Nielsen recently did a survey regarding people’s “trust” in various forms of advertising (see the graph below).
Remarkably, the two top categories of trust involved word of mouth! All other forms of advertising were substantially lower than the top two (word-of-mouth approaches). Furthermore, 82% of all forms of advertising (other than word of mouth) showed that more than half of all people didn’t trust that form of advertising much at all!
The media often asks me why networking is so important. I think the graph below clearly demonstrates why networking is so important for business growth and success. It’s important to note that I believe in advertising; I also believe that referrals and networking are a form of advertising and I’ve been saying for many years that business networking (i.e., referral marketing) is the most cost effective form of advertising.
This independent study clearly confirms the power of word-of-mouth advertising. Weigh in here – what are your thoughts on the matter?