Impact of Word-of-Mouth on Brand Identity

This research proposal aims to evaluate the impact of word-of-mouth marketing on the creation and maintenance of brand identity, specifically focusing on Walmart. It explores the factors that contribute to brand identity, the advantages and disadvantages of word-of-mouth marketing, and provides recommendations on how to increase its effectiveness for Walmart. The research methodology includes a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, with a case study approach using Walmart as the organization.

Research Proposal on “Impact of word-of-mouth in
creating brand identity”
Name of the student
In today’s world, brand identity is extremely important for the
organizations. Brand identity represents the values, ideas, services
and personality of an organization. It helps in generating employee
commitment and engagement and also to generate loyalty from the
clients and customers.
Brand identity of an organization consists of the elements that are
presented in the market to create a perception about the product or
service or the brand and these include both tangible and intangible
elements (Wheeler 2017). Logo, design, name, symbol, taglines,
packaging etc. are the tangible elements and expectations and
thinking are intangible elements that help to create an appeal and
product or service recognition. Thus, brand identity is an essential
factor for any organization to deliver a particular and consistent
message about their product or service to the target as well as
existing customers (Ruzzier and De Chernatony 2013).
Word-of-mouth (WOM) is one type of marketing technique which
works as a credible source of information regarding the product or
service of a company and helps to create brand identity. As stated
by Berger (2014), word-of-mouth marketing refers to the type of
promotional technique in which a customer’s interest for a
particular product or service of a company gets reflected in their
daily dialogues. It is treated as a free publicity or advertising that
gets triggered by the customer experiences. WOM generally occurs
when the experience with the particular product or service goes
beyond the expectations of the customers (Lovett, Peres and
Shachar 2013).
The aim of this research study is to evaluate the effectiveness of
word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing technique on the creation and
maintenance of brand identity of Walmart, the retail giant of the
world.
Introduction
• Research philosophy: Pragmatism research philosophy will be applied,
in which both qualitative and quantitative research methods will be used.
• Research purpose: Explanatory research will be followed as the
relationship between the dependent and independent research variables
will be examined and explained on the basis of existing theories.
•Research approach: Deductive research approach will be followed as
the research hypothesis will be examined and generalized conclusion on
the research issue will be drawn from the study
•Research design: Correlational research design will be adopted as the
causal relationship between the variables will be examined to answer the
research questions.
•Research strategy: Case study strategy will be chosen and Walmart is
the case study organization
•Data collection process: Primary data will be collected through survey
and interview process.
•Data analysis process: Quantitative process will be applied on the
numerical survey data and qualitative methods will be applied on the
non-numeric interview data
Research Objectives
According to Wheeler (2017), brand of a product, service or organization
helps to create an emotional connection with the customers through the
experience and it also helps the organization or the product or service to
stand out amongst the competitive market. It also helps to build trust
among the customers regarding quality and performance. The
organizations purposefully present some tangible and intangible
elements that create a best perception about them or the product or
service among the customers, which is known as brand identity.
On the contrary, according to Da Silveira, Lages and Simões (2013), not
only the managers are responsible for brand identity creation, but the
consumers also contribute in creating brand identity over time through
mutually influencing the inputs by both managers and consumers.
Among the marketing techniques, word-of-mouth (WOM) is a technique
which directly involves the consumers in the promotion or marketing of a
brand. As stated by Lovett, Peres and Shachar (2013), WOM represents
an unpaid form of marketing or promotion in which the satisfied
consumers spread good reviews about a product, service or a business
based on their experiences.
López and Sicilia (2013) highlighted the effectiveness of WOM on the
adoption of new products by the consumers.
Yeoh, Othman and Ahmad (2013) evaluated the impact of WOM on the
medical tourists in Malaysia. In the medical industry, WOM is considered
as a credible source of information and review because that is based on
the personal experience of other patients or their friends and families.
Hence, more than any other marketing techniques, the medical tourism
industry or the healthcare industry focuses on WOM and take measures
to generate positive WOM.
On the other hand, sometimes the WOM facilities affect the brand image
or brand identity negatively. When the consumers are not satisfied with
the performance or quality of the brand, they tend to give poor reviews.
This affects the other potential customers and eventually the firms face
losses.
At the same time, Kazemi et al., (2013) mentioned through quantitative
study that WOM is strongly related to the brand loyalty, brand
commitment and customer satisfaction. When these factors are present
in a brand, consumers spread good reviews about it and that reflects
brand loyalty and commitment on part of the consumers. Thus, through
WOM companies can easily gauge the popularity of its products or
services which help then take improvement measures in a more precise
manner.
Literature review
H0: WOM does not affect the brand identity of Walmart
H1: WOM has significant impact on the brand identity of Walmart
Research Hypothesis Research Methodology
REPLACE THIS BOX
WITH YOUR
ORGANIZATION’S
HIGH RESOLUTION
LOGO
REPLACE THIS BOX
WITH YOUR
ORGANIZATION’S
HIGH RESOLUTION
LOGO
•To explore the factors that creates brand identity of Walmart
•To evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of word-of-mouth
(WOM) marketing technique
•To investigate the effectiveness of WOM marketing technique on
creating and maintaining the brand identity of Walmart
•To provide recommendations on how to increase the effectiveness
of WOM for Walmart
References
Ruzzier, M.K. and De Chernatony, L., 2013. Developing and
applying a place brand identity model: The case of
Slovenia. Journal of Business Research, 66(1), pp.45-52.
Wheeler, A., 2017. Designing brand identity: an essential guide for
the whole branding team. John Wiley & Sons.
Da Silveira, C., Lages, C. and Simões, C., 2013. Reconceptualizing
brand identity in a dynamic environment. Journal of Business
Research, 66(1), pp.28-36.
Lovett, M.J., Peres, R. and Shachar, R., 2013. On brands and word
of mouth. Journal of marketing research, 50(4), pp.427-444.
López, M. and Sicilia, M., 2013. How WOM marketing contributes
to new product adoption: testing competitive communication
strategies. European Journal of Marketing, 47(7), pp.1089-1114.
Kazemi, A., PaEmami, V.M., Abbaszadeh, A. and Pourzamani, J.,
2013. Impact of brand identity on customer loyalty and word of
mouth communications, considering mediating role of customer
satisfaction and brand commitment.(Case Study: Customers of
Mellat Bank in Kermanshah). International journal of academic
research in economics and management sciences, 2(4), p.1.
Yeoh, E., Othman, K. and Ahmad, H., 2013. Understanding medical
tourists: Word-of-mouth and viral marketing as potent marketing
tools. Tourism Management, 34, pp.196-201.