Marketing strategies are often generated according to the needs of consumers. It does not matter how brilliant one’s strategy looks, it is worth nothing if it does not touches consumers. Today people care most about online comments and reviews. They tend to believe information on the web even more than the experience of their family. Such preconditions gave birth to consumer-generated marketing. The bottom line is consumers generate comments and reviews that would promote the product better than any other sort of content.
There are several reasons why companies like consumer-generated marketing. In the first place, it is effective. People believe other consumers more than anyone else, and good reviews work better for informed individuals who are about to make a purchase. Next, consumer-created content is cheap. You do not need a team of marketers to create manipulative messages and post them on relevant websites. Just let people write reviews on popular customers’ resources where everybody can find them.
Nevertheless, this type of marketing has its drawbacks. Companies cannot control consumer-generated content. Users may facilitate good as well as bad word-of-mouth. Furthermore, the brand is not always to blame for the quality of its products. Consumer-generated content is always subjective. It is difficult to evaluate the properties of products just because some people like it while the others do not. Internet chatter can make the marketing hasty and the product development will fail.
In the end, consumer-generated marketing is pleasant for consumers themselves. With this practice, businesses let their people speak out and show their readiness to answer the questions and provide help concerning their products. By this, the company takes responsibility for its actions and facilitates openness and transparency with customers.