July 2005
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Are you missing out on word of mouth because you're calling it something else? WOM may already be having an impact in less obvious ways. Jim Sterne of Target Marketing wanted to learn where attendees to his Emetrics Summit heard about the event, so he surveyed them at the online registration. 28% cited "word of mouth" specifically as a source, but 31% listed a variety of others usually not thought of as WOM but are still equally valid, including "from the boss", "from a vendor", and "from a discussion list".
Yes, "from the boss" is a less obvious, but still equally valid source of WOM that is usually overlooked or called something different.
THE LESSON: Don't undercut the impact of WOM by calling it something else.
View the Emetrics registration page:
https://www.targeting.com/summit605/summitReg605US.html
Athletic gear manufacturer Fila launched word of mouth programs to drive sales to its web site and increase awareness of the brand. The company started by unveiling a redesigned Filativa.com site complete with blogs written by the firm's designers. The hope is that feedback given to the bloggers/designers will influence future product design, create a large community of loyal customers. Different voices also appeal to new potential customers.
THE LESSON: WOM isn't marketers talking. Let your entire team get the word out.
More info:
http://www.filativa.com
http://internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=15243
Sammy Studios needed to get people talking about a video game that wouldn't be ready for a year. How do you construct a WOM campaign for a product that doesn't exist yet? The gamemaker worked with FanPimp to create a fan-community web site (Darkwatch.org) to generate buzz using various strategies:
* When one of the game's designers had a new idea, the clip would be "leaked" to the site.
* Sammy Studios turned Darkwatch into a cause to inspire the community and spread more WOM.
* Participants were rewarded with points for contests that were really evangelist efforts.
THE LESSON: Use WOM to build pre-launch excitement. Get people talking before your product hits the shelf.
Read an excerpt:
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/barrier.cfm?currentID=2996
More info:
http://www.fanpimp.com
http://www.darkwatch.org
AdRants: WOMMA Established Word of Mouth Metrics
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Promise Phelon: Unleashing the Buzz -- WOM in the IT Marketplace
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Susannah Gardner: Are you using the right blogging tool?
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5> WOM Jobs & Changes
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Job: FanPimp (New York, NY) seeks an Account/Project Manager to manage existing client relationships and implementation of new programs. Knowledge and understanding of viral marketing, online community and advocacy a strong plus. Send resume to jobs@fanpimp.com.
Job: The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (White Plains, NY) seeks an Internet Marketing Specialist who will develop strategic e-marketing plans and assist campaign concepts and tracking response rates. Go to lls.org for more details.
Job: Allrecipes.com (Seattle, WA) is looking for a Word of Mouth/Community Marketing Manager to increase awareness of product features and tools that drive community, ownership and involvement. Responsibilities include defining strategies, generating ideas, creating promotions, and more. Go to http://allrecipes.com/help/aboutus/jobs.asp for more details.
>> Make a new hire? Have an open WOM, viral, or buzz job opening?
E-mail editor@womma.org and let us know!
WOMMA has released the Terminology Framework, the first set of standards for tracking and measuring word of mouth. More than 30 member companies worked with WOMMA to develop the Framework, which represents the vital first step toward defining a common language that marketers and vendors can use to discuss, plan, and measure word of mouth marketing. "Measuring Word of Mouth, Volume 1," a collection of articles and white papers covering the latest thinking and trends in WOM research, has been released in conjunction with the Framework.
More info:
WOMMA Research Site
AdAge -- Understanding Advertising in Terms of Its WOM Unit Impact
ClickZ -- "Consumer-Generated Media: The Age of Engagement"
MediaPost -- Group Aims To Create Metrics For Word Of Mouth
When it comes to using the Internet to gather information and make purchasing decisions, word of mouth is the most consistent influencer on consumer behavior. That's a key finding in this year's Touchpoints Survey from DoubleClick. Word of mouth was the top influence throughout all aspects of the purchase cycle, from consumers' initial awareness of products to the eventual purchase itself.
More info:
http://www.techweb.com/showPressRelease.jhtml?articleID=X345497
According to a new report from Jupiter Research's Gary Stein, the people who post online are your best customers and have an increased sense of brand loyalty. If your company is trying to find and communicate with the people who are most likely to purchase your product or service, look at the people who post about you. More importantly, they do not follow any single demographic trend. Posters are just as likely to be male or female, young or old, so generalized statements like "most posters are male" or "posters are early adopters" are no longer valid.
More info:
http://www.steinblog.com
A lack of a unified measurement system to track consumer engagement with marketing is essential to the growth of the interactive marketing industry. Consumers are engaged with marketing, versus In his keynote at the AD:TECH Chicago conference, Ted McConnell, manager of interactive marketing and innovation for Procter & Gamble, insisted that the interactive industry's growth remains stagnant because of a lack of a comprehensive measurement system accepted by all marketers and vendors. McConnell called for a reliable system of metrics like the Nielsen ratings used to measure TV viewership.
Summary from AD:TECH blog
The rapid growth in technology has led marketers to target their WOM strategies towards online campaigns. But the organizers of UK-based World Book Day found success through the simple and nostalgic method of sending out postcards asking for personal book recommendations. Over eight million free decorative postcards were provided to the British public before the annual event took place on March 3. And for the diehard techies, Amazon.com.uk offered e-cards as well.
THE LESSON: The most effective WOM can come through traditional and simple events.
