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Word-of-Mouth Resources

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  •  
    YouTube's Playbook for Producing Compelling Videos
    YouTube enjoys an astounding 3 billion views per day. It's no surprise that big brands are fighting to harness some of those eyeballs. Today the site has more than 20,000 revenue-generating partners. At MIPCOM this year, YouTube announced its intentions to focus on content creators, offering guidance and even Creator Camps ... more
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    The Four-Step Plan for Word-of-Mouth Lead Generation
    "Here's the big news," writes Andy Sernovitz in the book Social BOOM! "It's not social MEDIA. It's SOCIAL media. It's about real people and the conversations they have." In other words, a presence at online networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn isn't enough. To generate word-of-mouth leads, you'll also need ... more
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    Half of Tweets About Steve Jobs's Death Sent via Apple Devices
    With the news of Steve Jobs's death on October 5, 2011, the Twitter universe exploded with tributes to the visionary co-founder and former chief executive of Apple. More than half of those tweets were generated via Apple devices, according to a study by Visibli. more
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    What Can Your Referral Program Learn From Roku?
    "Plenty of companies have referral programs," writes Kimberly Smith, "but how many can say theirs converts at about three times the rate of other online marketing campaigns and brings in over 500 new product sales each month?" In a case study at MarketingProfs, Smith explains how Roku—which makes devices that ... more
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    Social Media Gets Mixed Reviews From Small Business
    Small business owners are still lukewarm about social media: 53% say they use social media for business, but only 12% say social marketing is a must for their business, according to a survey from Hiscox. Social media adoption varies by company size, however. more
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    Use Social Serendipity to Boost Innovation
    What is serendipity? You could say it is a manifestation of creativity whose inspiration comes from outside. More companies are finding that serendipity is a huge factor in innovation processes, resulting in the birth of "open innovation" programs such as Procter & Gamble's Connect & Develop, and contests where internal ... more
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    How to Use Social Media Chatter in Your Email Campaigns
    Unless your company finds itself at the epicenter of a major scandal—à la BP—social media chatter can be a valuable sales-generating tool. "[C]onsider every mention of your brand for potential use in your email marketing campaigns," writes Hal Licino in an article at MarketingProfs. "Doing so demonstrates to your subscribers that ... more
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    What to Listen For in Social Media
    Any good conversationalist will tell you: It's not enough to listen, you must know how to listen. That principle holds true in the sprawled social world as well. In a recent article at AdAge Digital, Kyle Monson notes that the "efficacy of social listening is determined not by the listening ... more
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    Quick Tips for Transforming Your Enterprise Into a People-Pleaser
    The Temkin Group's Bruce Temkin has a six-step philosophy for pleasing users. "The trick to getting customer experience right," he notes in an article at 1to1 Media, "is simply to apply a bit of common sense." Don't miss the complete article (sign-in required). In the meantime, here are a few ... more
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    Bad News (About Brands) Travels Fast
    More than one-quarter of US consumers (26%) say they are more likely to tell family, friends, and coworkers about a bad experience with a product or service than a good one, according to LoyaltyOne's COLLOQUY report. more
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    Keys to Successful Social Media Monitoring in 2011
    We recently offered tips for checking out your business rivals through social media monitoring. But what exactly is the state of the customer-monitoring art in 2011?  Lucky for us, monitoring firm Synthesio has produced quite a useful article that explores what the big picture of social media monitoring looks like ... more
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    Three Tips for Setting Up Google Analytics
    In a recent post at Search Engine Watch, Rob Chant notes that if you're doing any marketing at all, measuring the performance of your website is still critical to your success. And although your Web server likely has a basic tracking tool already installed, he argues that Google Analytics (GA) ... more
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    Three Tips for Monitoring Your Competitors on Social Media
