Word of Mouth White Paper 042005 v1

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An introduction to

WORD OF MOUTHMARKETING

What it is and how to use it. A primer for

software company CEOs and CMOs who need to

drive sales with more credible marketing.

The goal of this white paper is to help you understand theprocess well enough to know where to turn for help. Awareness ofword of mouth (WOM) is growing exponentially in the press and in themarketplaceand yet its application is often poorly understood. Thereare currently several versions in vogue. The major word of mouth tradeassociations (www.womma.org and www.vbma.net) are still strugglingto define the ground rules for its deployment. This document offers theauthors views shaped over the past four years by many of the majorresources impacting this powerful approach to new business. Itprovides solid case studies and shows how to get started. Manymarketers refer to word of mouth as the worlds greatest sales force. Itcould be!

By

Keith W. [email protected]

April 24, 2005, Version 1.7

www.illinoistech.org

COMPILED BY SPONSORED BY
http://www.womma.org/http://www.vbma.net/http://www.illinoistech.org/http://www.vbma.net/http://www.womma.org/http://www.illinoistech.org/


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About the Illinois Technology Association

THE ITA MISSION: The Illinois Information Technology Association exists to be a leading change agent that drives

growth, development and retention of IT-focused businesses and talent in Illinois by providing networking, advocacy,

resources and leadership. They serve members in Chicago-land and throughout the State and exist to help grow the

number of successful businesses that create, deploy and utilize information technology as a core part of their

organization. www.illinoistech.org

We represent the interests of our diverse membership at a local and national level, and work to connect member

companies with each other and the resources they need to succeed. The ITA continues on a more than twenty year

tradition of service to the technology community, and in 2005 was renamed from the Chicago Software Association

(CSA). The CSA had a solid program and had been recognized as one of the most important technology

organizations in the Midwest. ITA remains committed to continuing the good programs we began as the CSA.

About Keith Bates

The MISSION of this Keith Bates effort is to offer the members of the Illinois Technology Association a resource

where they can benefit from the past four years of Bates research into Word of Mouth marketing. That research was

preceded by 30 years as CEO/Creative Director of Keith Bates & Associates Inc., a high tech ad agency Bates

founded in 1970 to serve exclusively the software industry. He also founded Walker-Bates, a high tech PR firm that

he managed concurrently with the ad agency. Over those years his agency and PR firm supported the sales and

marketing communications needs of more than 150 software/services vendors. www.kbates.com

What is the inspiration behind this seemingly altruistic effort? Bates was inspired by Peter Drucker, the great

management writer and thought leader, who has a goal of learning something completely new, in depth, every

decade. This decades learning for Bates (which began in 2001) has been word of mouth marketing and its

application to the software industry. Today the technology industry is being challenged to improve both marketings

efficiency and credibility while reducing costs. Word of mouth offers these solutions and Bates wants to share what

hes learned in hopes of shortening someone elses learning curve.

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Table of Contents

EXECUTIVE OVERVIEW ..

EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT WOM

Word of mouth marketing defined ..

Viral marketing explained ....

Benefits to marketers andbuyers ..

Word of mouth stories and case studies .

Choose your approach:

Influencer Relations .

The Ideavirus .

The Shockvirus ..

Costs overview ..

Challenges to implementation ....

The deliverables from WOM marketing ....

Launching a WOM program ....Understanding network hubs ...

Warning: Failure to explore all three could be hazardous...

Random comments from practitioners, authors, WOMMA, and VBMA ...

Report on the first ever WOMMA Summit .........................................................................................

WOMMA Code of Ethics ..

WOMS NATURE AS PRESCRIBED BY ITS AUTHORS/PRACTITIONERS ............................................

Regis McKenna, Word of Mouth ..

Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point

Seth Godin, Unleashing the Ideavirus

Emanuel Rosen, The Anatomy of Buzz .

George Silverman, The Secrets of Word of Mouth Marketing ...

Jackie Huba and Ben McConnell, Creating Customer Evangelists ..Ed Keller and Jon Berry, The Influentials ..

Paul Rand, Ketchum .

VBMA Global.

Andy Sernovitz, WOMMA

CONCLUSION: A ONE PAGE CALL TO ACTION

If you found this white paper provocative enough to study its detailsthen do something! ...

APPENDIX: A ONE PAGE LAUNCH OUTLINE

A KBA Communications Support Plan focused on WOMM ..

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to add wings to your marketing, spurs to your sales

Executive Overview

Awareness of word of mouth marketing (WOMM) is

growing exponentially in the press and in the

marketplaceand yet its application is often poorly

understood.The goal of this article is to help you

understand the process well enough to know where to

turn for help, or how to launch your own program.

WOMM Defined

For the purpose of this white paper I am dividing word

of mouth into several categories although in reality,

according to Dr. Paul Marsden, WOMM/Viral/Buzz are

all same thing, namely network enhanced Word of

Mouth. For those who want nuances: viral marketing

leverages digital networks; buzz leverages media

networks; and WOMM leverages social networks. Viral

marketing can employ either an ideavirus or shockvirus

approach, while social networking is typically managed

as influencer relations. Keep in mind that pure word of

mouth has no limits on distribution vehicles.

Viral Marketing Explained

And from Justin Kirby, Managing Director of DMC Ltd.,

In fact the most successful use of online viral

marketing is not as a standalone tactic but as an

integrated part of a brand's overall marketing strategy.

One of the big mistakes brands make is thinking that an

online viral campaign is an end in itself rather than

recognizing that it's a means to an end. Viral marketing,

like PR, is a process not an event. Its point is to create

a buzz in order to help build brand and shift product, not

just to create a buzz full stop. There is no point in 'going

viral' without fulfilling a wider or longer-term strategic

purpose.

Metcalfes law, the power behind viral marketing

Metcalfes law tells us that the value of a network

increases with the square of the number of people

using it. So when you have 10 users in the world, thats

25 times better than when there were two. And at 100

users your network is 1000 times better than at 10. With

100 user hubs your network has a reach of 10,000

people. 100 hubs seems to be the magic number.

Twenty five years after Regis McKenna published a

brochure touting the value of word of mouth the term

viral marketing was created by the VC firm Draper

Fisher Jurvetson. It was used to describe thephenomenon of Hotmail, which grew with the rapidity of

a cold virus, from 0 to 12 million subscribers in eighteen

months. Viral marketing was pronounced marketing

buzzword of the year for 1998.

And then not much happened until 2001 when the July

30 issue of BusinessWeek carried Buzz Marketing as

their cover story. Thats also the year when four major

books came into being expanding on the concept of

word of mouth marketing. Those four books are

identified with stars on the Authors/Practitioners page.

Benefits of employing WOMM

Perhaps the first issue to resolve, because of the nature

of the audience for this white paper, is whether WOM

lends itself better to consumer marketing or business to

business. The answer is both equally well. In the B2B

world it is particularly well suited to the pharmaceutical

and technology industries because of the need for one

on one conversation about technical aspects.

From the customers point of view word of mouth

emanates from a trusted source, is credible, friendly,

and tuned to the listeners personal interests. It also

overcomes the four most feared words in advertising,

I dont believe you.

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Stories and Case Studies

From Stanley Arnolds Tale of a Blue Horse to the

incredible stories of Hotmail, Post-it Notes and a dozen

others youll find inspiring success stories. Netscape,

Napster, Trivial Pursuit, and BullGuard software

security all offer exciting examples of WOM.

Choose the approach that best fits your needs.

There are three, and they range from Ideaviruses to

Shockviruses to Influentials.

Ideaviruses are predicated on spreading the word

based on a superior product. Shockviruses are

predicated on spreading the word based on superior

advertising. And Influentials are predicated on

spreading the word based on either evangelists, or themavens and connectors that populate network hubs

who are persuaded to spread the word based on either

the users enthusiasm for the product or corporate

sponsored relationships.

A point of clarification contributed by Justin Kirby,

Whats the difference between Viral Advertising and

Viral Marketing? Well any viral advertising campaign is

doing viral marketing but what is specific about viral

advertising is the use of creative agents rather than the

amplification and acceleration of product

recommendations. And referencing a recent Marketing

Sherpa report, The reason you focus on the creative

agents is because the product normally doesnt have a

uniqueness that can be leveraged to amplify and

accelerate word of mouth. So you make the creative

agent/communications stickybecause the product isnt

necessarily.