More info:
http://www.worldbookday.com
Piracy cost the software industry $30 billion in 2004, according to a study by Business Software Alliance. The not-so-secret secret, though, is that some companies turn a blind eye toward piracy, viewing it as a form of viral marketing.
With the music industry confronting the problem head-on in a very aggressive, public manner, software companies have taken a less aggressive approach. Believers in this method say that piracy not only gets their products name out to millions of people, but in the future many of the people who use the illegal software actually end up buying upgrades or other legitimate products.
THE LESSON: When is it file sharing and when is it stealing?
More info:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/05/19/business/piracy.php
A good way to spread word of mouth is to volunteer your skills and resources for a preexisting group or community. Get involved, attach your name to a project and they will spread the word for you. But it only works if it's a genuine good deed -- and good work.
Pick a group that you know is highly likely to do a lot of talking. Firefox users are rabid recommenders. Ad agency Pozz created funny, commercial-quality Web films to promote the Firefox Web browser. The films, which spread virally throughout the Firefox community, included a Pozz URL on every download.
THE LESSON: Create a buzz by volunteering for a cause using a preexisting community.
More info:
Funnyfox.org
ZDNet story
Why do people pass along email? That's the question that WOM researchers and marketers alike are asking when developing an email marketing campaign. A paper by Joseph Phelps and published in the Journal of Advertising Research offered a few tips to help email marketers craft messages that consumers will pass along:
Consider the motivation of the folks who pass along email: social connections, entertainment, and self-satisfaction.
The email must be relevant and timely.
The message must speak to the receiver with emotional impact and contain information that will be pragmatic or entertaining.
Learn more:
CRM Buyer: Blog Mining Gets Real
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New York Times: Web Content for All
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Job: Live365 (Foster City, CA) seeks a Subscription Serivces Manager to generate new paid sales and renewals of the company's subscription services by creating and managing various referral and viral marketing. Send resumes to jobs@live365.com.
Job: Google (Mountain View, CA) seeks a Creative Director with proven expertise at developing high buzz/word of mouth/viral marketing creative. Send your resume to jobs@google.com with Creative Director - Mountain View in the subject line.
>> Make a new hire? Have an open WOM, viral, or buzz job opening?
E-mail editor@womma.org and let us know!
Server outages typically mean trouble for marketers with an ad that's gone viral. But when Carl's Jr. racy SpicyParis ad caused its site traffic to increase 1449% in one day, the resulting server crash may have done more good than harm. Bloggers immediately picked up on the story of the crash, linking to each others posts and keeping the story alive. Soon mainstream media picked up on it and spread the story even further. The buzz about the ad itself soon dropped while article after article paid attention more to the greater "story about the story."
THE LESSON: Spreading WOM is not necessarily always about reaching consumers. It also takes place blogger-to-reporter and reporter-to-reporter.
More info:
Paris Hilton Ad Boosts Carl's Jr. Traffic
Job: Real Wasabi (Hilton Head Island, SC) seeks qualified candidate for Viral Marketing position. Must have the ability to envision, create, analyze and direct viral marketing efforts across offline and online channels. Compensation relative to delivered, measured results. Email resumes to: hr@realwasabi.com
Job: Imaginova (New York, NY) seeks a Web Marketing Manager to drive revenue increases through promotional programs and viral marketing. Send resumes to resumes@imaginova.com.
>> Make a new hire? Have an open WOM, viral, or buzz job opening? E-mail editor@womma.org and let us know!
Podcasting Gets Mainstream Exposure via Apple
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Small Town Goes Viral to Promote Itself
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Should Bloggers Disclose Financial Compensation?
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Many journalists have publicly cast a wary eye toward blogs, citing them as dubious sources of credibility. But most still read them and incorporate them into their jobs, according to a study conducted by Euro RSCG Magnet and Columbia University.
The study found:
* 53% use blogs on a daily basis for finding stories
* 43% use blogs to research and reference facts
* 36% use blogs to find sources
* 33% use logs to uncover breaking news or scandals
To put this in perspective, a Pew Internet and American Life survey recently showed only 11% of the rest of the U.S. population reads blogs.
THE LESSON: Blogs are generally thought to influence the general public, but they also influence the influencers.
More info:
http://www.magnet.com/index.php?s=_thought
Word of mouth isn't always generated by marketers. Sometimes it's caused naturally by larger events. The death of actress Anne Bancroft is one example. After she died on June 6, Amazon.com saw sales of Bancroft's 1962 film "The Miracle Worker" increase 2685% and shoot up in rankings from No. 3,175 to No. 114 within 24 hours. The site tracked similar spikes for the book and DVD for "All the President's Men" after the identity of the character Deep Throat was revealed.
THE LESSON: Word of mouth isn't always something you do. Sometimes an event happens and marketers can only respond.
Learn more
Search engine ranking is partially a function of how many people link to your site. A combination of several factors has pushed WOMMA to #1 or #2 in MSN, Google, and Yahoo when searching for "word of mouth" and "word of mouth marketing."
How did this happen? The nature of an organization like ours means many members link back to us. This, combined with our work with the blogger community, has pushed WOMMA to the top without a formalized search engine campaign.
(Our special thanks go to the WOMMA members and bloggers who linked to us over the past few months. We greatly appreciate your support.)
THE LESSON: Word of mouth pays off in more ways than just generating sales.
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