Mouth is best delivery vehicle for Word of Mouth marketing

Steve Safran December 16th, 2006

I admit to being a bit befuddled over the fuss people are making over WOM or “Word of Mouth” marketing. Of course I trust my friends’ advice more than your company’s advice. They’re my friends. Still, there’s a whole advertising concept out there full of people who are smarter than I, so I’m not about to knock an entire marketing discipline. (Not, at least, until I can find out if there’s any money in it for me.) Still, I look at a graph like this (Spoken Word of Mouth Conversations? Is the military in charge of this language?) and I wonder if Barnum is nearby:

Memo to Cory: In 2007, mouths will present strong opportunities in word-of-mouth space. Are we capturing enough mouths? Speaking - catching on among 18-24s? Chart attached says “faces” are promising mouth-intensive storage medium. Also big: “phones.” Should we invest in both platforms? Other tongue/windpipe/uvula-related delivery mechanisms in our ‘07 release? Please advise by having a friend tell me. -SAS