Costs Overview

You will encounter two sets of costs if you pursue a

WOM program. First will be an ongoing monthly fee to

design and manage the process. These monthly fees

can range from $5,000 to $20,000 and will probably be

based on a one year commitment. Second will be your

out of pocket costs for production services which need

to be estimated before a commitment is made but

this cannot be accomplished until the planning is done.

Challenges to implementation

Both WOM and viral marketing can be a tough sell to

management because they reflect a major change in

the typical approach to marketing communications.

However they solve some big sales and marketing

problems like qualified leads, shorter selling cycles,

and often an overall reduction in the cost of sales.

Deliverables from your WOM marcom group

Marketings deliverablesinclude development of a

virusworthy product or story, databases of power

influencers, messaging and assistance with accelerated

contagion or seeding.

Launching a WOM program

I mentioned earlier that WOM is not a standalone tactic,

but rather a component in your overall marketing

strategy. So before putting all your eggs in the WOM

basket be sure you develop a comprehensive

Communications Support Plan.

Understanding network hubs

Network hubs are individuals who communicate with

more people about a certain product than the average

person does. Researchers have traditionally referred to

them as opinion leaders. In industry theyre called

influencers, lead users, or sometimes power users.

They are the 10% who influence the 90%.

To wrap this up read seven pages of random

comments from practitioners, pioneering WOM

authors, and my friends from both WOMMA and

VBMA.

Where to turn then? Help can be found via word of

mouth consultants, ad agencies, and PR firms.

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to add wings to your marketing, spurs to your sales

Everything you ever wanted to know about WOM

WORD OF MOUTH DEFINED

Regis McKennas explains the difference between word

of mouth and all other forms of communications with the

following. It is an experienced process, rather than an

observed one. The message is tuned to the individual

listener. The credibility of the speaker carries over to

the message immediately. Experts can be used in this

medium without the negative effect of commercializing

his or her position and message. Efficiency while

taking time to disseminate the message is delivered

directly to those who must use the information and act

on it. Feedback is instantaneous.

To quote Emanuel Rosens The Anatomy of Buzz, To

create buzz and use it effectively, you should have a

realistic view of the phenomenon, not glorify it. For

example, some word-of-mouth enthusiasts argue that if

you get good buzz, you dont need to do any marketing.

This can be a major mistake. Distribution, advertising,

promotions and other traditional marketing activities cantranslate the goodwill surrounding your product into

sales. Good buzz is the best thing you could wish for,

but its just one component of your marketing mix.

VIRAL MARKETING EXPLAINED

Conceived in 1996. Born in 2001. Its the management

of an ideavirus, or a shockvirus through word of

mouth online. Its word of mouth on steroids.

Its marketings response to the educated consumer

and the Internet. As the ability (speed) of customers to

communicate with customers grows stronger, the

credibility of marketers communicating with customers

grows weaker. If charging people for exposure to your

virus is going to slow down its spread give it away!

Apple cut the price of WebObjects from $50,000 to

$699 recognizing that unless a lot of peopleused their

software no one would use it!

WHY GO VIRAL? WHY CHOOSE WORD OF MOUTH?

BECAUSE TRADITIONAL ADVERTISING IS COSTLY

AND SERIOUSLY LACKING IN CREDIBILITY! And

because viral marketing has become the latest

stealth strategy for qualified lead generation.

Whats this viral marketing thing all about? Viral

marketing (VM) is defined as managingdigitally-

augmented word of mouth, or buzz. Digitally-

augmented simply means using the Internet to deploy

your VM program and email is the primary tool of

choice. Word of mouth has been around since the

beginning of time but the spreading, without electronic

support, is typically both tedious and slow from a

marketing standpoint. The Internet has changed all that.

To quote Seth Godin from his Unleashing the

Ideavirus,Stop marketing at people. Turn your ideas

into epidemics by helping your customers do the

marketing for you!

BENEFITS TO MARKETERS ANDBUYERS

The simplest reason for choosing word of mouth

marketing over traditional advertising is that it can be

FASTER, CHEAPER, BETTER! But no guarantees! A

recent study by advertising giant Euro RSCG

Worldwide states that for generating excitement about

products, word of mouth is 10 times more effective than

TV or print ads. If you can achieve focus on your

products virus-worthiness viral marketing will deliver

10X the market impact at 1/10th

the cost. VM turns your

ideas into epidemics by helping your customers do the

marketing for you. It also overcomes the four most

feared words in advertising, I dont believe you.

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Why the viral marketing approach to word of mouth? In

a nutshell its the speed and low cost distribution

enabled by the Internet. And because traditional

advertising is costly, not terribly productive anymore,

and lacking in credibility word of mouth marketing is

becoming the best way to launch a brand. Today the

speed of information diffusion enable by the Internet is

weakening the ability of marketersto communicate with

customers and strengthening the ability of customersto

communicate with customers.

From the customers point of view word of mouth

emanates from a trusted source, is credible, friendly,

tuned to the listeners personal interests, very efficient,

and offers instant feedback. In other words, dialogue,

rather than monologue.

WORD OF MOUTH STORIES AND CASE STUDIES

From Stanley Arnolds Tale of the Blue Horse, 1968

comes the story of United Airlines and how they used

word of mouth to inspire executive secretaries to

choose United over competitors when charged by their

bosses to book a flight. At that time Uniteds public

image seemed to lack something. Arnolds suggestion:

send a freshly cut, long-stemmed rose every Monday of

every week for a year to the executive secretaries of the

top 1000 CEOs (fifty-two thousand roses). Plus a bud

vase with the first mailing. The result: doors closed

previously to United salesmen were suddenly open.

Within six months dramatic increases in ticketing

occurred.

Before General Foods could sell (new products) they

first had to announce this new line of products to their

salesmenthe men who would sit down with the buying

committees of the retails stores and try to persuadethem that a demand for (their new products) would be

sweeping the nation (via word of mouth). Young &

Rubicam, their ad agency, was therefore asked to

develop an imaginative idea that would help General

Foods introduce (the new products) to its sales force

with flair and confidence. Y&R turned to Stanley who

dreamed up the idea of a blue horse consistent with

General Foods promise that the new product line would

definitely be a horse of a different color.

On meeting day the blue horse had been tethered

to a tree about forty feet from the bar. After the first

round of drinks the salesmen of General Foods could

not believe their eyes. "These drinks are so damn

good," one of the regional sales managers said to me,

"I believe I see a blue horse out there." All the others

said the same thing, but none could believe what their

eyes told them.

Finally the meeting began as General Foods

announced to its salesmen that their company was

going to give them the most exciting line of products in

their company's glorious history. General Foods finally

revealed it was going into gourmet foods. Everyone

quickly had a second drink. The applause was

perfunctory. Some of the applause even sounded like

hissing.

"This is new territory for General Foods," the

speaker went on. You might even say that compared to

what youve been selling until now, this is a horse of a

different color.

At that point they responded. They had seen a

blue horse out there. Now they knew what it was all

about. The meeting finally picked up momentum, and to

the extent that experienced food salesmen can

summon up enthusiasm for gourmet foods, these

salesmen were close to a level of exuberance. The

introduction of the gourmet line was dispatched beyond

anyone's expectations.

In Search of Excellence by Tom Peters and Robert

Waterman. In 1980 Peters and his coauthor Bob

Waterman, (McKinsey consultants) put together a 125-

page summary of what later became the classic

management book In Search of Excellence. They gave

it to just a few executives they knew, but very quickly

these individuals started discussing with others what

they had read. Tom Peters attributes part of the

success of his first book to an extensive seeding

campaign.

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VIRAL MARKETING STRATEGY: Successful

seeding is an active process. It goes well beyond the

Field of Dreams clich "If you build it, they will come."

Rather than waiting passively for people to come to

you, you go out and plant seeds all around the forest.

Here are a few guidelines:

VIRAL MARKETING TACTICS: As word about the

coming book started to spread, demand soared, and

the authors decided to seed the market with 15,000

copies of this preliminary report. Their publisher was

worried that Peters and Waterman were giving too

many. Edward Burlingame, who commissioned the

book for Harper & Row, said that the company

expected to sell around 60,000 copies in the first year,

meaning that the 15,000 copies represented 25 percent

of that amount. But Peters believes that these copies

were important in generating word of mouth and sales.

"Within days of the book's launching, supportive

reviews appeared, and the network of 15,000 (plus at

least an equal number of photocopied knockoffs)

hurried to buy the real thing, often in bulk for their

subordinates," Peter recalls in Thriving on Chaos.

