Harnessing word of mouth
The rewards of pursuing excellence in word-of-mouth marketing are huge, and it can
deliver a sustainable and significant competitive edge few other marketing approaches can
match. Yet many marketers avoid it. Some worry that it remains immature as a marketing
discipline compared with the highly sophisticated management of marketing in media
such as television and newspapers. Others are concerned that they can’t draw on extensive
data or elaborate marketing tools fine-tuned over decades. For those unsure about actively
managing word of mouth, consider this: the incremental gain from outperforming
competitors with superior television ads, for example, is relatively small. That’s because
all companies actively manage their traditional marketing activities and all have similar
knowledge. With so few companies actively managing word of mouth—the most powerful
form of marketing—the potential upside is exponentially greater.