    Marketers the world over are using social media not only to connect with customers and prospects, but also to see how well their competition is doing. As the wired social world grows in sophistication, so do the means to monitor the conversation. Sure, it's easier than ever to keep an eye on ... more
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    E-tail Marketing: Is Social Media Worth the Cost?
    Social media still trails traditional marketing channels such as email in driving traffic to retail websites; however, customers who visit top retail sites because of a social media interaction are highly likely to purchase, according to a study by Foresee Results. more
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    An Easy Way to Manage Multiple Social Media Accounts
    If you've been shoehorned, by choice or necessity, into the role of a social community manager, your fingers must ache. It's not easy navigating a multiplicity of social media accounts for yourself and a client—sometimes multiple clients—at the same time. But thumbs up! The super-helpful iPhone app MySocialMania doesn't just keep you ... more
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    Using Twitter to Calm Complaints
    With an article proclaiming "the democracy of fine dining," USA Today recently covered a growing trend of restaurants using Twitter to improve diner experiences and expectations. Among companies like Chipotle and Pei Wei (which have full-time social-media staffers) and Chicago-based Graham Elliott (whose Twitter is run by the MasterChef judge himself) ... more
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    How Tippex Scored a YouTube Hit
    In August, correction-tape brand Tippex launched an attention-grabbing YouTube campaign. Colorfully labeled "NSFW. A hunter shoots a bear!," it shows footage of a reluctant hunter faced with shooting a bear creeping up on his camping gear. At video's end, you're left with one of two buttons to push: should he shoot, ... more
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    How to Use Twitter to Boost Buzz, Sales and Engagement
    In September, UNIQLO UK launched Lucky Counter, a piece of marketing genius that compelled users to Tweet about the company's products. Each time they did, the products got more appealing. How? Lucky Counter featured a diverse, limited array of UNIQLO products and prices. Click on one, and you'd be invited to Tweet ... more
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    Most Teen Brand Word-of-Mouth Occurs Offline
    Despite the image of teens being obsessed with digital communications, only 13% of teen word-of-mouth (WOM) about brands takes place online—via texting/instant messaging (7%), social networking (3%), and email (3%)—according to a survey from Keller Fay Group. more
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    Twitter-Based Customer Service: How Best Buy Gets It Right
    In a minor stroke of genius, Best Buy created @Twelpforce, a Twitter-based means to pose tech questions and get answers in real time. Today, Twelpforce is more than 28,000 followers strong. Reviews are so positive, and its execution so impressive, that the agency responsible (Crispin Porter + Bogusky) received the Titanium ... more
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    Five New Branding Lessons From Lady Gaga
    It's Lady Gaga lesson-time again. After all, she is a marketer who consistently goes viral. And her results ring loud: Gaga's the first artist to hit 1 billion YouTube views. And she's turned quite a handy-dandy profit: 11.5 million albums sold in two years, including through digital media (where she ... more
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    Pick-Up in Communications Spending Forecast for 2010-2014
    Driven by gradual economic recovery, advances in digital technology, and secular shifts in business and consumer spending, total communications industry spending is on pace to increase 3.5% in 2010 and post a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.8% from 2010 to 2014, reaching $1.4 trillion in spending by 2014, ... more
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    Teen Social Media Influencers Wield Power Online and Offline
    The Web's most influential teens are more likely than other teens to actively participate in social media and digital activities, such as updating their social networking status and sending text messages, but they are also more likely to spend time influencing their peers and socializing offline, according to a survey ... more
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    Go Shopping: It's a Cool Way to Check Out the Competition
    You spend a lot of time ensuring the best-possible experience for every customer purchasing your product or service. You've trained a friendly, knowledgeable staff, and you use customer feedback—both positive and negative—to shape the sales process and provide ongoing support. But do you know how your customer experience compares with that offered ... more
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    You Can Calculate the Value of a Customer Tweet
    Ever wonder about the true long-range value of a tweet? Now you don't have to guess. Just plug a link, phrase, hashtag or screen name into TweetReach.com to get a sense of the reach it's achieved via tweets and retweets. The cool part: TweetReach doesn't just reveal how many users ... more

