Word Of Mouth Marketing Is Not Putting Words In The Mouths Of Others

Overhype

from the just-saying dept

Over the past few years, there’s been a ton of attention paid to the concept of “word of mouth marketing.” A year ago, we were cracking jokes as we wondered just how the folks behind word of mouth conferences “spread the word” about their events. However, since that time, it seems like the concept of “word of mouth marketing” has taken on a life of its own, with a bunch of true believers. Of course, once it reaches that stage, sometimes things can get carried away. Well known (and deservedly so) PR exec Steve Rubel who obviously spends a lot of time thinking about these things, and has done an amazing job dragging a lot of old world PR people into the internet age, has called out “marcom guru” Jack Trout, for writing an article that supposedly trashes the concept of word of mouth marketing. From reading Rubel’s post, it does, indeed, seem like perhaps Trout is simply pining for the “old ways” and dismissing an idea he doesn’t get.

However, reading through the original column by Jack Trout, it appears that the main point of his argument may have been missed in Rubel’s reading. He isn’t trashing word of mouth marketing in the slightest. If anything, he appears to understand it much better than many of those who now proclaim themselves to be in the word of mouth marketing “industry” (yes, a scary thought). What Trout is saying isn’t that word of mouth marketing is bad — but that it shouldn’t be an industry at all, because as soon as it becomes an industry, you get people (and companies) who are trying to control and manipulate it — and that doesn’t work. Trout is pointing out that word of mouth marketing works because it’s not about marketing and PR people, and when they get involved, they tend to muck it up. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t watch what’s going on and respond to things, but to focus solely on word of mouth marketing is a strategy doomed to fail. Instead, Trout seems to be suggesting, you should focus on building great products and making sure people know about them (what he calls advertising, but which encompasses a lot more than traditional advertising). If you do that, the word of mouth marketing part should come for free… not from some word of mouth marketing industry expert.