Over the last week or so there have been some really interesting
posts over at WOMMA's
WOM vs. Advertising
blog. Af ew folks have pointed out that WOM and Advertising work
together and not in opposition. This is a valid point, but I think
there is a bigger point that this often missed – there seems to be
a common misconception that WOM (word-of-mouth) is itself a
promotional strategy. It ain't. In fact, anything that a companies
does to promote itself is marketing and by definition
is not WOM.
To examine this, let's play a game: WOM or Marketing?
Let's say a company makes products designed for the elderly. Over
the summer they hire a college student intern in the mail room. Over
the course of the summer, the intern learns about the products and
the company and develops a sincere belief in the value and benefit to
the customer. Without prompting, the young intern emails her
grandmother about the company and their products and encourages her
to consider purchasing.
Okay, for all the marbles and bragging rights at the water cooler,
it's time to play...WOM or Marketing?
Did you say WOM? Well, you are WRONG!
Some folks, of course, will disagree with me. And I know that my
scenario has lots of attributes of WOM and it is not doubt wonderful
for a company to inspire its interns to this level of personal
recommendation, but at the end of the day I would call this
marketing. But it didn't come out of the Marketing department and it
wasn't prompted, you might say. So what. In the world of
neo-marketing,
this qualifies. If everyone at a company is a marketer, then
everything they tell anyone else about the company is marketing...
and is therefore not word-of-mouth.
Why not? Because word-of-mouth is in the customers domain,
not yours. Here's a diagram to help further illustrate...
If
a message crosses The WOM Boundary then it is not WOM. In
other words, any message that travels from company to consumer is
marketing. Messages that move from consumer to consumer are WOM.
So then, what is WOM Marketing if not a marketing strategy that
creates WOM. This is where WOMMA
comes in. In fact, in their Word
of Mouth 101 online tutorial, WOMMA says it better than I can...
Word of mouth is a pre-existing phenomenon that marketers are only
now learning how to harness, amplify, and improve. Word of mouth
marketing isn't about creating word of mouth -- it's learning how to
make it work within a marketing objective.
That said, word of mouth can be encouraged and facilitated.
Companies can work hard to make people happier, they can listen to
consumers, they can make it easier for them to tell their friends,
and they can make certain that influential individuals know about the
good qualities of a product or service.
Word of mouth marketing empowers people to share their
experiences. It's harnessing the voice of the customer for the good
of the brand. And it's acknowledging that the unsatisfied customer is
equally powerful.
Word of mouth can't be faked or invented.
Attempting to fake word of mouth is unethical and creates a backlash,
damages the brand, and tarnishes the corporate reputation. Legitimate
word of mouth marketing acknowledges consumers’ intelligence -- it
never attempts to fool them. Ethical marketers reject all tactics
related to manipulation, deception, infiltration, or dishonesty.
And there you have it, the comparison of WOM and Advertising is
really a little silly in this regard. It does remind me though or a
similar age-old comparison – The pen is mightier than the sword.
This is a nice idea, but in reality, the pen and the sword are in
mutually exclusive domains – just like WOM and Advertising.
Now WOM Marketing
and Advertising... now that is a different story altogether.
