Categories: Articles

The Montreal Gazette Talks Word Of Mouth Marketing

… And they completely miss the point. Yes, you can hire a firm to do word of mouth marketing (also known as Roach Marketing) where you hire people (or even real raving fans) who are compensated (money, product, etc…) to “spread the gospel.”
Does it work? It can.
Burger King’s Subservient Chicken spread virally and through word of mouth because of what it was (funny, new and questionable), not who it was from (Burger King. Did you know? Do you care?). We now know that it did create brand lift, heightened awareness and increased sales for their Tendercrisp Chicken. Ultimately, if you have to pay a person to “lie” to someone else, I’m not sure that’s word of mouth marketing.
Word of mouth marketing starts by creating a product or service that is worth mentioning (read Seth Godin‘s book, Purple Cow). From rock bands (KISS) to technology (Google, eBay) to specific coolness like iPod, Blackberry and Hotmail – a great word of mouth marketing campaign is based on one core element: the product or service kicks butt and people will rant and tell all of their friends about it because it helps simplify their life, makes them feel good or even for bragging rights.
Word of mouth marketing works big-time – but only if you build that type of uniqueness into the product or service as it is being created. It rarely works after the fact.
Take a look at the Montreal Gazette article (it was not online), and let me know if you think they hit the mark or simply featured many companies who you can pay to create non-sustainable buzz and market share.

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.