WOMMA? Yo’ Momma!
Ah, here’s another one of those things that confuses the heck out of non-marketers (and we wonder why we get so little respect sometimes.) A bunch of the fellas in blogville are getting into a tussle over marketing expert Jack Trout’s column Is Word of Mouth All It’s Cracked Up to Be? in that hotbed of innovative, progressive thinking, Forbes magazine. (Full disclosure: I read Forbes, even enjoy/learn from many of the articles. But this is also the pub with columnists who make statements like, “We’ll never run out of natural resources.” Alrighty then.)
Seems Mr. Trout, who’s been writing good stuff for forty years, thinks WOM (Word-of-Mouth) is just a new label on an old thing. And, he’s right. We humans have always talked about what we like (and don’t like) to each other. And, we tend to prize personal recommendations far above advertising messages, no matter how creative those messages. Well, so far, so good, right on, Jack my man!
But he dissed WOMMA (Word-Of-Mouth Marketing Association) and ohhhh boy! Hats got turned ’round, sleeves were rolled up, and the “Yo Mammas” started.
One big flamer point of contention is his statement:
“Now for the really bad news. There’s no way to control that word-of-mouth. Do I want to give up control and let consumers take over my campaign? No way. They aren’t getting paid based on how many widgets get sold. If I go to all this trouble developing a positioning strategy for my product, I want to see that message delivered. Buzz can get your name mentioned but you can’t depend on much else. Not too many mouths will do a stand-up commercial about your product vs. its competitor. Nor will they check with you in advance on what to say.”
He then goes on to say WOM should be only “one tool in your arsenal” and suggests you surround it with things like - gasp - advertising. I agree with Trout - your marketing tactics should be integrated and you can’t depend on just one thing to be successful. He’s right again when he says that one can’t “buy buzz.”
Where he is really off track is thinking of WOM and what he calls “Internet chatter” in the context of the old-time highly controlled “push” tactic (“Camels are good for your throat.” “Nine out of 10 Doctors recommend…” “Toxic sludge is good for you!” And so on.)
To bottom line it for you: No, you shouldn’t spend dollars on some artificially created, high-gloss “WOM” campaign. People are either going to talk (or not) about you - the best you can do to give them something interesting about which to talk. And, you can’t control what people say, no matter how hard you try. What you should be spending time, energy and dollars on is quality products and service with compelling messages. (Oh, and value the employees, that’s where a lot of that buzz, good and bad, starts.)
Perhaps Mr. Trout is simply showing his age - he is human after all. Maybe he had a bad day (or editor - it happens). I still recommend his books as a good foundation for anyone wanting to learn about marketing. One that I keep handy is his Differentiate or Die : Survival in Our Era of Killer Competition
Read More (if you must): Still missing the boat on WOM? (Some entertaining writing, if nothing else. The experts are all riled up!)
Related Post: Experts Don’t Know Everything.
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March 8th, 2006 at 4:20 pm
M - I’ve been round on this myself. WOMMA - do we really need an association for ever damn thing? WOM seems very similar to “seeding” to me, and that goes back into advertising history a ways, don’t you think?
The only new deal here is the velocity with which we, as consumers, can get the word out. The opinion leaders (hubs) can spread word through the internet at blinding speed. Without that, WOMM is simply talking over the backyard fence.
I don’t think Jack Trout is missing anything quite frankly. He’s no dummy and he’s not that out of touch. My guess is that it was his way of pushing back at those who insist WOMM opens a whole new marketing world. After all, people are at the root of marketing and they haven’t changed all that much. Companies still maintain control over their branding and marketing because they are the ones making and launching the product.
That’s my $.02 anyway.
March 8th, 2006 at 11:14 pm
WOM Kung Fu?…
What’s interesting about the whole Jack Trout hornets’ nest rattling article about WOM deal isn’t so much that some of us prefer the traditional “command & control” marketing model over more authentic open source marketing models, but that a good….
March 9th, 2006 at 6:52 am
Mary, I’m with you. The world is changing and I’m personally very happy to see some of the pack left behind. Makes it easier for the rest of us to run off with the prize
March 9th, 2006 at 7:07 pm
Bruce, Who knows? You could be right. Hmmm. Trout certainly got a lot of buzz out of all this scuffling…Hmmmm.
March 13th, 2006 at 10:22 am
Bruce said:
“The only new deal here is the velocity with which we, as consumers, can get the word out.”
Great point Bruce, but why say ‘only’? Velocity’s a pretty big deal. Just about any CEO or sales exec/manager would jump at the opportunity to shorten the sale’s cycle. That’s one element of reaching a tipping point in market growth.