RESULTS: In Search of Excellence sold 1.5

million copies in hardcover alone.

The game of Trivial Pursuit sold 20 million copies in

1984 but word about the product didnt spread by

contagion alone. Buzz was accelerated by a seeding

campaign. Samples were sent to celebrities mentioned

in the game. The helped start trivia parties which in tern

were encourage by more than 100 radio stations asking

trivia questions. They also sent teaser mailings to toy

buyers just before a major industry toy fair. Emanuel

Rosen calls this type of acceleration leapfrogging.

In 1993 people didnt really understand online services.

AOL had formed alliances with major media but the

masses werent responding. Comprehension and

credibility were low. So Jan Brandt mailed 250 million

CDs to seed the market. The program cost $300 for a

new user worth only $124. It worked. After reaching

their tipping point costs dropped to less than $100 per

new user.

THEN THE INTERNET ARRIVED

The Hotmail story started in 1995 with two young men

from Silicon Valley, each working for a differentcompany, but needing to collaborate on a common

project without using their companys email. Suddenly

they had a bright ideaa free email service that could

be accessed through the web. With only $300,000 in

VC seed money they launched the company. A word of

mouth program launched both electronically and face-

to-face started to spread the word. It was good old word

of mouth marketing at Internet speed. Within two

months they had 100,000 users, and by eighteen

months they had 12 million subscribers. The term viral

marketing evolved from this success story. Microsoft

bought Hotmail for $400 million and as of 2001 was

signing up a hundred thousand people a day.

Napster, a way of networking peoples hard drives so

that they can share music, spread so fast in only a few

months that it threatened the entire recording industry

and appeared on the cover of Newsweek!

The story of Post-It notes is so good it ought to beapocryphal but its actually true. Nobody was buying

the. 3M was going to cancel the whole program. Then

the brand manager of the product persuaded the

secretary of the chairman of 3M to send a case of Post-

Its to the secretaries of the chairmen of the other 499

Fortune 500 Companies. Suddenly, the most powerful

sneezers in the most powerful companies in the country

were sending around memos, all containing comments

scrawled on Post-Its. It took just a few months after that

for it to become yet another successful businesscommunication device. A classic ideavirus.

From a recent Wall St. Journal article, Airlines in

bankruptcy usually dont have the luxury of grinding

through precious dollars with fancy image campaigns to

reassure nervous travelers. United spent some $30

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million on advertising in the first half of the year,

according to CMR/TNS Media Intelligence. But airlines

do have an army of messengers in flight attendants,

gate agents, and ticket-counter people, and the key is

to get them plugged in and on board quickly with

positive spin on a financial restructuring, crisis specialist

say. Uniteds ad agency, Publicis Groupes Fallon

Worldwide is managing the marketing plans.

While Starbucks and those offering Wi-Fi at hotels and

airports advertise their services online and through local

promotions, in the majority of cases word about free Wi-

Fi hot spots spreads by word-of-mouthand fast.

From iMedia Communications, Inc.

Following the Sept 11 events, travel fell drastically inthe United States and the Travel Industry Association of

America (TIA) determined that there was a need for

some immediate action to encourage Americans to

travel again. The association conceived a "See America

Day" -- which coincided with Veterans' Day - - and

asked Ripple Effects Interactive (REI) to propose a

cost-effective Internet-based campaign.

REI determined that a grassroots e-mail campaign

leveraging the association's members was by far the

most cost-effective and impactful means of reaching

Americans interested in travel. As such, TIA forwarded

to each of its 2,200 members the flash creative and

encouraged them to forward it to their own e-mail lists --

thereby hundreds of thousands of would-be travelers.

Participants included Hotel Operators such as Ramada

and Travelodge, transporters like Amtrak, and Visitors'

Bureaus such as the Las Vegas CVB.

Now, of course this all needed to be done with a

very little budget. Hence, the viral e-mail (although we

like to call it "video e-mail). We asked two things of our

members:

1. Submit a special deal to be posted on

SeeAmerica.org

2. Take the viral e-mail and forward it on to their e-

mail lists (vendors, employees, customers, etc.)

The e-mail included a link back to the SeeAmerica.org

deals section.

Campaign Insights: The campaign won a gold

medal at the Hospitality Sales and Marketing

Association International (HSMAI) annual awards

ceremony held in New York in January. This is the most

prestigious Tourism Communication Competition.

Word of mouth makes the front page of the Wall Street

Journal: On Jan. 13, Shannon Syfrett, a 15-year- old

ninth-grader at Central Academy in Macon, Miss.,

launched a chain letter over the Internet. E-mail chains

that seek responses from around the world are the

latest rage in science-fair projects, as kids set out to

learn where and how fast information travels. Shannon

called her project "[email protected]," and

she expected that in six weeks she "might get 2,000 or

3,000" replies to her note asking people to write back

and then pass her message along. That was her first

miscalculation.

The next day, Jan. 14, the request she had sent to

23 people generated 200 e-mail replies, an average of

one every 7.2 minutes. By Jan. 16, messages had

arrived from 47 states and 25 countries, including

Australia and Zimbabwe. There were 8,768 e-mails on

Jan. 24, and another 12,013 three days later. They

were now arriving one every 7.2 seconds.

Overwhelmed and sick with the flu, Shannon shut

down her screen name for 2 1/2 days, but 9,455 e-mails

flooded in when she reopened it on Jan. 31, her log

shows. Messages from Libya and Iran popped up on

Feb. 2. On Feb. 4. Shannon and her parents emptied

the electronic mailbox 35 times--it holds 1,000 incoming

messages--but stilI, a man telephoned from France to

complain that he couldn't get his e-mail through. On

Feb. 5, there were another 37,854 e-mails, one every

2.3 seconds. Shannon pulled the plug, 17 days early.

Altogether, she had received 160,478 e-mails from 189

countries and 50 states.

From George Silverman:A complicated piece of

machinery required extensive research to buy, usually

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taking about six months. It then needed to be com-

pared to the alternatives, which also took months. Then

it had to be tried, which took about a year. Then it had

to be rolled out gradually, with training. Another year.

The whole thing was compressed into about eight

weeks by holding a seminar/training program, then

following it up by audio teleconferences. The decision

makers were given the material that would have taken

them months to find, shown how to evaluate it, given

extensive (and flattering) competitive materials, and

encouraged to try one against the other-all in a carefully

structured trial that kept several prospects in touch with

each other and with customers, with a hotline to third-

party experts. This word of mouth, applied to several

critical bottlenecks in the decision process, cut the

decision time by multiples, while at the same time

showing that the company had nothing to hide.

Netscape Navigator:Built entirely upon word of mouth,

Netscape captured about 90 percent of the Web

browser market before it placed its first ad. The

company did it by giving away the first versions of its

product, and by word of mouth, primarily on the

Internet. Netscape has now been overtaken by

Microsofts Internet Explorer (which stole a process

patented by Eolas Technologies Inc. to achieve this

feat).

BullGuard develops security software for the home user

The following case study is presented by fellow VBMA

member Claus Moseholm of GoViral.com for a

Denmark client of hiswww.bullguard.com/movies

Background

. BullGuard is a small company operating in a battle of

the giants (Norton & McAfee)

. BullGuard's marketing budget non-existent

. Viral is inexpensive compared to other consumer

advertising

Objectives

. To build awareness and interest towards a global

target group of home Internet users

. To brand BullGuard as "the young rebel" in the

security industry

. To generate trial downloads of the BullGuard security

software package

Solution

. Videos communicating overall USP . "Real life" web-,

surveillance- or video-cam shot, making the videos

appear very realistic

. Integrated into BullGuards corporate website

enhancing trial downloads.

. Daily surveillance - clips adjusted and optimized

during the first weeks after launch

Results

. More than 10 million views

. Significant percentage of trial software downloads

. Growth in search engine traffic

. 317% growth in revenue in year one after launch

. Access to retail distribution side by side with main

competitors due to increased brand awareness.

. Plenty of PR and funnier company presentations

WHO ELSE IS DOING THIS?

RECOGNIZE ANY OF THESE NAMES?

