Word of mouth, is a reference to the passing of information by verbal means, especially recommendations, but also general information, in an informal, person-to-person manner. Word of mouth is typically considered a face-to-face spoken communication, although phone conversations, text messages sent via SMS and web dialogue, such as online profile pages, blog posts, message board threads, instant messages and emails are often now included in the definition of word of mouth. There is some overlap in meaning between word of mouth and the following: rumour, gossip, innuendo, and hearsay; however word of mouth is more commonly used to describe positive information being spread rather than negative, although this is not always the case. Word of Mouth may refer to: A method of communication called word of mouth A Jaco Pastorius album called Word of Mouth A Toni Basil album called Word of Mouth that contains the single Mickey A Vicious Rumors album called Word of Mouth A Mike and The Mechanics album called... The ASCII codes for the word Wikipedia represented in binary, the numeral system most commonly used for encoding computer information. ... SMS may refer to: Short message service, a form of text messaging on cell phones Sega Master System – an 8-bit video game console from the 1980s Seiner Majestät Schiff, His Majestys Ship in the German Kaiserliche Marine and the Austro-Hungarian Navy SMS (comics), a British comic... A rumor (British English: rumour) is a piece of purportedly true information that is circulated without substantiating evidence. ... Neighborly gossips in the Altstadt in Sindelfingen, Germany Gossip consists of casual or idle talk of any sort, usually slanderous and/or devoted to discussing others. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Hearsay may refer to: Hearsay in English Law and Hearsay in United States law, a legal principle concerning the admission of evidence through repetition of out-of-court statements HearSay, a British pop group Category: ...

Comparison to word of mouth marketing (WOMM)

Word-of-mouth promotion, also known as buzz marketing and viral advertising, is highly valued by advertisers. It is believed that this form of communication has valuable source credibility. Research points to individuals being more inclined to believe WOMM than more formal forms of promotion methods; the receiver of word-of-mouth referrals tends to believe that the communicator is speaking honestly and is unlikely to have an ulterior motive (i.e. they are not receiving an incentive for their referrals).^[1] In order to promote and manage word-of-mouth communications, marketers use publicity techniques as well as viral marketing methods to achieve desired behavioral response. Influencer marketing is increasingly used to seed WOMM by targeting key individuals that have authority and a high number of personal connections. Wikibooks has more about this subject: Marketing Scale model of a Wheaties cereal box at a pep rally Promotion is one of the four key aspects of the marketing mix. ... Wikibooks has more about this subject: Marketing Look up publicity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Viral marketing and viral advertising refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness, through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses. ... Influencer marketing is a form of marketing that has emerged from a variety of recent practices and studies, in which focus is placed on specific key individuals (or types of individual) rather than the target market as a whole. ...

While any marketers places extreme value on word-of-mouth, this has historically been achieved by creating products or services that generate such "buzz" naturally. The relatively new method of WOMM bypasses the need to create satisfied customers, and instead attempts to inject positive "buzz" into conversations directly. While marketers have always hoped to achieve word-of-mouth, many suggest there are serious ethical concerns in trying to generate word of mouth directly. For other uses, see Ethics (disambiguation). ...

Word-of-mouth effects in the life cycle of cultural goods have been mathematically modelled.^[2] For evidence as to the conditions under which word-of-mouth communication is effective, see Grewal et al. 2003.

With the emergence of Web 2.0, mostly all web startups like facebook.com, youtube.com, collabotrade.com, myspace.com, and digg.com have used buzz Marketing by merging it with the social networking. With the increasing use of the Internet as a research and communications platform, word of mouth has become an even more powerful and useful resource for consumers and marketers. Tracking this online 'buzz' has led to the rise of a range of services and tools known as Buzz monitoring within the sphere of Online Public Relations. Buzz monitoring is a phrase used in Online Public Relations and social media marketing to track relevant conversations on the Internet. ...

Successful examples

• Gmail - Google did no marketing, they spent no money. They created scarcity by giving out Gmail accounts only to a handful of "power users." Other users who aspired to be like these power users "lusted" for a Gmail account and this manifested itself in their bidding for Gmail invites on eBay. Demand was created by limited supply; the cachet of having a Gmail account caused the word of mouth, rather than any marketing activities by Google.
• Chain e-mail about certain product/service can be considered as word of mouth marketing.World famous examples of Viral Marketing
• Microsoft’s Origami Project campaign
• Tupperware popularization
• Popularization of text messaging
• Popularization of chat
• BMW’s Mini Cooper campaign
• Ford Motor’s Evil Twin campaign
• Jamie Kane game (BBC sponsored)
• Homestar Runner
• The Best Page in the Universe

For other uses, see Gmail (disambiguation). ... This article is about the corporation. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Chain letter. ... Microsoft Corporation, (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKSE: 4338) is a multinational computer technology corporation with global annual revenue of US$44. ... This article is about paper folding. ... Tupperware logo A Tupperware storage container. ... Look up chat in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... For other uses, see BMW (disambiguation). ... 2002 Ford Fiesta in the UK. The Ford Motor Company (sometimes nicknamed Fords or FoMoCo, (NYSE: F) is an automobile maker founded by Henry Ford in Detroit, Michigan, and incorporated on June 16, 1903. ... For other uses, see BBC (disambiguation). ... Homestar Runner is a Flash animated Internet cartoon. ... The Best Page in the Universe is a personal satirical humor website created by self-proclaimed pirate George Ouzounian, better known as Maddox, from Salt Lake City, Utah. ...

