Branding Is Critical To Word Of Mouth
Readers of my blog know (in my humble opinion)?I’ve been critical of word of mouth marketing companies as I think most of them miss the boat on branding. I see lots of gimmicks and smoke and mirrors. Then I came across this post:
Keller Fay/OMD Study Finds Offline Word of Mouth More Positive and Credible than Online Buzz
Here’s a quote:
On average, there are 3.5 billion word of mouth conversations that occur daily in the U.S. Offline WOM accounts for 92% of conversations (75% face to face; 17% by phone), and email, IM/text messaging and chatroom/blogs account for 7%.
What does this research tell us? I perceive it as word of mouth marketing?is directly tied to and dependent on how one feels about a brand. The more positive you feel about a brand the more one talks. And according to this research people are talking offline.
How do you get people to feel a certain way? Well a remarkable product or service is a good start. And of course proper positioning and brand identity development are crucial. You need to differentiate your company or product and focus. Apple products are not for everyone for a reason. They do a great job of excluding people and selling into their core target market. I am not an Apple brand ambassador. I own an old iPod, that’s it. But my graphic/web designers all use Mac’s and would NEVER switch to a PC, ever. they are part of the Apple cult.
So if you’re considering word of mouth marketing remember one thing. It’s part of branding, treat it as such.
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September 5th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
In Israel, where I used to live, “WOM companies” created that wom effect artificially by using false users to start discussions in online forums. That is contrary to what wom is all about, a true converstion motivated by a great product.