Marketers employ a number of ways to persuade their audience to take action. From advertising to public relations to social media, the marketing landscape is constantly changing as technology evolves. A trend that has emerged recently may have several repercussions for your brand, both good and bad. Good old-fashioned word of mouth is the latest marketing craze, but in this age, it’s all online. From blogs to Twitter to review sites such as Yelp, more and more marketers are relying on online conversation about their brands and products to influence their audience. Yelp, for example, is a website totally dedicated solely to online reviews of everything from restaurants, customer service, or specific products. This type of marketing can be a great thing, if the conversation about your brand is positive, or absolutely devastating to your brand’s reputation if it’s negative. The other caveat to this is that often these bloggers, Tweeters and every day people get paid to write positive reviews about a brand or product and sometimes even negative reviews about a competitor. All this adds up to one thing: it is essential that you know what is being said about your brand on the web. Only you can control how your brand is perceived. For a more in-depth look at this marketing phenomenon, check out the Washington Post’s great article here.
