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The Future of WOM: We Need Your Support

People fear the unfamiliar, and marketing techniques are no exception. WOMMA's job is to educate the public about this new and exciting practice. Without our support, the industry will face unfair criticism from people who don't fully understand it. And without your support, we can't possibly accomplish our goals. The future of our industry depends on WOMMA, and the future of WOMMA depends on you.

Review the following hypothetical headlines — one printed in a world where WOMMA exists to educate and inform, the other in a world where word of mouth marketers are left to fend for themselves — and consider which world you'd like to live in:

WITH WOMMA WITHOUT WOMMA

Marketers Shift Attention and Spending to Word of Mouth and Referral Programs

Consumers are the best advocates, conclude key advertisers

  • Consumers more receptive to referral-based advertising
  • High level of consumer trust in referral-based advertising
  • Marketers realizing word of mouth is an extension of loyalty
  • 10% of ad budgets now centered on word of mouth or referral programs
  • Marketers finding greater efficiency in focusing on consumers who count

Word of Mouth Enablers Ignore Lessons of Spam; Now Pay the Price

Major backlash against seeding, shilling, and "same old" intrusion

  • Ostensibly respectable marketers caught propping up message boards
  • Regulators eyeing “shill” practices of marketers who trick consumers
  • Consumer don’t know who to trust anymore … even among friends
  • Word of Mouth … the latest chapter in the internet, now “roadkill”
  • Yet another dot.com-era crash and burn

Next > History of WOMMA