"We've concluded that companies that wish to build and retain leadership are going to have to reorient many of their activities around managing word of mouth," said Tim Wragg, the global director of NOP World's Customer Management Center. He also indicated that word-of-mouth marketing is broader than either Internet or traditional marketing, and doesn't just take place in one type of media. "The word-of-mouth world is not about new media versus old media," he said.

In order to leverage word-of-mouth marketing in their campaigns, companies must appeal to "influentials"--consumers who advise and recommend brands and products to their friends, said Paul Leinberger, the global director of NOP World's Market Opportunity Center. On average, influentials are twice as likely to recommend products and services, and also twice as likely to be sought out for advice, Leinberger said.

NOP World's research divides influentials into three categories: social influentials, who have large networks of connections to other consumers; category influentials, who are well-informed about a certain product category; and brand influentials, who are strong advocates for or against certain brands.

"If the goal of the past was to get into the consideration set, the goal today should be getting into the conversation set," Leinberger said.

Even more important, however, is how companies engage with consumers after the product is sold. According to Leinberger, influentials are likely to be the people who call in to companies' help lines and complaint centers, and companies can use those forums to capture their attention and enlist their help as "marketing multipliers."

"In the word-of-mouth world, marketing begins when the product is sold," said Leinberger.

Citing case studies that NOP World performed with Ford and a luxury car company, Leinberger said that influentials can be brought in to help create a product concept, and help develop ideas about how a product should be advertised. "They're like a focus group on steroids," he said.

Leinberger added that focus groups with influential consumers allowed Ford to more effectively advertise their first gas/electric hybrid car, the Escape. According to Leinberger, Ford intended to market the car to environmentalists, but their research with influentials indicated that customers cared more about the car's fuel efficiency, so the car company redesigned the campaign to reflect that.

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