My background is a pretty balanced mix of experience as a Creative Director and as a Marketing Director. So, those on either side who claim mutual exclusion leave me shaking my head. I agree with Jack Trout that this is one of the weapons you should add to your arsenal, but it’s not the ONLY weapon you carry.
Still, based on his statements, he seems to believe it is more of a bow & arrow than a bazooka. He may be underestimating its importance and potency.
March 13th, 2006 at 10:35 am
I seem to recall the British Empire at the peak of its power got soundly thrashed by bow and arrows, used by the “primitive” Zulu. It’s not just the tool (or weapon, if you will) it’s who is using it and where.
March 15th, 2006 at 8:53 pm
Dustin - I agree with you, “only” was a poor choice on my part. Maybe I just have a hard time believing that good ol’ Jack is missing the point. After all, I get it and I’m no F’ing genius. He has it all over me in marketing saavy. It’s not Rocket Surgery you know.
March 16th, 2006 at 8:24 am
Bruce,
Not rocket surgery - or brain science either, heh? Shhhh! Our clients might hear you!
But seriously folks, I think Mr. Trout may well just have had it up to here and over to there with all the marketing speak and navel gazing. While I still take issue with his perspective with control - I can well relate to getting tired of all the noise and “debate.” I have to wade through all this stuff for a living, and I get sick of it. I can only imagine what non-marketers make of it. Net-net - there’s room for all types of marketing tactics, depending on your location, target market, budget, type of business, etc. etc.
The magical mystical answer to marketing really all comes down to: Say what you’ll do; Do what you say. If you’re doing it right, you won’t even realize you’re “marketing.”
March 17th, 2006 at 2:14 pm
Wow. I don’t know which day I was more sad the one when I found out that Santa Claus was not real or today, the day that I found out one of my marketing heroes, Jack Trout, was no longer innovative. I’m really upset. If there comes a point in the life of Jack Trout where he “just doesn’t get it” anymore what hope is there for any of us mere mortals?
With all of the data out there clearly saying that word of mouth is what drives sales and adoption in the United States and that broadcast media (TV, radio, newspapers, magazines) is rapidly losing what little power to move markets it still retained it is beyond me how anyone could doubt the power that an organized word of mouth campaign could have on the life of a brand. Word of mouth isn’t confusing at all. Simply, it is people telling people stories about brands or services that they have used or heard about. What is confusing about this? Organizing word of mouth campaigns might not seem revolutionary or “new” to a marketing god like Jack Trout but there are lots of companies out there that have clearly gotten away from this effective marketing discipline and spent millions or billions on communication channels that are less and less effective over time.
With tips like, “A third-party endorsement of your product has always been the Holy Grail”, “Buzz can kill you if you don’t have the right product” and “You just can’t buy mouths the way you can buy media” we’d all be silly not to listen to Jack. Right? So let’s all follow Jack’s suggestion and keep shoveling money into advertising because it’s been proven to be so effective in today’s marketplace.
On a personal note, for my friends who are reading this, the day that I publish or even write a paragraph bemoaning the fact that I have to learn new vocabulary about anything much less my chosen profession please take me to my local golf course, show me to the first tee, take the keys to the office out of my hands and wish me luck. My remaining employees will thank you for it.
To paraphrase my hero, it’s a sad day when I could even think about telling one of my CEO clients , “You just put a big chunk of money into hiring Jack Trout? Good luck”. How very sad I must feel today.
Ted Wright
Partner, Liquid Intelligence
Atlanta, Georgia
March 17th, 2006 at 5:37 pm
Ted,
I’m sorry to tell you this - but the tooth fairy isn’t real either And that big Bunny with the eggs…Nope, not that either.
I’m all for learning new things and new ways of doing things. As long as they’re really “new” and not just exercises in semantics and navel gazing.
Thanks for your comments and drop by anytime.
April 3rd, 2006 at 4:08 pm
In response to all the chatter about Jack Trout’s comments on word-of-mouth marketing, Jack Trout invited a group of “buzz evangelist” to face off with him on his radio program. Steve Rubel and Rick Murray of Edelman, Emanuel Rosen of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, Seth Godin, Joseph Jaffe and Errol Smith (me….producer of Trout Radio) sat down to deconstruct the buzz around word-of-mouth. I listened to all the arguments before sitting in on the roundtable discussion to end the series and concluded that rumors of Jack’s “passing” are indeed greatly exaggerated… You can hear the interviews at the roundtable wrap up at:
http://www.jackstreet.com/jackstreet/WJCK-SteveRubelE.cfm
and the entire series at:
http://www.troutandpartners.com/radio/Strategy.asp