Word of mouth is more powerfull than Google.

[sniperhiga]

When i started my online buisness i belived that only Google can bring me customers and sales. When i reached Google top positions i was little dissapointed... I found that most my clients come from recommendations, and offline advertising.
Now i always say that if you want to launch online business... you should behave the same way like owner of any other business. You can't move forvard untill you are listed in yellow books, you made business cards, you advertise your business offline, you spread your information around friends and family members. Word of mouth is the most powerfull thing in marketing. In fact... only word of mouth brought websites like MySpace, Facebook, or YouTube on top.

[SilentlyScreaming]

This is true IF you live somewhere where friends and family (and their friends etc.) are likely to have internet connections, and actually regularly use them. For those of us in countries where people still haven't really been sucked in yet, it can be difficult.

[midlandi]

At last, someone else who has seen the light.
I gave up on PR,Google... etc,etc a while back and reverted to good old marketing. My rankings and traffic have slumped but my customer base and turnover is up!

[Red_Virus]

I agree with that point, But that will only work when you really have lots of friends. !

[x3mario]

Sure it works if you have a lot of friends. But how about if you don't have? What do you think?

[midlandi]

You dont need freinds, a business cannot be run that way.
You need to network, amongst other things.
Direct contact..etc..etc.

[martyan]

Is it true for all types of business? If this theory is correct, Google may lose lots of money, or to be more precise, people will save lots of money they are using now on buying links and improving their PR.

[Tariel Zivzivadze]

From my point of view it [depending on word of mouth or any other marketing tool] depents on the audience to deal with.

If you deal with the CEOs, than journal adversitins may be the solution
If you deal with the teenagers, than forums, blogs and etc tools can be of use ...

you need to constantly test different marketing tools on effectiveness for your purposes

[jamaine12]

I think it will work if you have a good PR...Not Page Rank..But,good public relation.

[swapw]

I think it depends on what type of products you are promoting. If it's something premium, I would definitely say that promoting offline is probably your best bet. It also has to do with your keyword too, if the volumn of searches are not there you are probably picking the wrong keyword.

-Swapw

[Hafsoh]

Originally Posted by sniperhiga

Word of mouth is the most powerfull thing in marketing. In fact... only word of mouth brought websites like MySpace, Facebook, or YouTube on top.

This should depend on the marketing tools you are using and also your public relation.

[eXweso]

I have faced similar situations but only people here recommend me online and not in my locality or something because

Originally Posted by SilentlyScreaming

This is true IF you live somewhere where friends and family (and their friends etc.) are likely to have internet connections, and actually regularly use them. For those of us in countries where people still haven't really been sucked in yet, it can be difficult.

[wayzee]

yea up to some extent its true but online advertising & marketing also make important role