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Word-of-Mouth articles by the best and brightest in the field

All Articles  |  Benefit of PRO Membership PRO Articles Only

  • Marketing Destination: Online Community... How to Survive and Thrive by Ronald Ladouceur, Melissa Fiorenza
    Online communities can deliver outstanding ROI, but they rarely produce value without significant investment, professional management... and consistent, intelligent, and engaging interaction. more
  • Can We Hug? Six Tips for Getting Customers to Show You Loveby Loren McDonald
    Hugging your customers—at least in a virtual, figurative sense—can increase engagement and boost positive word-of-mouth. Here are six ways to get customers to embrace you and market for you. more
  • Why Your Influencers Matter Now More Than Everby Gary Lee
    In today's social climate, influencers are more important than ever in shaping impressions and customer actions. Connect with those powerful voices. Learn three steps to locating and engaging your key influencers. more
  • Three New Ways to Market Your Small Businessby Sandra Rand
    Running your small business is a labor of love, but promoting it with new, targeted efforts is necessary to connect with customers. Learn how to keep things fresh and stay connected when marketing your business. more
  • Life After 'Like': How to Mobilize Your Loyal Audience Into an Army of Active Influencersby Michael Perry
    Online marketers have a dirty little secret. They've got no idea what to do once they've earned enough social media "likes" to reach their goals. Here are five ways to turn those fans and followers into brand advocates. more
  • The Future of Marketing Is Crowdsourcedby Brandon Evans
    Your customers will soon wield more and more power, becoming the most powerful communications channel. Are you ready for the new world of marketing? Learn the five keys to building a crowdsourced future.. more
  • Case Study: How One Company More Than Doubled Customer Referralsby Kimberly Smith
    Many companies have referral programs, but how many can say theirs converts at about three times the rate of other online campaigns and brings in over 500 product sales each month? Learn how one company did just that. more
  • Grow the Bottom Line With Voice of the Customer Researchby Laura Patterson
    When executed well, a VoC program can provide insight about customers and what is important to them. Besides the obvious reasons why that's important to know, there are business benefits to making this type of investment of time and money. more
  • Five Steps to Engaging Online Communitiesby Sarah Manley
    Everywhere you look, people are talking about "communities"—how to find them, how to join them, and... if you're lucky, how to successfully sell your products and services to their members. Here are five steps to engaging online communities and finding and maintaining your fanatics. more
  • How to Activate Viral Campaigns (or Why Social and Sharing Are Not the Same) by Ben Straley
    Simply slapping up social media content and hoping it works to build brand awareness and drive sales is not enough: "Social" is not the same as "sharing." And social content works best when it's shared. Here's how you can activate viral sharing of your content. more
  • Ten Steps You Can Take to Create Compelling Testimonialsby Barbara Bix
    Most prospects are not experts in purchasing the types of products and services you offer. So what do they do? They turn to testimonials because testimonials are readily available and because they hope to learn from others' experiences. more
  • DRTV: There's Method in the Madnessby Dave Miller, Miguel Ferry
    Some of the funniest comedy skits have been spoof TV spots—and they closely follow proven DRTV principles to make their sketch more believable and more poignant: They grab your attention; they frame a problem that needs to be solved; they state their offer as the solution; they show the product ... more
  • Email Campaign Testimonials: How to Maximize Customer Praiseby Hal Licino
    Welcome to the power of the testimonial: A potent plug can make people as much as seven times more likely to buy or try than if they saw a paid advertisement. Email-based testimonials can be just as persuasive, but the key is to maximize their power. Here's how to do ... more
  • Accelerate Your Referrals: Nine Steps to Successby Barbara Bix
    If you're like many professional service providers, you get a lot of business from referrals. You get them because you're an expert and you provide excellent service. Nevertheless, that's not enough. Several things need to happen first: In fact, the referral process parallels the buying process that prospects use to ... more
  • Six Socially Responsible Tactics That Grow Your Small Businessby Geri Stengel
    It's a global trend: Consumers want to buy from, employees want to work for, and other businesses want supplies from, socially responsible enterprises. Small-business owners can use the corporate social responsibility trend to improve their own businesses and stand out from competitors by taking the following steps. more
  • 10 Tips for Building Customer Loyaltyby Chintan Bharwada
    Customer loyalty matters, because selling more to current customers is easier and cheaper than finding and selling to new ones. Loyal customers tend to buy more, more regularly. And frequently they will recommend your business to others. Here are 10 tips for you to consider to deepen relationships with customers. more
  • Effective Customer Listening Requires More Than Keywordsby Alex Lustberg
    Is it your job to listen to and analyze social-media messages and direct customer feedback about your product, brand, or service? Effective listening and insights analysis allow you to track not just the volume but also the meaning of online conversations across a complex web of consumer-interaction channels. more
  • 10 Tips for Crowdsourcing Advertising With a Video Contestby Wil Merritt
    Conversation marketing. Engagement marketing. Social media. Earned media. Consumer-generated media. User-generated Content. Crowdsourcing. Outsourcing. Co-creation. No matter what you call it, the evolution of the way brands reach and interact with consumers has led to mass experimentation with the alluring, yet often hard-to-execute marketing tactic: the video contest. more
  • In an Age of Free Advice and Liberal Sharing, Is It OK to Ask for Something in Return?by DJ Waldow
    With social media a hot ticket item and social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube making it easy to share, people are spending a lot of time offering free advice and sharing knowledge publicly, yet they are not asking for anything in return. But it's OK to ask. more
  • Four Critical Steps to Finding and Fixing Negative OpinionPRO Contentby Michael F. Kelly
    Unhappy customers are typically more vocal than satisfied customers, which means that new prospects coming to the market will more likely hear negative things about your brand. Here's what you can do. more
  • A Three-Step Plan for Continual Email-List Growth and Engagement (Part 1 of 3)PRO Contentby Karen Talavera
    In online marketing, when it comes to lists, the email-marketing list reigns supreme. But for most email marketers, continual email-list growth is the Achilles' heel of email marketing. more
  • Plan B: Seven Back-to-Basics Questions to Ask About Your Buyers to Drive GrowthPRO Contentby Kevin Clancy, Peter Krieg
    Plan A, which calls for pouring dollars into advertising, rarely increases profitability. Sometimes it doesn't even boost sales, and it certainly doesn't guarantee improvements in marketing effectiveness or ROI. Enter Plan B: taking a closer look at the basic marketing strategy fundamentals that drive tactical decisions. more
  • Brand Control to Major Tom: The New Rules of Brand Managementby Roger Sametz
    The notion that you can manage your brand by making and distributing messages and materials that you want "out there" is becoming quaint. And though the new age of extreme participation is a challenge, you as brand manager haven't lost all control—and you CAN influence what you can't control. more
  • Marketing Is So Much More Than Promotion: Just Visit My Hairdresserby Barbara Bix
    What can marketers learn from the smallest of small businesses, a hair salon? You might be surprised: Here is a story of an integrated-marketing and client-service approach that any business would do well to emulate. more
  • Marketers: Don't Just Buy Media—Earn It!by Ben Straley
    Want to get started with an effective earned-media marketing program? Here are three tips for launching, measuring, and monetizing a low-cost earned-media program that will drive a surge in online word-of-mouth traffic about your brand. more

