Word Of Mouth Marketing

This is a true story.

It involves a country music star.

And, no, it wasn’t a dark and stormy night.

It was a regular day, not very long ago when I was thoroughly schooled about the twisted nature of the beast called word of mouth marketing. My e-Book cohort and colleague out in California sent a press release via PR Web on behalf of one of his clients. It was, as I said, a regular day just like every other day in sunny California. However on this particular day, from this particular press release, rabid celebrity fans unleashed their latent fury on an unsuspecting group of marketers.

The press release was sent on behalf of a music teacher and voice coach in LA, who sang backup for LeAnn Rimes on an episode of a television show early in her career. The press release, of course, mentioned this fact which in and of itself wasn’t inflammatory. What incited a near riot on the fan forum, however, was the misinterpretation of the release by one of Rimes’ more…shall we say…“excitable” fans who failed to read the fine print. She reported back to the forum site that LeAnn Rimes had in fact been given voice lessons by this particular teacher or worse that the teacher was claiming she’d given voice lessons to Rimes who quite adamantly denies ever taking voice lessons from anyone.

That’s when the buzz became a dull roar.

Apparently, when she learned about the supposed claim by music teacher, Rimes chimed in on the forum with her two cents…

I have never met this woman! I have never had voice lessons! My dear friend Ron Anderson taught me how to warm up before going on stage so I would save my voice and not strain anything. How funny, everyone wants to say they taught you how to sing.”

Barbed comments flew all over the forum for a good part of the day. Web traffic to the music teacher's web site spiked from forum members checking her out looking for falsehoods and lies. Then the nasty emails ensued. Rimes fans sent emails directly to ProjectThunder the company responsible for submitting the release on behalf of the music teacher. It was all, of course, on behalf of their beloved country music star.

Wow. Now I have to say I was shocked and so was my colleague over at ProjectThunder. It happened fast. As we were chatting and emailing back and forth about the best route to take and who to contact in the upper echelons of the Rimes camp to dispel the whole myth that seemed to be erupting before our very eyes it occurred to me that this was, in fact, word of mouth marketing at its worst. When word of mouth goes bad, it’s nearly impossible to backtrack. Once a rumor is started a marketer really has no control over it. It can’t be squelched; it’s the voice of the people who carry it on…for better or worse.

The funny thing is that the Rimes fan who first saw the release wasn’t a member of the press corps. She was just a regular, albeit somewhat crazed, fan. First and foremost the fact the press release wound up in her hands is really quite interesting. It is a true testament to the power of a digital press release. With the socialization of the web, press releases can end up in front of literally anyone with an internet connection. Secondly, it got people talking. Even though it was a complete case of mistaken information, the shear number of people talking about the release compelled the celebrity (Rimes) to take a stance, act and even make a statement. That might be even bigger. Instead of the influence coming from the top down, it was flipped around.

Maybe small really is the new big. The web gives the small guys, the independent bloggers, anyone who posts on a forum…really any person with something to say the opportunity to be an influencer. That really switches up the current marketing world-view of how information is disseminated and passed from the "classes" to the "masses."

Just so you know, the whole case of mistaken information was cleared up. ProjectThunder was able to speak with Rimes via her blackberry. Rimes did reassess her statement, once she realized the mistake, and wished the music teacher well in her endeavors.  

The buzz died down rather quickly once all the information came to light. It was, after all, buzz. A hot topic for a day. Which makes me wonder…does buzz really work? Once all the hype is gone and the talking ceases, what then?

In the end, it really was one of those learning experiences. And to sum it up I guess you could say everyone ended their day (buzz or no buzz) with their own version of happily…ever…after.

So…many of you have asked, “Why truly twisted?”

(Okay, I do have to admit that by “many” I mean my two avid readers in Seattle and LA who…really love you guys, by the way…are into online marketing)

But, anyway, here’s my answer…

Because marketing is what drives business, it’s what brings people to your storefront, it’s that “thing” that compels people to take action, make a purchase, visit your store, sign up for your service, your event, your special offer or your email newsletter.

However, there’s a problem – a few actually (yeah, you knew I was getting to that). It’s not exciting anymore. Everyone and their brother, cousin, sister, aunt, uncle (distant relatives in general) know about marketing and that it’s important. But we seem to be running out of good ideas. I mean, really, have you seen any excellent marketing campaigns lately? Have you come across anything that is the tried and true marketing of yesteryear that made you want to, well, DO something?

Marketing needs to change. I say, let’s do it but let’s do it different. Let’s be REAL. Let’s twist it up, innovate it, have some fun with it and get it up with a new vision that maybe focuses on the customer (gasp!), focuses on the true benefit your company has to offer and what if, now this is a whopper, what if, it was HONEST? No spin, no hype, just pure, simple, in your face truth. Marketing is just a component of business. However, it can be the instrument of change in how we do business.

Transparency is in. People expect it. If you’re company isn’t transparently honest, they don’t want to do business with you. And, really, why should they? Think about it. Dishonesty or half truths in quality of products, services offered or even company mission statements eventually get out. Word of mouth is huge. It’s a marketer’s most exciting dream or worst nightmare.

New technologies are erupting every day that affect the way we live, where we go to get information, and how we process that information. That coupled with the fact that the people who have the majority of the purchasing power (at least in the US) are changing. And yes, ladies, it is us women who are the burgeoning market demographic full of all sorts of purchasing promise. Businesses still don’t know what to do with that information besides packaging their marketing efforts in a pink cellophane wrapper. But that’s another topic for another day. What I’m saying, here, is that our means of receiving information and disseminating it are changing quickly.

Look around.  It’s a whole new web 2.0 world out there. Social media networks, blogging, podcasting, mobile advertising, video are all in. Marketing hype doesn’t work with these channels. To use them effectively, the marketing message has to be fun, unique, different, something that is tangible and worthwhile.

So, in any event, TrulyTwistedMarketing is my petrie dish, my internet science project where I can test my own marketing strategies and theories and help you work out yours. My goal is for you or anyone who feels motivated to add their two-cents and throw in their own ideas, tips, general angst and triumphs to the mix.