Smart or Sneaky?

I gave half-a-webinar a few weeks ago, sharing the virtual stage with my good friend John Migliaccio, Director of Research for The MetLife Mature Market Institute. The webinar was produced by IMMN.

It went very well. For a rundown and opinions, Carol Orsborn of FH BOOM blogged it in two installments:

Vintage Word-of-Mouth

Future Firestorm

I've blabbed about WOMM many times. So have a ton of others. But I have to say - the best thing I've ever read on the subject wasn't by an expert or pundit (or Yours Truly). It was an article in last month's Homemakers Magazine. A real life story - both funny and revealing:

Word-of-mouth marketing -- Smart or sneaky?

Getting free products is easy when you're a buzz marketer but can word-of-mouth marketing damage relationships? You decide.
By Bonnie Staring

People have always talked about the things they use, recommending (or dissing) products and services. It's called word of mouth, and advertisers have always known that it's the best kind of marketing their product could have, but they've never tried to control it. Until now.

I'll repeat something I said in my webinar, in my book, on this blog:

When it all comes out in the wash, WOMM will be the best thing to happen to (silly retronym ahead) traditional advertising. Pretty soon, consumers won't believe anybody - even their best friends. They'll realize that they receive the most honest and straightforward information about a product or service from a TV commercial, radio spot, print ad, direct marketing collateral, or product web site. At least we don't lie about who we are and why we're saying what we're saying.

Remember this: Advertising didn't die with the invention of the telephone.