What would be the most effective form of advertising?
I’ve just started a new business, and I was wondering what is more effective between "word of mouth" advertising or paying an ad agency thousands of dollars to do it for me. (word of mouth is free)
So called "word of mouth" or "Buzz" marketing just means that people are talking about your company/product. It’s the best form of business promotion, because people are more likely to buy something they head about from people they trust (ie: their friends).
The problem then becomes: how do we get people talking about our company/product?
Buying time (advertising),with or without an ad agency, is one way to start the process, but so are: getting stories written about your company (Public Relations), Blogging, and even responding to posts like these! (with proper back linking :)
The fact is, whatever forms of marketing promotions you choose, they all need to be done over time if they are to become effective. Some are quicker than others, but all of them take a fair amount of time to translate into ‘word of mouth’… if they ever do at all.
Marketing is a skill that takes a LONG time to master. The good news is, you are already ahead of the game by asking intelligent questions like this one, and attempting to more fully understand the process, before spending your money on any particular tactic.
You can find out more from the American marketing Association’s website. The lik is listed under the source section below.
Good luck.
Aloha from Down Unda!
Did you mean ~
"What would be the most [cost] effective form of advertising?"?
Certainly word of mouth is cost effective but paying for advertising has been touted as extremely effective!
Before reading the rest of your question, my answer was going to be one word,
"FREEBIES!".
With your followup info, it seems you may be restricted to word of mouth to preclude the thousands. Oh well….
Best wishes~