• by Kendra Hatcher King , April 2, 2008

A couple of weeks ago, I received an e-mail solicitation from the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (yes, such an organization does exist) to register for what has been billed as "Word of Mouth Marketing University 2008."

Which is not to be confused with the Las Vegas Word of Mouth Marketing Summit and Research Symposium held last November, nor with the Word of Mouth Boot Camp I attended last spring in New Orleans. Looking at the invitation, I thought to myself, surely, people can't still be buzzing about word-of-mouth marketing? It seems so two years ago.

Back in the stone ages of the new world of media, Starcom MediaVest Group was among the first media agencies to invest in a revolutionary communications tool that promised to measure the myriad ways in which brands make contact with consumers (with each method referred to as a "brand contact point"). At the time, this approach, which dared to equate tried-and-true media like television, magazines and radio with - gasp - street teams, word-of-mouth, in-store displays and the like, was considered heresy by traditionalists. Yet over and over again, we were startled to see word-of-mouth identified by consumers as one of, if not the most, influential contact point.

Contrary to the word-of-mouth naysayers, it's not all fluff. Consumer desire for control and security are driving demand for reliable and trustworthy information. Seeking advice and recommendations from family, friends and experts is a sound solution for many Americans before making purchasing decisions. Having become more cynical and distrustful of companies, 47 percent of Americans say they are bombarded with too much marketing and advertising (Yankelovich data). Additionally, nearly half of Americans say they consider buying a brand they're not familiar with risky.

Just look at two modern day phenomena: TripAdvisor and Obamamania. Who doesn't first check with Trip Advisor - carefully analyzing the posts of travelers who have bravely bounced on mattresses, given white glove tests and other such inspections - before booking a hotel?

It is almost impossible to navigate the Web and avoid contact with a Barack Obama campaign message. His advisors understand the power of the human touch, flawlessly using WOM to drive awareness, buzz and as a call to action. Brand Barack has the most friends of the presidential contenders on Facebook; used viral marketing to raise $500,000 from moveon.org alone; directed voters to polling stations via mobile texting; and encouraged supporters across the country to dial up potential voters in Texas and Ohio from online phone banks.

Word-of-mouth research and consulting firm Keller Fay's TalkTrak database provides the much-needed proof that WOM is indeed contributing to a brand's value, and most importantly, that marketers were not using it to their competitive advantage. Communispace, a firm that has developed over 275 private online communities, gives marketers a direct line to their most loyal consumers who help influence product development and marketing communications efforts.

Where is the WOM budget? Sounds like a simple question, but media, creative, promotions and public relations have already nicely divvied up the marketing pie. Who gets the extra dollars needed to execute a focused WOM program? More importantly, from where does the money come? None of the aforementioned departments or agency partners want to see money shifted from their budgets to create a new line item.

Let's say you are able to get a WOM program funded (kudos!). Who is responsible for the planning and execution? Unless you are privileged to work in an organization with lots of extra bodies waiting around for something to do, WOM programs can slip to the bottom of the priority list. Or, they become one-off stunts versus strategically led initiatives based upon the principles of WOM (yes, there are principles).

As a consumer ambassador, I find myself telling colleagues not to discount the power of word-of-mouth marketing, because then, in essence, you are disregarding the power of the consumer. However, it is easy to side with the critics when you see a new set of vultures circling for the budget. My advice is to move carefully and follow the consumer. Don't be surprised if he or she leads you to WOM, with 65 percent using it to guide their purchase decisions.

Kendra Hatcher King is senior vice president and director of consumer context planning at MediaVest. (kendra.hatcher@mediavestww.com)