Career News 24/7: INSTANT MBA: When It Comes To Marketing, It's All About Word Of Mouth

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

INSTANT MBA: When It Comes To Marketing, It's All About Word Of Mouth

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Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Today’s advice comes from Neil Blumenthal, co-founder of Warby Parker via Inc:

“We think of marketing at its core as branding and storytelling and we’ve managed to maintain this great trajectory with getting more and more press. But more important to that is the word of mouth that’s been accompanying it.”

Warby Parker, an online eyewear boutique disrupted the eyewear industry by offering glasses priced at $95 instead of what most other companies charge, often reaching $700. The reason glasses cost so much from other companies is because the majority of them are owned by one company—Exotica—which has kept prices extremely high.

Blumenthal gives both the press and consumers a lot to talk about, which has contributed to the company's success. Two major points of conversation are the affordable price Warby Parker glasses go for, and the strong social mission the company pursues with its buy a pair give a pair campaign.

Blumenthal explains that sales continue to increase for a company when it has something interesting enough to talk about. If conversation can occur after media hype has subsided, your company will grow.

“What we’ll find is we’ll hit a huge spike when we’re in the New York Times for example. Typically when you get a spike in sales it usually drops down but what we found is it actually ended up being maintained and it actually created a steep function because all of those new customers were telling more customers. What are those reasons that you can give people to talk about your brand or company?”

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