Unsuccessful examples

• Hotmail - Hotmail "piggybacked" on personal emails from one person to another to publicize their free email service. At a time when few people had email, the first and only free email service in the marketplace was appealing and novel -- hence their rapid adoption and spread. However, the same "piggybacking" technique currently employed by all free email providers (except gmail) no longer works. Furthermore, the Hotmail users did not voluntarily pass it on; they had no choice about Hotmail adding the "sign up" link at the end of their personal emails.
• Burger King's Subservient Chicken - Burger King's marketing program called Subservient Chicken did indeed generate a lot of word of mouth, but the word of mouth was about the marketing campaign instead of the product that was being marketed. Also, those marketing efforts which rely on being edgy or on some kind of stunt often fade quickly when the novelty or edge wears off. Finally, this type of marketing is not reproducible or sustainable since it won't be edgy the second time around.
• McDonald's LincolnFry - a fake blog was discovered, and it generated lots of negative word of mouth and little participation.
• American Express' billboard - a fake blog poster who told readers to check out a great Amex billboard was found to be an Ogilvy employee; this violation of trust resulted in massive negative word of mouth which spread around the world.

Hotmail is a free webmail e-mail service, which is accessible via a web browser. ... The Subservient Chicken is a viral marketing promotion by Burger King, originally as part of a promotion for the companys line of chicken sandwiches. ...

See also

• Communication
• Customer engagement
• Language
• Advertising
• Propaganda
• New Media Marketing
• Evangelism marketing
• Stealth marketing
• Astroturfing
• Publicity
• Business Marketing
• Online marketing
• Reputation management
• New Media Marketing
• Evangelism marketing

Communication is a process that allows organisms to exchange information by several methods. ... Customer Engagement (CE) refers to the engagement of customers with one another, with a company or a brand. ... “Advert” redirects here. ... Soviet Propaganda Poster during World War II. The text reads Red Army Fighter, SAVE US! Chinese propaganda poster from the time of the Cultural Revolution. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Evangelism marketing 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. ... Undercover marketing is a subset of guerrilla marketing where the consumer doesnt realize theyre being marketed to. ... Astroturfing is a term for formal public relations campaigns in politics and advertising that seek to create the impression of being spontaneous, grassroots behavior. ... Wikibooks has more about this subject: Marketing Look up publicity in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Business marketing is the practice of organizations, including commercial businesses, governments and institutions, facilitating the sale of their products or services to other companies or organizations that in turn resell them, use them as components in products or services they offer, or use them to support their operations. ... It has been suggested that Internet marketing be merged into this article or section. ... Reputation management is the process of tracking an entitys actions and other entities opinions about those actions; reporting on those actions and opinions; and reacting to that report creating a feedback loop. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Evangelism marketing 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. ...

References

• Renée Dye, 'The Buzz on Buzz,' Harvard Business Review, November-December, 2000.
• Rajdeep Grewal, Thomas W. Cline, and Antony Davies, 'Early-Entrant Advantage, Word-of-Mouth Communication, Brand Similarity, and the Consumer Decision-Making Process,' Journal of Consumer Psychology, October, 2003.
• Frederick F. Reichheld, 'The One Number You Need to Grow,' Harvard Business Review, December, 2003.
• Yubo Chen and Jinhong Xie, 'Online Consumer Review: A New Element of Marketing Communications Mix,' http://ssrn.com/abstract=618782, July, 2004.
• Florian v Wangenheim and Tomás Bayón, 'The effect of word of mouth on services switching: Measurement and moderating variables,' European Journal of Marketing, September, 2004.
• Paul Marsden, Alain Samson, and Neville Upton, 'Advocacy Drives Growth,' Brand Strategy, December, 2005.
• BoldMouth and Osterman Research, 'Perceptions, Practices and Ethics in Word of Mouth Marketing,' Website, May, 2006.
• Buzzmarketing: Get People To Talk About Your Stuff, Mark Hughes (Penguin/Portfolio) Website
• Andy Sernovitz, Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking, Kaplan 2006 Website

Fred Reichheld (undated photograph) Frederick F. Reichheld is a business author and business strategist best known for his research and writing on the loyalty business model. ...

External links

• Word-of-Mouth Research at Yale School of Management
• Word of Mouth Marketing Association
• Multilingual Word of Mouth Industry Index