It has been claimed that a satisfied customer tells an average of THREE people about a product or service they LIKE, and ELEVEN people about a product or service they DID NOT LIKE.

Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM) is based on this natural human behaviour.  Word-of-mouth marketing comprises a number of different measures: viral marketing, buzz marketing, influencer marketing, evangelism marketing, consumer / user generated content, just to name a few. So many new “Marketing 2.0” WOMM terms, below we’ll cover a handful. 

Word of Mouth Marketing: This form of communication between two people (about brands, products and services, among other things) is of course not a new phenomenon. What is new is the power, the range and the speed by which word-of-mouth has gathered with the arrival of the Internet and more recently with social media, blogs and video platforms… communication now moves at break-neck speeds and with no geographical limitations.  Below follows a brief explanation of these new marketing approaches:

Viral Marketing: Viral marketing is based on the principle of generating word-of-mouth about a brand or a product by motivating the audience to spread the message because it is innovative, original, funny, shocking.  A good way of inciting the audience to transfer a message is to illustrate this message by (or to include with it) a viral application or a module that is original and easy to spread: flash games, videos, attachments and more.  A module that is too obviously commercial or conventional will very probably not catch.

Although humor, sex and provocation are often ingredients of success, viral marketing can take all kinds of forms, depending on the target audience, the message and the objective. In B2B for example the publication of a downloadable white paper is a very good example of viral marketing.

The personalization of a message (by adding one’s name or photo to a game or video), the incentive (a symbolic or real reward that can be gained in a game for example) and intuitive use are key elements of success of this type of campaign.

Buzz Marketing:  The concept here is to spread information to the consumer via an event, a measure or a spectacular, surprising or memorable action associated with a brand. A successful buzz marketing action generates word-of-mouth and media coverage. The important thing here is to create a reaction to attract attention, even by risking controversy or provocation.

Media coverage (via a PR action) is essential to make sure that you reach not only the few persons who are directly exposed to the measure. You have to facilitate the indirect experience of the action by videos that are broadcast by the media, video sharing platforms, etc.  The action has to be sufficiently visual, of course.  

Note: Be careful of legalities and consumer reactions, as this type of marketing can be tricky.

Influencer Marketing: This type of marketing is comprised of seeding (creating word-of-mouth by letting opinion leaders test products) and community management. The objective is to generate word-of-mouth by involving opinion leaders online and offline (bloggers, influential consumers, VIPs, stars) and motivating them to relay a message to their audience. This can be done by offering them to test a product, to participate in an exclusive event or to gather in a special place: blog, forum, social network.

Evangelism Marketing: This is an advanced form of word of mouth marketing (WOMM) in which companies develop customers who believe so strongly in a particular product or service that they freely try to convince others to buy and use it. The customers become voluntary advocates, actively spreading the word on behalf of the company (think MAC).   Evangelist customers spread their recommendations and recruit new customers based on an unswerving belief in a company’s offerings, with the primary goal to simply educate and in turn provide benefit to other individuals.

As they act independently, evangelist customers often become key influencers. The fact that evangelists are not paid or associated with any company, makes their beliefs perceived by others as credible and trustworthy.

Note:  In today’s technology market, a new job opportunity has started to emerge; Technology Evangelist, where highly attuned customers actually become paid promoters through online / social media activities and offline / event involvement (Microsoft Developer Evangelists are a good example of this).

Consumer / User Generated Media: This type of action consists in letting the audience participate in the communication of a brand and more rarely the co-creation of a product or an offer. A certain number of brands have thus offered internet users to post their videos and photos in order to participate in a competition or a collaborative module.   

Note:  Failure rate is often high due to a lack of quality and/or sometimes participation is simply not high enough, as these types of efforts demand a lot time on the part of the internet users.  

All these approaches differ slightly from each other. They can be used independently or complementary - or even combined with more traditional communication actions (TV spots or online advertising banners, billboards, press or radio), which is more commonly known as integrated (or 360°) marketing.