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Word-of-Mouth case studies, deconstructing real life examples and illustrating lessons learned.

Check out our marketing Case Study Collections on hot topics including Social Media ROI, Mobile Marketing, Facebook and Twitter.

Word-of-Mouth: See all 44 case studies

Word-of-Mouth online seminar broadcasts from the best minds in marketing

Be sure to check out our Upcoming Online Seminars. Tune in LIVE or watch the recordings at any time.

Word-of-Mouth: See all 18 seminars

Word-of-Mouth Take 10 Webcasts—tactical marketing know-how in just 10 minutes from subject matter experts

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Word-of-Mouth marketing downloads for the busy professional

  • Influencer Marketing Success Stories
    Influencer Marketing Success Stories features 13 companies that have leveraged the influence of outspoken opinion-makers and ordinary online reviewers to achieve their marketing objectives. With examples including Forbes Digital and Virgin America, this new Case Study Collection will show you how use influencer to boost brand awareness, introduce new products, increase sales, and more.
  • Social Media Integration Success Stories
    Twitter. Facebook. LinkedIn. While these social media tools are all effective on their own, they work best when part of other marketing programs. See how 10 companies have maximized results by integrating social media into traditional marketing efforts.
  • Facebook Success Stories
    When it comes to social networking sites, Facebook boasts the most loyal visitors on the Web. So it's easy to see why successful brands are embracing it as a platform to connect with customers. Facebook Success Stories gives you the real scoop on how 21 companies, including Adobe and Dunkin' Donuts, are pushing the social media marketing envelope using Facebook's tools and apps.
  • A Step-by-Step Guide to a Social Media Program: Everything you need to know about establishing your strategy, policy and team
    The adage “think before you speak” has now become “think before you write.” In this age of instant messaging, businesses need to wield their online words thoughtfully. Check out MarketingProfs “A Step-by-Step Guide to a Successful Social Media Program” to learn how to create your social media strategy, policy and team.
  • Social Media ROI Success Stories
    Learn how social media is changing the way we market to consumers and businesses, and how 11 companies are measuring and monitoring the success of their social media campaigns.
  • Customer-Centric Innovation: How Companies Engage Customers in Product Development and Radical Innovation
    Engaging your customers can help increase satisfaction, loyalty, and brand awareness. This research report will help you understand the role of customers in product development.
  • Twitter Success Stories: How 11 Companies are Achieving Their Marketing Objectives—140 Characters at a Time
    Twitter’s brief tweets let you communicate with friends and family. But did you know that those 140 characters can also build your business? Read Twitter Success Stories: How 11 companies are achieving their marketing objectives, 140 characters at a time.
  • The Obama Playbook: How Digital Marketing and Social Media Won the Election
    Want to create a veritable army of customer-advocates to champion your brand? The Obama Playbook: How Digital Marketing and Social Media Won the Election shows you how the Obama campaign masterfully used new media to build awareness, engage prospects, and start a movement. It takes you step-by-step through the new media strategies of the campaign and provides actionable guidance on how you can modify each to benefit your business. Both entertaining and useful, it's an invaluable resource for the savvy marketer who wants to take full advantage of the amazing powers of new media.
  • Small Biz How-To Guide: Avoiding Key Pitfalls
    Let's face it, more small businesses fail than succeed. Make sure yours is one of the winners with this guide to getting your small business off the ground and solidly on the road to success.
  • Lead Generation How-To Guide
    Great product, great sales team, great marketing collateral - now what? People to sell to, of course. Put your lead generation tactics under the microscope with this enlightening how-to guide. Get more and better qualified leads, faster today.
  • Trade Show Marketing Template
    Trade show marketing is a high-risk, high-reward endeavor. This Template provides a sytematic look at trade show marketing. It walks you through selection and promotion, to follow-up and measurement. This step-by-step guide will insure your trade show marketing is effective, efficient, measurable, and successful.

Word-of-Mouth: See all 11 downloads

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