% of marketers are currently spending 2.5% or less of their communications budgets on conversational marketing
- Two-thirds plan to increase their investment in this area in the next twelve months
- 57% project that in five years they'll be spending more on conversational marketing than traditional marketing
In addition, Joseph Jaffe, a Senior fellow at SNCR says that conversational marketing investment will make up the third pillar of the new marketing model -- with Community and Conversation being added to the four P's of marketing: product, place, price and promotion.
Maybe it's wishful thinking. But when marketers see that more than 90% of all consumers rate friends, family and colleagues as their #1 influence on purchase behavior, you know they have no choice but to pay attention to the power of this emerging discipline.
