By Emanuel Rosen

First published by Doubleday 2000

Review by Martin Payne

Word of mouth is possibly the most effective form of marketing communications. Possibly it has been largely misunderstood and underused as it may be seen as difficult to control and impossible to measure its effectiveness.

Emanuel Rosen has undertaken an in-depth study into how companies can use word of mouth marketing to help to promote their products. This has become all the more important and "easier" with the development of Internet-based communications tools.

The book is illustrated with numerous examples of brands that have been built in this way such as Palm Pilot, the Blair Witch Project, the iMac and FedEx. This is not to say that they do not utilise traditional forms of marketing communications but word of mouth has been seen to have been particularly instrumental in their success. 

Word of mouth does not replace advertising or public relations but can use other tools to help accelerate its diffusion. The speed of word of mouth may often be a factor which hinders its development for marketers. However, the perceived effectiveness of word of mouth marketing and a possible lack of trust (and declining effectiveness) of traditional marketing communications make the development of "buzz" for a brand essential in today's marketing environment.

Emanuel Rosen starts by explaining exactly what word of mouth refers to and how messages travel between people and "nodes". This helps a company to identify where the mega-hubs are and the type of people, indeed the individuals, that it needs to target directly to help generate word of mouth. Mega hubs are often people in the media, those who are trusted by consumers and help to increase a products sales by mentioning the brand name or being seen to endorse it in some other way. Social and expert hubs may be harder to identify but are the area that marketers have been less focused on in the past. These are people who are often approached because they are knowledgeable about a certain subject and their endorsement will help a product's sales. 

Viral marketing is an example of how companies can help to create buzz. However, effective word of mouth marketing disguises the commercial intent of the marketing message with recommendation by a trusted friend or colleague replacing it. This is what helps to ensure the effectiveness. 

The final section helps the reader to identify how buzz can be developed. This section is somewhat difficult as the nature of buzz means that every case is different. Novelty and having a story to tell are key features of successful word of mouth marketing and so it is possibly less easy to demonstrate how a campaign can be developed, unlike traditional marketing communications. However, there are some issues that marketers have to address and areas that have to be covered when developing an "intended" word of mouth campaign.

This is an essential book for marketers, not just those marketing on-line. It helps to understand how the participation in communities can help a product's diffusion and how effective word of mouth marketing can enable product promotion at very low cost or how it can be integrated with traditional marketing communications.

By Emanuel Rosen

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