Word of mouth

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For other uses, see Word of mouth (disambiguation).

Word of mouth, is a reference to the passing of information by verbal means, especially recommendations, but also general information, in an informal, person-to-person manner. Word of mouth is typically considered a face-to-face spoken communication, although phone conversations, text messages sent via SMS and web dialogue, such as online profile pages, blog posts, message board threads, instant messages and emails are often now included in the definition of word of mouth. There is some overlap in meaning between word of mouth and the following: rumour, gossip, innuendo, and hearsay; however word of mouth is more commonly used to describe positive information being spread rather than negative, although this is not always the case.

1 Comparison to word of mouth marketing (WOMM)
- 1.1 Successful examples
- 1.2 Unsuccessful and illegal examples
2 See also
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Comparison to word of mouth marketing (WOMM)

Word-of-mouth promotion, also known as buzz marketing and viral advertising, is highly valued by advertisers and is considered unethical and against the law by the FTC. It is believed that this form of communication has valuable source credibility. Research points to individuals being more inclined to believe WOMM than more formal forms of promotion methods; the receiver of word-of-mouth referrals tends to believe that the communicator is speaking honestly and is unlikely to have an ulterior motive (i.e. they are not receiving an incentive for their referrals).^[1] In order to promote and manage word-of-mouth communications, marketers use publicity techniques as well as viral marketing methods to achieve desired behavioral response. Influencer marketing is increasingly used to seed WOMM by targeting key individuals that have authority and a high number of personal connections.

While any marketers places extreme value on word-of-mouth, this has historically been achieved by creating products or services that generate such "buzz" naturally. The relatively new method of WOMM bypasses the need to create satisfied customers, and instead attempts to inject positive "buzz" into conversations directly. While marketers have always hoped to achieve word-of-mouth, many suggest there are serious ethical concerns in trying to generate word of mouth directly.

Word-of-mouth effects in the life cycle of cultural goods have been mathematically modelled.^[2] For evidence as to the conditions under which word-of-mouth communication is effective, see Grewal et al. 2003.

With the emergence of Web 2.0, mostly all web startups like facebook.com, youtube.com, collabotrade.com, myspace.com, and digg.com have used buzz Marketing by merging it with the social networking. With the increasing use of the Internet as a research and communications platform, word of mouth has become an even more powerful and useful resource for consumers and marketers. Tracking this online 'buzz' has led to the rise of a range of services and tools known as Buzz monitoring within the sphere of Online Public Relations.

[edit] Successful examples

Gmail - Google did no marketing, they spent no money. They created scarcity by giving out Gmail accounts only to a handful of "power users." Other users who aspired to be like these power users "lusted" for a Gmail account and this manifested itself in their bidding for Gmail invites on eBay. Demand was created by limited supply; the cachet of having a Gmail account caused the word of mouth, rather than any marketing activities by Google.
Chain e-mail about certain product/service can be considered as word of mouth marketing.World famous examples of Viral Marketing
Microsoft’s Origami Project campaign
Tupperware popularization
Popularization of text messaging
Popularization of chat
BMW’s Mini Cooper campaign
Ford Motor’s Evil Twin campaign
Jamie Kane game (BBC sponsored)
Homestar Runner
The Best Page in the Universe

[edit] Unsuccessful and illegal examples

Burger King's Subservient Chicken - Burger King's marketing program called Subservient Chicken did indeed generate a lot of word of mouth, but the word of mouth was about the marketing campaign instead of the product that was being marketed. Also, those marketing efforts which rely on being edgy or on some kind of stunt often fade quickly when the novelty or edge wears off. Finally, this type of marketing is not reproducible or sustainable since it won't be edgy the second time around.
McDonald's LincolnFry - a fake blog was discovered, and it generated lots of negative word of mouth and little participation.
American Express' billboard - a fake blog poster who told readers to check out a great Amex billboard was found to be an Ogilvy employee; this violation of trust resulted in massive negative word of mouth which spread around the world.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ Grewal, R., T.W. Cline, and A. Davies, 2003. Early-Entrant Advantage, Word-of-Mouth Communication, Brand Similarity, and the Consumer Decision-Making Process. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 13(3).
^ César A. Hidalgo, A. Castro and Carlos Rodriguez-Sickert, 'The effect of social interactions in the primary life cycle of motion pictures,' New Journal of Physics, April, 2006.

Renée Dye, 'The Buzz on Buzz,' Harvard Business Review, November-December, 2000.
Rajdeep Grewal, Thomas W. Cline, and Antony Davies, 'Early-Entrant Advantage, Word-of-Mouth Communication, Brand Similarity, and the Consumer Decision-Making Process,' Journal of Consumer Psychology, October, 2003.
Frederick F. Reichheld, 'The One Number You Need to Grow,' Harvard Business Review, December, 2003.
Yubo Chen and Jinhong Xie, 'Online Consumer Review: A New Element of Marketing Communications Mix,' http://ssrn.com/abstract=618782, July, 2004.
Florian v Wangenheim and Tomás Bayón, 'The effect of word of mouth on services switching: Measurement and moderating variables,' European Journal of Marketing, September, 2004.
Paul Marsden, Alain Samson, and Neville Upton, 'Advocacy Drives Growth,' Brand Strategy, December, 2005.
BoldMouth and Osterman Research, 'Perceptions, Practices and Ethics in Word of Mouth Marketing,' Website, May, 2006.
Buzzmarketing: Get People To Talk About Your Stuff, Mark Hughes (Penguin/Portfolio) Website
Andy Sernovitz, Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking, Kaplan 2006 Website