From "The Anatomy of Buzz" the listed companiesinclude: Amazon.com, AOL, Amway, Apple Computer,Armani, AT&T, Avon, Barnes & Noble, Blair Witch

Project, BMW, Budweiser, Car & Driver Magazine,Charles Schwab, Cisco Systems, CNN, Coca Cola,Compuserve, Crisco Oil, DaimlerChrysler, DellComputer, EBay, Edison, FedEx, Ford Mustang,General Motors, Harper & Row, Hewlett Packard,Honda, Intel, Intuit, Kodak, Lotus, Macy's, McDonald's,MCI, Microsoft, Miller Brewing, Neiman Marcus, Nike,Nintendo, Palm Computing, Pepsi, Polaroid, Proctor &Gamble, Saks Fifth Avenue, Star Wars, SunMicrosystems, Taco Bell, 3COM, Twentieth CenturyFox, Union Bank of California, Warner Brothers, Yahoo,Ziff Davis.

From "The Secrets of Word of Mouth Marketing":Adobe, AOL, Apple, Avon, Campbell Soup, Citigroup,Dell, Disney, Eudora, First USA, Google, Hotmail,McKinsey & Company, Microsoft, Napster, RocheLaboratories, United States Postal Service, VerizonDSL, Wall Street Journal, Xerox Parco

From "The Tipping Point"; ABC News, AirwalkCompany, Audi Automobile, CBS, Centers for DiseaseControl, Century Wilshire Hotel, Coca Cola, ColumbiaRecord Club, Glaxo Wellcome, Gore-Tex, HushPuppies Shoes, New York City, Prozac, R.J. Reynolds,Sesame Street, TV Guide, Winston Cigarettes.

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From "Unleashing the ldeavirus"; Academy of MotionPicture Arts and Sciences, Amazon, com, AmericanAirlines, American Express, American Greeting,Amway, AOL, Apple, Atkins Diet, Audi, Barnes & Noble,Budweiser, Burger King, Cisco, Clairol, Coke, eToys,FedEx, Google, Hallmark, Harry Potter, Herman Miller,Hotmail, Intel, Kodak, Lycos, Marlboro, Mary Kay

Cosmetics, McDonalds, MCI, McKinsey, Microsoft,Napster, Nike, Palm, PC Magazine, Polaroid, Post-it-Notes, Priceline, Reebok, Rexall, Schick, SportsIllustrated, Starbucks, Star Wars, Martha Stewart, 3M,Time Warner, Tommy Hilfiger, Toyota, ToysRUs,Tupperware, Twentieth Century Fox, VW Beetle,Yahoo.

The companies in the foregoing list were referenced in

the four books published on the topic of word of

mouth/viral marketing in 2001. I cannot verify that these

are all case studies of viral marketing, only that they

touched the concept in some manner deemed

worthwhile by the various authors.

Hotmail, Yahoo!, eBay, Amazon, GeoCities,

Broadcast.com, Googleall of them succeeded

because an ideavirus was unleashed and spread.

To reach 10 million users it took radio 40 years, TV 15

years, Netscape 3 years, and both Hotmail and Napster

less than a year. Hotmail and Napster got the hang of

viral marketing.

CHOOSE YOUR APPROACH

There are several approaches for launching word of

mouth marketing and they vary substantially so it

seems worthwhile to study them separately. Variations

on the public relations industry concept of Influencer

Relations seems to be one of the more popular but

equally powerful in a slightly different fashion are two

flavors of viral marketing, which I have arbitrarily divided

into the Ideavirus approach and the Shockvirus

approach.

INFLUENCER RELATIONS

From my friend Patrick Rooney of Expand

Communications come the following thoughts:

What is Influencer Relations? Influencer Relations is a

program to help ensure clients benefit from the lasting

value of their relationships with elite industry

influencers. The buying decisions of your customers are

influenced by a far broader base than media and

industry analysts, although each is vital to the overall

communications mix. Today, the purchasing process is

influenced by a broad array of friends, colleagues and

peers, pundits, academics, authors, researchers, and

many others. Whats more, each market has its own set

of influencers, making it necessary to understand how

to identify, and then to reach, these new influencers.

Simply put, the mantle of thought leadership and

influence has fragmented, resulting in the need to

expand your communications.

Many years ago I managed the high tech public

relations firm that I founded with Rich Walker. I wish I

had understood influencer relations at that time.

Regis McKenna summed it up well in his 1982 brochure

on Word of Mouth which states, Regarding the 90-10

Rule by now one might be saying, Okay, by talking to

everyone in the world we can better communicate our

message. That's not practical or possible, Right! But

the 90-10 rule states that 90 percent of the world is

influenced by the other 10 percent. There are probably

no more than 20 or 30 people in any one industry who

have a majorimpact on trends, standards, opinion and

a company's image or character.

Certainly we know this is true in the media and financial

community. While there may be dozens of magazines

and mountains of analysis covering an industry, only

several have real influence and impact. This is true

within companies as well. A relatively few people hold

the key to power in any organization. This is not to say

that these key influences are easy to reach. A memo

may reach them easier, but credible word-of-mouthapproach will be far more influential and effective.

LAUNCHING INFLUENCER RELATIONS:

Start by getting managements acceptance of the

principles of the seminal Ed Keller/Jon Berry book on

influencer relations titled The Influentials.

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The following outline is presented to you courtesy of

Ketchums recently introduced, proprietary IRM

(Influencer Relationship Management) program. It uses

a highly targeted approach rather than traditional mass

media to identify, target and connect with individuals

and groups that can directly affect buyers perceptions

and behaviors.

1. Start the process of market segmentation and

identification of key three most critical proponents;

initial influencers, ultimate influencers, buyers and

decision makers.

2. Ecosystem and mapping is based on clearly

determining desired mindset, actions and impact of Key

Three and Initial Influencers

3. Prioritization and Benchmarking.

4. Strategic Alignment (program development)

5. Engagement

6. Measure: With priorities, benchmarks and programs

formalized IRM measures specific agreed upon values.

7. Manage

THE IDEAVIRUS

An Ideaviruses is about the concept of the productwhile

a Shockvirus is about the presentation of the product.

One is about good ideas and the other about goodpresentations. Traditionally great ideas last longer than

great presentations.

Depending on where you live, although the lines are

blurring today, you may be exposed to either

ideaviruses or shockviruses. Viral marketing in the UK

is a little different than the early efforts of viral marketing

in the US. Their leading practitioners depend more on

powerful graphics than unique product attributes to

convey the power of the product. They focus more on

shockviruses than ideaviruses, simply two schools of

thought. Both are effective.

The Ideavirus was really the pioneering viral marketing

catalyst and traces the concept of its origin back to

Geoffrey Moores Crossing the Chasm where he

discusses technology adoption, "any time we are

introduced to products that require us to change our

current mode of behavior or to modify other products

and services we rely on such change-sensitive

products are called discontinuous innovations. The

contrasting term, continuous innovations, refers to the

normal upgrading of products that do not require us to

change behavior."

Ideaviruses represent discontinuous product

innovations. I like Geoffrey Nicholsons (VP Technical

Planning/Technical Ops for 3M) statement from some

years back that I saved. If an idea doesnt stop people

in their tracks, then maybe its just an incremental

change and not an innovation at all. Ideaviruses have

nothing at all to do with incremental change. You must

think long and hard about which approach is best.

So if you dont have a unique idea perhaps you should

explore a shocking presentationwhich is what many

companies in the United States and the rest of the

world are doing these days

LAUNCHING AN IDEAVIRUS:

To quote Seth Godin, to embrace ideavirus

marketing techniques you also have to accept a change

from the status quo. And many of the executives who

are now in charge made their way to the top by

embracing the status quo, not fighting it.

First, and often the biggest challenge is to get

management acceptance of Metcalfes law that tells us

that the value of a network increases with the square of

the number of people using it. So when you have 10

users in the world, that's 25 times better than when

there were two. And at 100 users your network is 1000

times better than at 10. With 100 user hubs your

network has a reach of 10,000 people. For success alarge user base is imperative. 100 Network Hubs

seeming to be the magic number.

The challenge Ive encountered is with startup

companies who dont have a hundred users and are

reluctant to give product away, or with established

companies who get a lot of money for their product and

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are reluctant to give up any income. These giveaways

should be considered beta sites.

THE SHOCKVIRUS

Shockviruses are typified by shocking graphics and

tend to rely more on entertainment and visual

excitement for their distribution. DMC and The Viral

Factory were early proponents of this approach.

