FreeThink: The Tao of WOM

FreeThink: a blog published by Maxwell PR

The Tao of WOM

I had the privilege of attending the first ever Word of Mouth Marketing Association conference in March. It was a dizzying two days of new ideas and case studies as we marketers struggled to wrap our heads around this new phenomenon called Word of Mouth, or WOM for short. I left feeling inspired and described the experience to my colleagues as "having found religion." It was a gathering of the faithful, committed to exploring this new path of marketing enlightenment.

I found religion, but like many of the faithful am finding it difficult to put my new faith into practice. The Association itself is leading the charge to define WOM and create ethical standards, while we conference attendees have gone off into the world to see if we could apply what we had learned. It's been challenging given that no one has agreed yet on a definition of WOM. Try explaining an exciting new WOM customer program to a client who just wants to know how much it will cost and the ROI.

Even the conference's keynote speakers are struggling with this new phenomenon. Al Rosen attempts to clear up the "Five Misconceptions of Buzz Marketing" in a recent blog entry, and admits "If you're confused about the terminology of word-of-mouth marketing, I have a little confession to make: sometimes I get confused about it myself." Thank you Mr. Rosen. I'm glad we are all learning this together. I guess that makes this less of a "religion" (no dogma or holy leader as of yet) and more of a "spiritual journey." Whatever it is, it's not a fad and we at Maxwell PR Studio are proud to be creating innovative programs that help our clients build communities.
--Jen Scott

posted on May 18, 2005

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	This spirited, open forum by Maxwell PR staff members, studio mates and colleagues features people who are, in our opinion, doing the right things to get people talking. You'll see us rave about organizations building communities and rant about those who are missing obvious opportunities. We sprinkle in a little marketing and PR rhetoric from time to time for extra vigor and enthusiasm, and will share observations and insight based on our own experience honing our craft every day.

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