We heard a debate the other day that involved what’s more effective: websites, social, or word of mouth. We wanted to settle the debate once and for all. They are all important and they should all be utilized in order to create a trusted brand. 

A New Version of an Old Trick

Word-of-mouth marketing doesn’t function like it did 20 years ago (obviously!) A lot of word-of-mouth sharing takes place over social media and websites, so in a way, word-of-mouth advertising and social media advertising are parts of the same thing.

The Statistics

“92% of consumers believe recommendations from friends and family over all forms of advertising.” (Forbes)

“66% of respondents under the age of 34 are more likely to give a referral after receiving social recognition.” (Software Advice via Referral Candy)

56% of B2B responders use word-of-mouth marketing to “find information[al] advice.” (I-Scoop)

A Market Force study found that “81% of U.S. consumers are influenced by their friends’ social media posts.” (Market Force)

“75% of users admit to making judgments about a company’s credibility based on their website’s design.” (Sanford Study via Kinesisinc)

Stay True to Your Brand

Essentially, these are all parts of one whole. If your website isn’t strong and if your social media campaign isn’t true to your brand, word of mouth isn’t going to do much for your business. The first thing people normally do when they hear about a company is Google it, so make sure that whatever they find in those search results reflects your brand, your tone, and your overall vision. That way, word-of-mouth marketing, social media marketing, and your website will create one unified experience for the user.

Writing an inspiring mission statement can be difficult, but we scoured the web to find some of the most inspiring mission statements that we could. Notice the lack of jargon and the incorporation of clear and truthful information.

Pinterest: Pinterest is a place to discover ideas for all your projects and interests, hand-picked by people like you.

Quirky: We make invention accessible. We believe the best ideas in the world aren’t actually in the world…they’re locked inside people’s heads. We exist to solve that problem.

Poppin: believes you should be able to surround yourself with objects of beauty everywhere you go and in everything that you do. Whether you are making grocery lists, taking notes at the latest TED conference, or pitching the next big account, you should be able to do it with a smile and style. This is why we exist.

Google: Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

BOMB Magazine: has been publishing conversations between artists of all disciplines since 1981. BOMB’s founders—New York City based artists and writers—created BOMB because they saw a disparity between the way artists talked about their work among themselves and the way critics described it.

Apartment Therapy: We believe:  A calm, healthy, beautiful home is a necessary foundation for happiness and success in the world. Creating this home doesn’t require large amounts of money or space. It requires inspiration, connection to resources and motivation to do something about it. The basic elements of good home design can be learned and achieved by all. Simplicity and luxury are not mutually exclusive.

Writing a mission statement doesn’t have to be scary or time consuming or fearful. We like to go by what Ben Franklin said:

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.

You probably did something worth doing, now you just have to write it out. Happy writing!