Ideaviruses traditionally have relied more on unique

product attributes although that is changing rapidly as I

write this. Other issues to contend with have to do with

augmenting your viral marketing. Shockviruses tend to

have a shorter life than ideaviruses. But ideaviruses are

dependent on powerful product discontinuous

innovations while any brilliant creative director can

come up with a shockvirus. Because either approachwill wear out its welcome once the newness and

excitement grow old you must explore ways to

augment, or maintain or reinforce your message.

Augmentation typically uses traditional integrated direct

marketing programs, whether ongoing or of the 90-Day

Blitz variety, and are often supported by public

relations. Viral augmentation tactics also will be heavily

dependent also on the Internet.

Whats a 90-Day Blitz? Simply a deluge of marketingmaterials that acts as a quick fix for inadequate lead

flow. Pioneered by Ernan Roman its a multimedia, lead

generation activity based on response compression

techniques. It is a fully integrated 3 month program that

combines traditional media with interactive media to

create a sense of event, which in turn produces a

substantial flow of leads in a very short time with

minimal commitment of financial resources. For 20

years its been a hot seller at the Bates agency.

LAUNCHING A SHOCKVIRUS:

The first challenge to getting started with the Shockvirus

approach is locate a production firm with the creative

expertise, and experience to build a virus so

provocative that it spreads to epidemic proportions

like the recent Subservient Chicken from Burger King.

And the second challenge is then to assign a viral

marketing / creative consultant to work with the

production company who understands the product and

market well enough to keep the viral creatives on track.

This person could come from the ranks of creative

consultants or ad agency creative directors.

Then you follow these next few steps which have much

in common with the Ideavirus approach.

1. Identify Regular and Mega level hubs within

your Network Hubs databases.

2. Develop virus-worthiness concept/strategy

around which the Shockvirus will be developed.

3. Write copy /design storyboards to support the

Shockvirus and generate buzz

4. Expose the virus through regular/mega hubs.

5. Support the epidemic with accelerated

contagion which can be ongoing ad and PR work or a

blitz tactic.

NOTE: Before considering a viral marketing program

please take a moment for introspection:

What is the buzz that your company wishes to spread,

hopefully to epidemic proportions? In ten words or less,

what makes your product virusworthy? If you cant

come up with an answer fix the product, or reposition

your marketing differentiation message.

COSTS OVERVIEW

To use the Marcom Engine model I developed many

years ago is to use a six step process that is common

knowledge among marketers. First theres a Planning

Module that delivers an audit of the market followed by

strategy development which is in turn followed by the

creative process. Second is the Execution Module

which develops the arsenal of marcom tools, the actualdeployment of the strategy/tactics, and finally the

tracking and maintenance of the program.

For the PLANNING MODULE and its three components

typical monthly fees of a marketing consultant, whether

independent, or attached to an ad agency or PR firm

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can range from a low of $5,000 to $20,000 or more for

large companies in big markets.

For the EXECUTION MODULE and its three

components costs cannot be estimated until the

planning stages, complete with media strategy, are

completed and are more inclined to represent out of

pocket expenses. They can vary dramatically from one

campaign to the next depending largely on media and

the complexity of your accelerated contagion plan.

CHALLENGES TO IMPLEMENTATION

Both word of mouth and viral marketing are often a

tough sell to management because it reflects a major

change in the status quo. Budgeting for ads, direct mail,

and websites is done every day. But word of mouth

marketing? Whats that? It wasnt invented here.

Remember also that an ideavirus adores a vacuum.

Youve got to be first. If youve got a product and its not

unique, consider changing the productor the playing

field. Your idea needs to be inherently unique, or

positioned to appear so.

However, viral marketing can solve some BIG

marketing problems. Like achieving quarterly revenue

goals. Increasing the numbers of qualified leads.

Shortening of selling cycles. Reducing the overall costs

of marketing. And inspiring employee and vendor

evangelism.

THE DELIVERABLES FROM WOM MARKETING

Depending on whether you opt for influentials,

shockviruses, or ideaviruses the deliverables may vary

slightly but from any of the approaches you should

receive:

Development of a newsworthy product

Database of power influencers

Message development

An accelerated contagion strategy

LAUNCHING A WOM PROGRAM

One approach is the Marcom Engine from which

evolves the Communications Support Plan. The

Marcom Engine blends the disciplines of Business

Process Reengineering (BPR) with Integrated

Marketing Communications (IMC) as well as concepts

from Geoffrey Moores TALC (technology adoption life

cycle) approach in Crossing the Chasm. It drives

revenue enhancement by fine tuning the value

proposition into the most compelling reason to buy, and

by reducing the waste and inefficiency of the typical

random task approach to marketing. Plus it is the

single most efficient way to manage a product launch.

The Marcom Engine typically consists of six modules,

three for Planning and three for Execution but can be

shortened for convenience to three:

Audit and Strategy: Do your homework. Build a

marcom team. Develop a plan. Identify network hubs

Creative and Arsenal: Develop virus-worthiness

messaging, copy and art. Build the arsenal.

Deployment and Monitoring: Define a media plan;

expose the virus through mega/regular hubs. Then

plan support with accelerated contagion. Monitor.

Start by creating small movements first. The big one

follows. A paradox of word of mouth marketing is that

before creating one contagious movement you have to

create many small movements first. This means that

before you can fan the flames you have to ignite the

fire.

Igniting the fire means that first you must understand

the Law of the Few. Spreading the word depends on

people who are either experts or possessed with a rare

set of social gifts. Theyre called power influencers and

evangelists. And they are found as spokes in your

Network Hubs and are further refined as Regular Hubs

(non-media people), and Mega Hubs (media people).

UNDERSTANDING NETWORK HUBS

The following section on Network Hubs was extracted

from Emanuel Rosens The Anatomy of Buzz, and

Malcolm Gladwells The Tipping Point, and then edited

by Keith Bates.

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NETWORK HUBS

Network hubs are individuals who communicate with

more people about a certain product than the average

person does. Researchers have traditionally referred to

them as opinion leaders. In industry theyre called

influencers, lead users, or sometimes power users.

There are two major types of Network Hubs: Regular

Hubs, acting as regular folks who serve as sources of

information and influence in a certain product category

and may be connected to only a few other individuals--

or to several dozens. And Mega Hubs, which refers to

the press, celebrities, analysts, and politicians. Both

these categories have subsets, known as Mavens and

Connectors.

Mavens (those who accumulate knowledge) are

listened to because they have demonstrated significant

knowledge of a certain area (at the very least, they

have convinced others of their authority on a subject).

Mavens tend to specialize in one narrow field of interest

(movies, computers, corporate governance, and

litigation).

Connectors are those people in every group who are

more central because they are charismatic, are trusted

by their peers, or are simply more socially active.

Connectors know lots of the right kind of people.

Let me offer an easy acronym you can use to

remember them: network hubs are ACTIVE. They are

Ahead in adoption, Connected, Travelers, Information-

hungry, Vocal, and Exposed to the media more than

others. Network hubs are usually not the first to adopt a

new product, but they are at least slightly ahead of the

rest in their networks.

The fact is, not much is definitively known aboutnetwork hubs; moreover, the nature of network hubs

may differ from industry to industry. You wont find their

names and addresses in any directoryidentifying

network hubs is substantially more complex than

renting a mailing list. But the rewards for paying

attention to these people can be huge.

WHERE DOES ONE FIND NETWORK HUBS?

There are four methods commonly used:

1. Letting network hubs identify themselves. This

means capturing the names of those who visit

your website, or ask questions via email/snail

mail.

2. Identifying categoriesof network hubs.

Responses from ads in trade publications,

or attendance at conferences, trade shows.

However, these efforts primarily gather titles

only.

3. Spotting network hubs in the field. To do this

you must join a community, or solicit help from

those already inside the community.

4. Identifying network hubs through surveys.

Studies can be done online using such

resources as RoperASW, Greenfield Online, or

Opinion Research. Surveys can be subdivided

into socio-metric, informant ratings, or self

designating.

HOW TO WORK WITH NETWORK HUBS

Mega hub tacticsthe mediaare well known by

publicity people, and I have little new to offer here.

What others do not usually discuss is how to go about

reaching the millions of regular hubswho can spread

news about a product. So I will focus here on reaching

regularhubs.

Regular hub tactics first challenge is keeping track of

them. Building a system to record information about

hubs is mostly a matter of making everyone at your

organization aware of them. The database you build

should have telephone numbers, e-mail addresses,

regular mailing addresses, as well as information about

the scope and source of their influence and the nature

of the networks they belong to.

