Peer recommendations are everything says Nielsen

Posted on October 2, 2014 in internet marketing, Marketing, Online Marketing, Search Engine Marketing Services, Small Company Internet Marketing, Social Media Marketing Services

z779  In case you haven’t heard, the hard sell is out. According to Nielsen, what will most effect your brand is peer reviews and recommendations. Because of this, everyone continues to scramble to make online marketing engagement a top priority with regard to social net work and online branding.

  •  While many of today’s online consumers are brand loyal, Nielsen found in a recent survey that over 84% of those they spoke with put the majority of their trust in online marketing in the recommendations of peers, family, or friends. Nielsen spoke with 29,000 people for their current survey results.
  • This means, basically, that your online marketing efforts must go where your potential clients and customers are and you must engage them. You must talk with them, get an intimate dialogue going. Be persuasive about your brand but the out and out hard sell simply will not work anymore. This is especially so with the Millennials.
  • Nielsen found that branded companies and sites were trusted by nearly 70% of those they spoke with followed closely by reviews and opinions that were registered somewhere online.
  • Advertising and online marketing still remains the most effective way to reach your target audience. While television continues to dominate, online marketing and social media marketing keeps making strong enough inroads to soon pose a serious threat to TV.
  • The strongest take away from all of this is that word of mouth advertising is a brands best friend. Your loyal and satisfied customer base will spread the word about you quickly so the online marketing efforts you make at engagement have a long term payoff.
  • You and your people are your company, your brand. That is what people want to see. They want to see caring and extreme customer service. For many, it is less about the product you are trying to sell and more about you and your company. People want to do business with people they like and trust.

For you, your online marketing efforts are all about engaging those current and future customers. It is a long term, and time intensive project. You need to dedicate a team, or outsource your online marketing to an experienced firm, to be successful in the long run with regard to creating lasting fans that will spread the word.