WOM doesn't lie

For many marketing people, a new way of persuading audiences to buy is just another, albeit difficult, challenge in a row of developments that started somewhere after the soap powder era.

For some businesses it's just another challenge and a reminder that maybe you can never really persuade a business 'audience' to buy something that doesn't work or they don't need.

For others, and I count myself and the people I work with among them, it's a reminder of why we're in the business and a re-affirmation of a heartfelt belief that we're not in the business of smoke & mirrors but here to quite honestly help communicate the truth, well. And, that if we do that, then the most natural outcome of showing someone the light, is that they pass it on.

So this is great, but no great revelation. Word of mouth was always a channel, but one never focused on dues to the fact that more controllable channels were producing results. But since the soap powder days, those controllable channels have been yielding less and less results. Word of mouth has become almost an underground channel where people can talk to each other without the manipulation of marketing.

Our approach to it therefore has not got to be one of manipulation but one of facilitation, yes?