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Ernest Dichter – “How word of mouth advertising works” (Reasons Why People…
Ernest Dichter – “How word of mouth advertising works”
consumers reject advertising messages because they are “more a sales tool than information and guidance.” He goes on to explain consumers reject advertising claims because they feel “threatened” by the “cold commercialism” of advertising messages.
“When the consumer feels that the advertiser speaks to him as a friend … the consumer will relax and tend to accept the recommendation.”
Humanizing brands
Reasons Why People Talk
Dicther’s research revealed that a person will talk about a brand if he
“gets something out of it.”
Meaning, the talker receives
self-satisfaction
from mentioning a product or service to someone. In particular, Dicther outlines four motivations for why people talk about a brand.
1. Personal Experience
2. Self-Confirmation
3. Being Nice
4. Influenced by Advertising
Reasons Why People Listen
people determine whether to listen or ignore brand-related word of mouth conversations based upon if (a) “the person who recommends is interested in him and his well-being” and (b) “that the speaker’s experience with and knowledge about the product are convincing.”Dichter dug deeper to identify speaker types who have the greatest influence in making a word of mouth recommendation click with the listener. The most influential of these speakers are:
1. Industry Experts
2. Celebrities
3. Knowledgeable Passionate Fans
4. Closest Ties
Reasons Why People Act on Word of Mouth Recommendations
According to Ernest Dichter, four factors make word of mouth marketing
more effective than traditional advertising
. These four factors are:
1. Authentic Passion
“The real meaning of a product and of its effect to the user is revealed not only through the choice of the speaker’s words, but also through the discharge of emotions in inflection, face, and body expressions, and gestures.”
2. Genuine Compassion
“That the speaker is genuinely concerned with the listener’s well-being or has his advantage at heart becomes eminently believable in cases in which the recommendation is geared to, and takes into account, the individual needs or special circumstances of the listener.”
3. Actual Proof
“Tangible evidence” that a product works, as seen in real life, “…serves to strengthen the impact … of a recommendation in cases in which personal intention or product relationship are not sufficiently convincing in themselves.”
4. Semblance of Secrecy
When the speaker displays a “reluctance to divulge the source or brand name of a product” it can serve as sign to the listener that the product is so uniquely desirable the speaker doesn’t the want masses to know about this secret brand. “This refers to the well-known psychological phenomenon that the harder it is to get a desired object, the more desirable it becomes.”