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BREAKING NEWS
Engaging ConversationsBy Brian Kristofek (President of Upshot) The true magic of word of mouth marketing lies in the social currency that a simple, creative, portable idea can give a consumer. There’s been a lot of time spent on the science of word of mouth but not nearly enough time spent on the creative side of the subject.
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TUNE UP Articles from MarketingProfs
Word of Mouth Marketing in 5 Easy StepsBy Andy Sernovitz Word of mouth has been with us forever. But word of mouth marketing is a new marketing specialty that is as actionable, trackable, and plannable as any other form of marketing.
Read More How to Leverage Word of Mouth Marketing (Even If You Don't Sell iPods)By Terri Whitesel Word of mouth, or WOM, has become the buzzword in many marketing and advertising circles. WOMMA (the Word of Mouth Marketing Association) defines WOM as: "The act of individuals providing marketing information to other people."
Read More TUNE IN Cool Websites and Trends FINE TUNE Cool Marketing Stuff We Have Found from Around the World
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| A Note From Our CEO, Jim Holbrook |  Word of mouth is the natural reaction for consumers who are fed up with all the over-promise and hype we marketers push out to them on a daily basis. It is the one b.s.-free zone because it's not really marketing. It’s the truth. And today the truth (or authenticity) is what sells.
Think about it. What can you believe, and who can you believe anymore? While the majority of us love the new Apple ads with "Bill Gates” and “Steve Jobs,” do we really believe Apple is poised to take over the Computer Age world? Do we believe that Tide is the No. 1 laundry detergent when Cheer claims to make you look as good in your clothes as the day you bought them? Do you believe Kirstie Alley's plug that you too can lose 70 pounds on Jenny Craig over Zora Andrich’s plug that NutriSystem helped her drop six sizes? If both women are right, is there one program specifically for you? When we get such conflicting messages, it is hard to determine what is right and wrong.
So we turn to filters.
We used to depend on filters like our remote controls that would give us the power to click and run. However, today we turn to much more advanced filters like Google or Yahoo! or Tivo that allow us to control our searches. Yet, as advanced as today’s filters have become, they are ill-equipped to discard all of the unwanted messages marketers push out to us every day.
Therefore we have no choice but to turn to the most inefficient but best filter for our information--what I like to call the friends and family program, also known as word of mouth. If something can stand up to the wear and tear of being passed along from mouth to ear several times, it must be tough enough to be real.
Check out the picture in the Fine Tune section to the left for an example. I bumped into this guy on Michigan Avenue and couldn’t resist asking him what the hell was up with his blue face. He said, "When you use Blankety Cellular, you can talk until you’re blue in the face." Haha. Very clever. You got me. And, yes, I told lots of people about the blue-faced guy. However, what I told people about was the cleverness of the ambush not the merits of the cell service. It was not real and not authentic. I was being played, and I wasn’t going to fall for it. Nice try.
The key to marketing these days is to decide whether you want to be noticed, want to be fashionable, or want to be authentic. If you start here and determine your objective, you will have won half the battle.
To learn more about how to do it right, please turn to Breaking News, Tune In and Tune Up …
Contact Jim at Jim.Holbrook@emak.com
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