Why viral marketing is important to the gastronomy

This word-of-mouth propaganda has it its downsides, though. Negative opinions spread much faster than positive recommendations and are harder to be shaken off. Therefore it is important to offer your guests consistently good quality.

Constant stream of advertisements

Commercials are everywhere and appear in every form. Today no one is able to absorb and process everything that is being advertised to them everywhere. Most people choose to ignore it: They skip newspaper advertisement, throw flyers into the nearest trash can, ignore or block online banners on websites and during commercial breaks on TV they change channels or use the bathroom. Word-of-mouth propaganda by relatives or friends is a channel that customers do not ignore immediately, but instead put their trust into.

Voluntary advertisement has to be worked for

Since there are many good restaurants it is important to stand out from the crowd. Potential guests are more likely to try out a restaurant if someone recommended it to them. Interpersonal relationships become the new magic phrase in the marketing area of gastronomy.

Using volunteers

The constant stream of advertisement requires marketing experts to invent new concepts and strategies. This is why whole companies exist who take care of professional word-of-mouth propaganda. Opinion leaders within friendship circles are being won over as product tester and advertiser. In return they get free products, for example a load of the tested pizza for free.

Yelp and Co

Viral marketing is also to be found on the Internet. Review sites like Yelp show us which Italian makes the best pizza of the city, who has the friendliest waiters and which restaurant is to be avoided. Millions of Internet users grade restaurant, products and other services. Many of those reviews are helpful for other users while some are less meaningful or not reliable. Personal recommendations are therefore the best advertisement and the key to success.