Dave Balter has a new book out: The Word of Mouth Manual, Vol. II. And, as if to prove a point, it seems that just about everyone is talking about it (see here, here, here, here, here, here, and here for starters). It's a pretty good read and something every serious marketer ought to be familiar with regardless of your opinion on word of mouth. You can buy it here or download the PDF for free here.Dave believes deeply in the power of word of mouth. And his company BzzAgent is pretty good at generating buzz for their clients. He's taken some heat for creating "unnatural" word of mouth for clients. But after reading the ebook, I don't get the sense that Dave believes you can create sustainable word of mouth for bad products or experiences (except maybe very bad WOM). After a lengthy comparison of viral marketing with sustainable word of mouth, Dave writes:"It's not as simple as just "grabbing some" when the time is right, but rather about developing and maintaining a deep understanding of how word of mouth really works-about how to build a word of mouth foundation, managing word of mouth as a process, and recognizing that word of mouth is a medium that needs to be deployed, adapted, and constantly optimized.It's also necessary to understand that word of mouth is optimized by the cast of characters that surround the brand and help to make the stories meaningful and relevant." (p.93) In other words, if you don't have a remarkable product, if you don't have a compelling brand story, if you don't have a customer experience that brings them back, if you don't have enthusiastic brand evangelists, you won't get positive word of mouth for long, no matter what you do or who you hire.Read the book.Disclosure: I joined BzzAgent in 2003, however I'm not a very "active" participant. They have sent me a few products to try out and "buzz" since then, including links to Dave's book. I have never positively buzzed a product I didn't like.
Link to original post