Timing is important, seeding is often required, targeting

hubs first (before PR and ads), give them something to

talk about, stimulate them to teach others, give them

the facts, dont abuse the relationships, be sure people

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see hubs usingyour product, and beware Mega Hub

bias.

WARNING: FAILURE TO EXPLORE ALL THREE

WORD OF MOUTH OPTIONS COULD BE

HAZARDOUS TO YOUR MARKETING HEALTH.

Each of these approaches, whether Ideavirus,

Shockvirus, or Influentials, has different underlying

strategies, tactics and costs. Be sure to explore them

carefully before making a choice as they are quite

different in nature.

RANDOM COMMENTS FROM PRACTITIONERS AND

AUTHORS Plus FRIENDS AT BOTH WOMMA (Word

of Mouth Marketing Assn.) AND VBMA (Viral+Buzz

Marketing Assn.)

Linda Zimmer: What makes metrics a tough nut to

crack is that viral/buzz marketing must focus on all

types of modern media not just web, email, or Internet.

It has to reach the customer where they are, when they

want it, and in the manner in which they want it (my

term is liquid media). That can be SMS, a podcast,

social networks, or smart tags. If sales is the ultimate

goal, sales/revenue is the final measurement. But, over

what period of time? During the campaign, 3 monthsafterwards, one year? A great viral campaign can

influence me to buy months down the road.

Dr. Paul Marsden: Keith, hi - the idea that WOM is a

C2C phenomenon is ill-informed and plain wrong. The

business classic Diffusion of Innovations (which author

Everett Rogers attributes to WOM) is full of B2B

examples, as is Tom Peter's Thriving on Chaos. The

whole area of change management is a B2B offer and

the entire healthcare industry is based on B2Bprograms between drugs companies and healthcare

providers. All are based around the simple idea that

product placement research (seeding trials) with

internal decision makers is the solution to igniting

WOM. There are probably more B2B case studies of

WOM than C2C. I suggest you liberate case studies

from Diffusion of Innovations, Thriving on Chaos,

Secrets of WOMM, and Anatomy of Buzz - the books

are full of them.

Dr. Paul Marsden: However, I predict that alternative

marketing campaign success will be measured in terms

of the impact on customer recommendation rates and

the correlation between the increasing instances of

these and sales, rather than being based on a simple

CPM model.

Justin Kirby in response to Keith Bates request for

B2B examples: Obviously (your audience) never heard

of Phase IV research in health care marketing where

influentials are seeded with products in the name of

research. It helped Prozac become the biggest selling

prescribed drug ever. Yes consumers use the product

but the marketing is B2B.

Justin Kirby: As youprobably all know by know I

recently chaired the Alternative Marketing & Advertising

Conference in Melbourne Australia mostly thanks to my

colleague Piers Hogarth-Scot at DMC Australia bringing

me up as co-founder of the VBMA. I've also chaired

Marketing Week's Non-Traditional Marketing

Conference in London in December, and been a

panelist at Ad:Tech New York and DM Show in London

in November. As youcan imagine, I've seen a Heinz 57

variety of alternative marketing techniques being

presented as the antidote to the fragmented and

cluttered media landscape advertisers are now faced

with.

Online viral marketings three main purposes and

benefits from a strategic viewpoint are:

1. To maintain or boost a cost-effective level of

brand awareness during ATL media spend 'downtime',

usually by releasing web-only viral material that retains

the brand and campaign themes.

2. To kickstart new marcom activity, which often

means releasing a web-first viral edit of a mainstream

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ad before it hits TV, in order to create a buzz and

exploit the exclusivity factor.

3. As an effective standalone marketing tool for

brands that either can't afford ATL marketing, or that

require only online distribution to a widespread target

group.

It's also worth bearing in mind that integrating online

viral marketing within the overall marketing mix doesn't

mean making sure the campaign's graphics and

straplines are the same across all media. It means

telling a similar campaign story in slightly different ways

across the media used, depending on the specific

channel and audience. Online viral marketing is simply

another way of telling a story, but in a manner that is

appropriate to the peer-to-peer and file-sharing

activities that web users engage in.

George Silverman, Secrets of Word-of-Mouth

Marketing: Word of mouth among business people

and professionals (such as physicians, pharmacists,

architects, and financial advisors) is very different from

word of mouth for relatively low-ticket consumer

products. The more expensive and complicated a

product is, the more word of mouth comes into play.

This is true because these products are more risky in

terms of time, money, and potential damage to

professional reputation. High-ticket products are not as

easily tried as simple consumer products. People have

to rely on other people's experience to substitute for all

or part of the experience they would get in a trial.

Emanuel Rosen, The Anatomy of Buzz: My own

experience with buzz has been mostly in the software

industry

For buzz to spread, you need two things: a contagious

product--one that has some inherent value that makes

people talkand someone behind the scenes who

accelerates natural contagion. Yes, there are cases

where having a great product or service alone is

enough, but these typically occur when capacity is

limited.

Technology markets, for example, are almost like

presidential election campaigns, where there's no prize

for second place. Winner takes all. In these markets the

natural spread of word of mouth must be accelerated.

Having a good product is not enough.

Dont be concerned about boringexpert hubs. Dell

Computer Corporation came to realize that network

hubs are willing to spend twenty minutes with an ad and

go through the specs and the features. Thats why

Dells ads look like catalogs.

What kind of products lend themselves to buzz?

Products that somehow create high involvement among

customers: Innovative productslike Netscape, and

Complex productslike software.

The more connected your customers are to each other,

the more you depend on their buzz for future business.

To see the full impact of this, look at a company like

Cisco that has always served a tightly connected

customer base. Cisco sells the hardware devices that

glue the Internet together; almost by definition, all of its

customers (network administrators and information

technology managers) are heavy users of the Internet.

"Our company started by word of mouth. There was no

advertising," says Keith Fox, vice president of corporate

marketing at Cisco. Since 1984, buzz about Cisco has

been spreading relentlessly on the Net. Several Internet

newsgroups are dedicated to Cisco's products.

How do you identify network hubs? Use the acronym

ACTIVE. They are Ahead in adoption, Connected,

Travelers, Information-hungry, Vocal, and Exposed to

the media more than others. On the topic of connected

for examplenetwork hubs in the high-tech industry

tend to gravitate toward other network hubs from whom

they can get more information (which they then will

transmit within their cluster). To find these other

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network hubs, they go to trade shows, join user groups,

and hang out in on-line forums that discuss the topics

they are interested in. These activities result in

additional links to the outside world.

Gabriel Weimann traces the notion of (WOM) all the

way back to the Bible. When Moses complained to God

that he could no longer control the people of Israel, God

told him to gather seventy men of the elders of Israel

and use them to spread the word to the rest of the

people.

If you subscribe to the belief that were all connected by

a chain of no more than six mutual acquaintances then

you might want to consider Emanuels math: Even in a

small network that consists of only 100 people, there

are 4,950 possible links among them. In a network with

just 1,000 members there are almost half a million

possible links!

The spread of buzz, since it is not always easy to trace,

tends to be neglected. To learn how to help create

buzz, you should be able to answer these questions:

From whom do your clients or customers typically

learn about your product?

What do people say when they recommend your

product?

How fast does information about your product

spread compared with other products?

Who are the network hubs?

Where doest the information hit a roadblock?

How many sources of information does a

customer rely on? Which ones are more important?

What other kinds of information spread through

the same networks?

Its crucial to understand that buzz about a product

never spreads as simply as the two-step flow model

would indicatefrom company to media and mega-

hubs, and from these hubs to the public. Yet the two-

step model has been blithely assumed by countless

companies over the years. There are two traps

companies can fall into. The first is thinking that

creating buzz is all about network hubs. If you

exclusively focus on the two-step flow model, you can

leap to the dangerous conclusion that direct

communications with your customers is not important.

The second potential trap lies in a narrow interpretation

of the term network hubs. Almost all companies try to

go after network hubs. But theres a big difference

between going after an elite group of forty influencers

and going after a broad, less visible population of four

thousand of them. Numbers make a big difference in

getting the word out. Many experts agree that the

percentage of opinion leaders on average in the

population is about 10 to 15 percent. But in practice,

marketers sometimes target just a handful of

influencersnot the full 10%.

The best buzz comes not from clever PR or advertising

but rather from attributes inherent to the product itself.

