FreeThink: PR 2.0

FreeThink: a blog published by Maxwell PR

PR 2.0

What is Word of Mouth marketing? After attending four WOMMA conferences you'd think I'd be able to answer that clearly. The most authoritative answer, as oftwo weeks ago, is in PQ Media's study on the size of the industry - check it out to learn how they defined and measured it.

As for how we think about it at Maxwell PR, we take a pretty agnostic view of it. I can't imagine us ever saying to a client "you need a word of mouth marketing program." That's just creating a new silo and we're against that. In our opinion, WOM should enhance or amplify your marketing efforts, just like PR or advertising can do so for a good Corporate social Responsibility (CSR) program. We call ourselves a PR agency (for now) but we rarely work within the tight confines of that box. PR traditionally meant "media relations" and while that's our core work for many clients, it certainly doesn't even begin to define what we do for others.

I started out by asking "how do we define WOM" and ended up asking "how do we define PR". At Maxwell we believe that WOM starts with truly listening to your customers and then developing programs that end up with a message passed from one person to the next. That's not so different from PR, which we see broadly as programs that foster two-way communication between organizations and their target audiences.

Both WOM and PR are changing and expanding rapidly. Rather than dissecting and naming them we're absorbing the best practices of each and putting them to work for our clients.

- Jen Scott

posted on November 26, 2007

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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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