WOMMA is the o\ue003cial trade association
\ue006or the word o\ue006 mouth marketing indus-
try. Our members are building a prosper-
ous word o\ue006 mouth (WOM) marketing
pro\ue006ession.

Thriving markets are built on best prac-
tices, e\ue002ective standards, and ethical
leadership. Those are the qualities that
bring WOMMA members together -- and
we hope that you will join us i\ue006 you share
these values.

\u2022 We\u2019re \ue006antastic brands and market-
ers who know that happy customers
are our most power\ue006ul advocates.

\u2022 We\u2019re innovative agencies who un- derstand how to empower and am- pli\ue006y the voice o\ue006 the consumer.

\u2022 And we\u2019re the good guys, commit-
ted to protecting consumers with
strong ethical guidelines.

Word o\ue006 mouth is a pre-existing phe-
nomenon that marketers are only now
learning how to harness, ampli\ue006y, and
improve. Word o\ue006 mouth marketing
isn\u2019t about creating word o\ue006 mouth -- it\u2019s
learning how to make it work within a
marketing objective.

That said, word o\ue006 mouth can be encour-
aged and \ue006acilitated. Companies can
work hard to make people happier, they
can listen to consumers, they can make
it easier \ue006or them to tell their \ue006riends, and
they can make certain that in\ue001uential in-
dividuals know about the good qualities
o\ue006 a product or service.

Word o\ue006 mouth marketing empowers
people to share their experiences. It\u2019s
harnessing the voice o\ue006 the customer \ue006or
the good o\ue006 the brand. And it\u2019s acknowl-
edging that the unsatis\ue000ed customer is
equally power\ue006ul.

Word o\ue006 mouth can\u2019t be \ue006aked or invent-
ed. Attempting to \ue006ake word o\ue006 mouth is
unethical and creates a backlash, damag-
es the brand, and tarnishes the corporate
reputation. Legitimate word o\ue006 mouth
marketing acknowledges consumers\u2019
intelligence -- it never attempts to \ue006ool
them. Ethical marketers reject all tactics
related to manipulation, deception, in\ue000l-
tration, or dishonesty.

All word o\ue006 mouth marketing techniques
are based on the concepts o\ue006 customer
satis\ue006action, two-way dialog, and trans-
parent communications. The basic ele-
ments are:

\u2022Buzz Marketing: Using high-pro-
\ue000le entertainment or news to get
people to talk about your brand.

\u2022Viral Marketing:Creating enter-
taining or in\ue006ormative messages that
are designed to be passed along in
an exponential \ue006ashion, o\ue006ten elec-
tronically or by email.

or supporting niche communities
that are likely to share interests about
the brand (such as user groups, \ue006an
clubs, and discussion \ue006orums); provid-
ing tools, content, and in\ue006ormation to
support those communities.

\u2022Grassroots Marketing:O rganizin g
and motivating volunteers to en-
gage in personal or local outreach.

\u2022Evangelist Marketing:Cu lti v ati n g
evangelists, advocates, or volunteers
who are encouraged to take a lead-
ership role in actively spreading the
word on your behal\ue006.

\u2022Product Seeding:Placing the right
product into the right hands at the
right time, providing in\ue006ormation or
samples to in\ue001uential individuals.

\u2022In\ue000uencer Marketing:I denti \ue006 y ing
key communities and opinion lead-
ers who are likely to talk about
products and have the ability to in-
\ue001uence the opinions o\ue006 others.

\u2022Cause Marketing: Supporting so- cial causes to earn respect and sup- port \ue006rom people who \ue006eel strongly about the cause.

\u2022Conversation Creation:Inte res tin g
or \ue006un advertising, emails, catch
phrases, entertainment, or pro-
motions designed to start word o\ue006
mouth activity.

and participating in the blogo-
sphere, in the spirit o\ue006 open, trans-
parent communications; sharing
in\ue006ormation o\ue006 value that the blog
community may talk about.

\u2022Re\ue001erral Programs:Creating tools
that enable satis\ue000ed customers to
re\ue006er their \ue006riends.

Word o\ue006 mouth marketing encompasses dozens o\ue006 marketing techniques that are
geared toward encouraging and helping people to talk to each other about products
and services.

Common types o\ue006 word o\ue006 mouth marketing are listed below. This is not a complete list -- we\u2019re publishing it as a means to begin a dialog toward standardization, and we welcome your comments. (Not everyone agrees that each o\ue006 these should be part o\ue006 word o\ue006 mouth marketing, and many marketers use di\ue002erent terms to describe them.)