Contagious products can be grouped into six

categories, as follows:

1. Products that evoke an emotional response.

For most products and services it is usually the

feeling of excitement and delight you get when

your expectations are exceeded.

2. Products that advertise themselves. This type

of product creates visual buzz by generating

excitement simply by people viewing them in

action.

3. Products that leave traces. These are products

that self-propagate by leaving traces of

themselves behindpaper trails or other

evidence of their passing.

4. Products that become more useful as more

people use them. Telephone, fax, and email

are examples.

5. Products that are compatible. Products that fit

peoples preexisting beliefs spread faster.

6. Products that do the rest. Products that are

easy to use spread faster because customers

are hungry for simplicity. Example: Kodaks

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first camera copy line, You press the button,

we do the rest. When a customer has to

explain just one step, her likelihood of

completing the sales pitch successfully is

much higher than if she had to describe seven

steps.

ALWAYS EXCEED EXPECTATIONS!

Cisco Systems, for example, serves network

administrators who virtually live online, so youd expect

Cisco to use online methods to spread the word about

its products. They do. But Cisco doesnt limit itself to the

online world. The company organizes more than one

thousand seminars every year to meet potential

customers face to face, they organize networking

events for their current customers, and they attend

dozens of trade shows. Relationships with many

customers start via face-to-face communication. The

Net is used to maintain those relationships.

DOES MADISON AVENUE STILL MATTER?

The truth is that very few products can rely on buzz

alone. When used correctly, advertising can help buzz.

However, its also worth noting that ads can sometimes

hurt genuine word of mouth. So in this chapter I want to

focus on answering three questions:

1. Can advertising stimulate buzz? Absolutely. A

good ad can help get people talking. (The

shockvirus approach). It does so by jump-

starting the process, reaching hubs, reassuring

buyers, and getting the facts straight.

2. Can advertising simulate buzz? What about

ads that masquerade as word of mouth? This

is a tricky topic. You have to understand that

an ad can hardly ever enjoy the credibility of

buzz. Consider the friendly tone, testimonial

advertising.

3. Can advertising kill buzz? Although there are

many good reasons to advertise, advertising is

a tool that should be used very cautiously if

you want to promote buzz. Because

advertising can also kill buzz when people feel

that someone is shoving the message down

their throats.

The six rules about ads and buzz:

1. Keep it simple. Message needs to be simple to

be easily passed along.

2. Tell us whats new. Fluff doesnt travel well.

Keep it relevant and news worthy.

3. Dont make claims you cant support. Dont tell

customers you care without proving it.

4. Ask your customers to articulate whats special

about your product or service. Just ask!

5. Start measuring buzz. Very few ad agencies

pretest for conversational impact. Helpful to

ask two questions: Will the ad help network

hubs answer questions they may get from

other people in the networks? Will the ad

stimulate members of the network to seek

information from network hubs?

6. Listen to buzz. Monitor the network. Improve

messaging.

The extensive buzz about high tech products is also

driven by their complexity which makes them difficult to

evaluate. Talking with current users of a certain

software package helps customers reduce the risk

associated with the purchase.

Seth Godin, Unleashing the Ideavirus: Why do some

viruses burn out more quickly than others? The simplest

reason is that marketers get greedy and forget that a

short-term virus is not the end of the process, its the

beginning. By nurturing the attention you receive, you

can build a self reinforcing virus that lasts and lasts and

benefits all involved. Admit that few viruses last forever.

Embrace the lifestyle of the virus.

REPORT ON THE FIRST EVER WOMMA SUMMIT

Held in Chicago on March 29, 30 was the first ever

summit meeting for the newly formed Word Of Mouth

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Marketing Association. (Reprinted from my weblog at

www.keithbates.blogspot.com on March 31, 2005)

First WOMMA Summit (March 29-30, 2005) a

smashing success. Word of mouth marketing is

obviously an idea whose time has come.

On day one of the Summit, in the opening letter from

my WOMMA folder I found a message, Theres a

sense of history in the air. Can you feel it?

I felt it. And what followed was two of the most

rewarding days Ive had in years.

As I wrapped up my role of moderator for the last two

sessions of an incredible two days I sensed a

reluctance to leave among the 350 attendees who

jammed Chicagos Intercontinental Hotel. The heart

warming camaraderie was coming to a close as the

worlds first-ever word of mouth marketing conference

came to an end. WOMMA CEO Andy Sernovitz

([email protected]) had just pulled off what seemed

like an impossible, Herculean task.

The closing of the first days session, the halfway

point, found nearly 300 people, not at all tired from

a days worth of marathon speeches but full of

enthusiasm, hopping onto a bus for a long evening

of storytelling at the beautiful downtown Chicago

Rezas restaurant on West Ontario. This event ran

until 10:00 (your author, a little older than most of

the crowd, went home at 9:00)

In only a few short months of existence WOMMA (Word

of Mouth Marketing Association) www.womma.com,

generated over 100 charter members and rounded up

attendees from all over the world (Austria, Brazil,

Canada, Poland, Singapore are only a few of the dozen

the author can recall) to fill the Grand Ballroom. With no

advertising, using word of mouth only, WOMMA

outgrew the original venue and had to relocate at the

last minute. The last two days represented an incredible

learning experience even to me who has immersed

himself in word of mouth and viral marketing for the

past four years.

One of the things I learned, somewhat to my

consternation, is that Viral Marketing, which is what I

have been pursuing aggressively, is not the end-all of

WOM, but in fact a subset of this awesome

communications tactic. In a very well done hand-out

from Greg Wester of Soapbox Marketing he makes the

point that we, as WOM practitioners, need to go beyond

viral marketing pointing out that VM is a form of

marketing reliant upon the transfer of a pre-fabricated

marketing message between and amongst consumers,

a form of digital marketing hyped by email technology

providers and advergame developers. He goes on to

say that the result of this confusion is that marketers

wise enough to focus on improving word of mouth often

unwisely limit their scope to viral marketing. Word of

mouth marketing includes any marketing where

consumers are responsible for the messages content

and/or message distribution. Viral is only one form.

This WOMMA conference was the forming of a new

industry in America, complete with ethics code,

standards council, education council, and buyers

guide all readily available at www.womma.org.

A blue ribbon panel of speakers included a stirring

presentation by Apple evangelist Guy Kawasaki, best

selling authors Emanuel Rosen, Ben McConnell and

Jackie Huba, Ed Keller, George Silverman and Mark

Hughes plus 47 other luminaries from the world of

marketing, advertising and public relations including my

friend Paul Rand, head of Ketchums global technology

practice and developer of IRM (Influencer Relations

Management).

An exhilarating time was had by all. In addition to the

exciting presentations, and very-well done (and brief)

PowerPoints, was an exciting luncheon exercise put on

by Jackie Huba, co-author of Creating Customer

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activities, online word of mouth is nonetheless owned

and controlled by consumers, and it often carries far

higher credibility and trust than traditional media,

especially as media channels become more fragmented

and less trusted. The growth of its influence poses

challenges and opportunities for marketers.

From Emanuel Rosen, ten questions to ask yourself

before your next marcom campaign: 1) Does this

product lend itself to WOM? 2) Are we reinforcing the

concept and the message behind the product? 3) Can

we release information gradually? 4) Are we giving our

customers something to talk about? 5) Do we give them

an opportunity to get involved? 6) Are we making it

easy to spread the word? 7) Can we stimulate

interaction between customers? 8) Can we identify

network hubs by category? By their activism? Through

surveys? 9) Are we seeding the networks? 10) How is

this campaign going to affect the network hubs

credibility?

Another note: For all of us who grew up in direct

response you may want to know that WOM lends

itself particularly well to test marketing. In other

words build a small flame first, and then use it to

fan the flames of a conflagrationafter learning

what your market responds to.

And in taking your product to market keep in mind that

while case studies are important, stories resonate

better, because all people are innate story tellers.

From David Ries of DEI, eight simple rules of WOM: 1)

treat people like theyre smart and savvybecause

they are. 2) relate to people as individuals. 3) reach

people on their terms. 4) give people a way to tell you

what they thinkand take it seriously when they do. 5)

conversation/test is the new medium. 6) useful

information is the currency of influence. 7) let go of

corporate control of the message. 8) you get what you

pay for.

From Rick Murray of Edelman, five words to consider:

Insight, into consumers. Creativity, bellwether of great

campaigns. Integration, of PR, ads, clients.

