The word on "word of mouth"

Everyone's heard of word of mouth marketing...but do you really know what it's all about? Here's a great article from the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA).

Word of mouth is the most exciting way to spread ideas and the current explosion in consumer generated media is taking it in new directions all the time. Here are the brass tacks (from WOMMA):

All word of mouth marketing techniques are based on the concepts of customer satisfaction, two-way dialog, and transparent communications. The basic elements are:

• Educating people about your products and services
• Identifying people most likely to share their opinions
• Providing tools that make it easier to share information
• Studying how, where, and when opinions are being shared
• Listening and responding to supporters, detractors, and neutrals

Sounds easy doesn't it? Don't be fooled; nuturing, amplifying and quantifying word of mouth is the holy grail of marketing...but at least the web is making it much easier now than ever before.