Tom Asacker

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Mark Twain on blogging

"I am not one of those who in expressing opinions confine themselves to facts."

Neither are most bloggers. Let's quickly explore the red hot "be remarkable" and "employ word of mouth marketing" memes, shall we?

A few days ago George Silverman, of Word-of-Mouth Marketing fame, posted a rebuttal to Jack Trout's recent Forbes.com harangue, "Is Word Of Mouth All It's Cracked Up To Be?" Here are two excerpts from George's post:

In a dazzlingly out-of-touch article for forbes.com, Jack Trout has attacked word-of-mouth marketing. This probably means that word-of-mouth marketing is now a big enough threat to the establishment that it is worthy of attack. It's rather sad to see such a venerable old-line marketer so out of touch. It's also sad to think that a lot of old-line companies are going to listen to him.

In bare-bones summary, he [Trout] writes:

Things are out of hand. WOM is nothing new. The only thing new is digital communications with much more noise (he says that's good news, for some reason). People don't really want to "chatter" about products. WOM is sometimes negative, destroying the product. Wom can't be controlled. It's just another tool in your arsenal. You're going to have to continue to use advertising because you can't buy mouths. People stop talking about you once the next big thing comes along.

Note: For an excellent summary of the blogosphere's take on all of this, visit the Corante Marketing Hub.

For the record, I too have riffed about Trout and Ries being out of touch.  And I also believe that the traditional top down, persuade and control advertising model is broken.  That being said, I'm not one to giddily jump on the remarkable/word-of-mouth bandwagon.  And it all comes down to simple facts.

Let's take a look at some of those facts. Indeed, word-of-mouth is the most credible form of communication assuming, of course, that one trusts the source of said information.  It is also true that people will talk about "remarkable" stuff (gee, isn't that the definition of remarkable?), assuming, of course, that said stuff interests them and, more importantly, that talking about said stuff serves their self-interest (e.g. appear in the know, conversation starter, get a laugh, etc.).

Take a look through the top A-lister blogs over the past six months (and I hope we can agree that A-listers are "sneezers." They like to learn about - and talk about - the new.)  What do they sneeze about? Typically, what interests them (a.k.a. what serves their self interest). Do the math. Record the number and type of "brand" buzzes. Don't count the bitching about bad commercial experiences. People are natural born bitchers. Instead, look for the Holy Grail WOM everyone is buzzing about.

Yes, Seth Godin posts frequently about "remarkable" products and services. But he does so because he's the originator - and thus benefits - from spreading the remarkable meme (very smart). Hugh, Gaping Void, Macleod, blogs about "remarkable" stuff too: the stuff he gets paid to blog about (and there's nothing wrong with that). The rest blog, primarily, about Internet-related stuff: new applications, how to be a good, little blogger, big buyouts, etc.

Where's all of the commercial WOM? Are there no remarkable products and services? Are there only a handful, and thus, to blog about them brings one little social capital? What's going on? Here's my cut: the world is full of products and services that are simply "good enough" for most people.  And "good enough" is a choice. Most people could care less about remarkable soap, toilet paper, Manila file folders, or salad greens.

Don't get me wrong. If you provide superior value - e.g. bagged salad greens - people will certainly try it and perhaps even adopt it, but for cripes sake, stop trying to figure out how to get them to tell all of their friends about it.  "Hey guys.  Have you tried that new hemorrhoid cream?" Instead, figure out how to get them to try it! Discover the desire. Develop something that satisfies that desire.  Elevate their expectation for your brand by creatively communicating its uniqueness and benefit. Become a valued part of their social and/or avocational network (If you fit into one. If not, create one).

George . . . Jack . . . can't we all just get along? As marketing gurus, aren't our jobs glaringly similar? To help organizations understand the evolving nature of customer value - from the customer's perspective - and then to help them best communicate and deliver that value over time (and make a profit doing it). If I'm missing something here, do please let me know (which I'm sure you will).

Posted March 10, 2006
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