Measurement, because we need to know what a home

run looks like before we start the game. Courage, to

break with tradition.

From Keith Bates: If youre reading my blog regularly

you know that it was established almost two years ago

to share my knowledge and experience with both viral

marketing and word of mouth and that its goal has

been to help readers understand the process well

enough to know where to turn for help. Awareness of

word of mouth is growing exponentially in the press and

in the marketplaceand now you have the best

resource anywhere ... www.womma.org.

Visit their site, join the organization. Read the

PowerPoint PDFs soon to be available from the

Summit. Tell Andy that Keith sent you. Participate, and

share your experiences so that all of us who believe in

the power of WOM can do an even better job for our

clients and our customers. A big two thumbs up for

WOMMA, and for Andy Sernovitz.

WOMMA published its draft Ethics Code for the

word of mouth marketing industry on February 9,

2005. This is a first step in the complicated process of

building an industry based on consumer respect and

fundamental ethical principles. The essence of the

WOMMA Code comes down to the Honesty ROI:

Honesty of Relationship: You say who you're

speaking for

Honesty of Opinion: You say what you believe

Honesty of Identity: You never obscure your

identity.

For more information visit www.womma.org

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WOMS NATURE

as prescribed by its authorsand practitioners

Regis McKenna, Word of Mouth

Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point

Seth Godin, Unleashing the Ideavirus

Emanuel Rosen, The Anatomy of Buzz

George Silverman, The Secrets of Word of Mouth Marketing

Jackie Huba/Ben McConnell, Creating Customer Evangelists

Ed Keller and Jon Berry, The Influentials

Paul Rand, Ketchum

Viral+Buzz Marketing AssociationAndy Sernovitz, WOMMA

Keith Bates is personally acquainted with nearly all of the people above,many of whom have had a powerful influence in shaping his knowledge and

opinions regarding word of mouth and viral marketing over the past four years.

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Malcolm Gladwell,

The Tipping Point

In this brilliant and groundbreaking book, New Yorkerwriter Malcolm

Gladwell looks at why major changes in our society so often happen

suddenly and unexpectedly. Ideas, behavior, messages, and products, he

argues, often spread like outbreaks of infectious disease. Just as a single

sick person can start an epidemic of the flu, so too can a few fare-beaters

and graffiti artists fuel a subway crime wave, or a satisfied customer fill the

empty tables of a new restaurant. These are socialepidemics, and the

moment when they take off, when they reach their critical mass, is the

Tipping Point.

Gladwell introduces us to the particular personality types who are natural

pollinators of new ideas and trends, the people who create the phenomenon

of word of mouth. He analyzes fashion trends, smoking, children's

television, direct mail, and the early days of the American Revolution for

clues about making ideas infectious, and visits a religious commune, a

successful high-tech company, and one of the world's greatest salesmen to

show how to start and sustain social epidemics.

What You'll Learn In The Tipping Point:

Directions for reaching a Tipping Point. You'll learn how the three rules of

the Tipping Point -- the Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor, and the

Power of Context -- offer a way of making sense of epidemics.

How to choose the people who will spread the epidemic. Spreading the

word depends on people who are either experts or possessed with a rare

set of social gifts. You'll learn how to identify mavens, connectors, and

salesmen (persuaders).

The importance of memorable product exposure. The Presentation is

everything. If your product is not inherently exciting you must position your

message so that it is, and has the ability to move people.

Understanding the power of context. You'll learn to become sensitive to the

circumstances and conditions of times and places, those specific and

relatively small elements in the environment can serve as Tipping Points.

The paradox of the epidemic (viral marketing) is that in order to create one

contagious movement; you often have to create many small movements

first.

CONTENTS

1.The Three Rules ofEpidemics.

2. The Law of the Few:

Connectors, Mavens,and Salesmen

3. The StickinessFactor: Sesame Street,Blue's Clues, and theEducational Virus

4. The Power ofContext (Part One):Bernie Goetz and theRise and Fall of NewYork City Crime

5. The Power ofContext (Part Two):

The Magic NumberOne Hundred and Fifty

6. Case Study:Rumors, Sneakers,and the Power ofTranslation

7. Case Study: Suicide,Smoking, and theSearch for the UnstickyCigarette

8. Conclusion: Focus,Test, and Believe

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Seth Godin,

Unleashing the Ideavirus

If you don't have time to read the whole book, here's what it says:

Marketing by interrupting people isn't cost-effective anymore. You can't afford

to seek out people and send them unwanted marketing messages, in large

groups, and hope that some will send you money. Instead, the future belongs

to marketers who establish a foundation and process where interested people

can market to each other. Ignite consumer networks and then get out of the

way and let them talk.

Why Ideas Matter. The holy grail for anyone who traffics in ideas is this: tounleash an ideavirus. An idea that just sits there is worthless. But an idea that

moves and grows and infects everyone it touches ...that's an ideavirus. An

ideavirus is a big idea that runs amok across the target audience. Word of

mouth is not new it's just different now. Ideaviruses give us increasing

returns, word of mouth dies out, but ideaviruses get bigger. And finally,

ideaviruses are the currency of the future. While ideaviruses aren't new,

they're important because we're obsessed with the new, and an ideavirus is

always about the new.

The key steps for Internet companies looking to build a virus are:

Create a newsworthy online experience that's either totally new or

makes the user's life much better. Or makes an offline experience

better/faster/cheaper so that switching is worth the hassle.

Have the idea behind your online experience go viral, bringing you a

large chunk of the group you're targeting without having to spend a

fortune advertising the new service.

Fill the vacuum in the marketplace with your version of the idea, so

that competitors now have a very difficult time of un-teaching your

virus and starting their own.

Achieve "lock in" by creating larger and larger costs to switchingfrom your service to someone else's.

Get permission from users to maintain an ongoing dialogue so you

can turn the original attention into a beneficial experience for users

and an ongoing profit stream for you.

Continue creating noteworthy online experiences to further spread

new viruses, starting with your core audience of raving fans.

What Youll LearnIn Unleashing TheIdeavirus

Why ideas matter. In thissection you'll learn aboutthe holy grail for peoplewho deal in ideas, how tocreate an environmentwhere consumers marketto each other, the keysteps to building a virus, 6reasons why ideavirusesare so important, 5 thingsideaviruses have incommon, and 7 ways anideavirus can help you.

How to unleash anideavirus. Learn why youmust focus on "sneezers"those people bestqualified to start anepidemic, why unleashingand ideavirus is more thansimple word of mouth, andthirteen question ideavirusmarketers must haveanswered.

Understanding theideavirus formula. Howto tweak the formula andmake it work plus a lookat the eight underlyingvariables that impactsuccess.

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Emanuel Rosen,

The Anatomy of Buzz

Emanuel Rosen, with nine years experience as Marketing VP for a Silicon

Valley software company, here illuminates the reality of how "buzz" can be

launched and managed so as to more rapidly reach a critical mass (the

tipping point) of adopters for one's innovation.

What You'll Learn In The Anatomy of Buzz

How buzz spreads. You'll learn that buzz is all the word of mouth about a

brand, which it spreads through invisible networks of very special people,

that we talk because we're programmed to talk, and that nothing happens

without the establishment of network hubs. You'll also learn the structure of

these networks and about the energy and credibility required to make it

work.

How to assure success. You'll learn that some products evoke and

emotional response, some advertise themselves, some leave traces, others

become more useful as people use them, products that are compatible, that

"do the rest", and the power of gossip. And you'll learn that there's still a

need for traditional advertising, promotion and PR to accelerate the whole

process but that the timing of this stuff is critical. It's called Leapfrogging,and it builds momentum.

How to stimulate the spread of buzz. You'll learn how to identify and

nurture network hubs, the importance and techniques of "seeding", the

importance of having a good story. You'll learn to think of viral marketing as

a buzz accelerator and that very few products can rely on buzz alone. But

ads can hurt as well as help. Plus skills at channel deployment. And lastly

examples of people who did it and how, followed by a Buzz Workshop

chapter that Seth Godin says "by itself is worth the entire price of the book!"

Does Madison Avenue still matter? Yes! The truth is that very fewproducts can rely on buzz alone. Six rules about ads and buzz: keep it

simple, tell us what's new, don't make claims you can't support, ask your

customers to articulate what's special about your product or service, start

measuring buzz, and listen to the buzz. Can advertising kill buzz? Yes, if it's

shoved

Documents

Word of Mouth White Paper 042005 v1