A relatively recent article in Inc. Magazine (http://www.inc.com/magazine/20060401/priority-marketing-terms.html) defines word-of-mouth marketing:
"Word-of-mouth marketing is any initiative that prompts customers to talk to other people about a product or service. There are several breeds.
• Viral marketing
Promoting products or services through messages and video spread by consumers via e-mail.
• Buzz marketing
Winning attention for products by putting them in the hands of celebrities.
• Influencer marketing
Targeting the connected or cool people that lemmings will most likely follow.
• Stealth marketing
Marketing disguised as something else. Word-of-mouthers consider this their evil twin. Anyone who thinks ill of word of mouth, they contend, is probably confusing it with this."
Here are my "two cents" on these techniques, as a word-of-mouth marketing strategist:
I like to call Viral Marketing "word-of-mouse" marketing. It's easy, inexpensive, and can work well if the message is valuable to recipients.
Buzz Marketing doesn't have to involve just celebrities, it can include any industry leader, speaker, or loyal customer who is eager to share info about your services.
That ties into Influencer Marketing, as well. Influencers are not the only "cool" people when it comes to talking up your services.
Stealth Marketing includes paying people to talk up your services "on the street" which is unethical. Such underhanded schemes masquerading as true word-of-mouth are one of the main reasons Andy Sernovitz and friends formed the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (http://www.womma.com/) in 2004.
Are you using any of these WOMM techniques in your practice? If so, what worked or not?
Ann N. Videan, APR
Videan Unlimited marketing connections
www.videanunlimited.com
