Piaras Kelly PR - Public Relations in Ireland

If you’re Bob Marley you’re there to spread a message, but very few people can do that effectively without shoving opinions down someone’s throat - Jon Fishman

There seems to be a big debate at the moment about word-of-mouth marketing, buzz marketing, stealth marketing or whatever synonymous term you use to describe the technique. PR Week has a good article encapsulating the majority of the debate (via Constantin Basturea). Due to the nature of word-of-mouth marketing and the issue of trust surrounding it, I think this debate will raise its ugly head on numerous occasions over the next few years.

Apparently there is a distinct between all there terms I used in my opening plan. To be honest I only see two terms, word-of-mouth marketing and stealth marketing. The difference between the two techniques is the honesty and disclosure that accompanies word-of-mouth marketing. If an organisation has to resort to stealth marketing, then I don’t think that their message was ever going to spread in the first place.

Hugh MacLeod scored another hole-in-one with a recent post entitled ‘The future of marketing is being able to create stories other people will want to tell.‘ Then all one has to do is identify the key channels for spreading this message and then all things considered, the message should spread.

I’ve heard of one Irish PR firm that claims to engage in word-of-mouth marketing. Their activities include sending their staff to a busy bar, ordering a specific beverage and talking about it in positive terms or sending an actor out with a camera and getting people to photograph him beside landmarks. Overlooking the stealth marketing aspect of both initiatives, the flaw in their strategy is there for all to see. If they honestly think this is how to seed a message or get it to spread then they need their heads examined.

As MacLeod says “Reduced to the most basic level, the main reason English Cut is currently growing as a business is simply because people like telling the story to other people. Because they like telling it, that’s what they do. Ergo, the story spreads.” If you’re not able to create a good story, then you may as well forget about becoming the next Dan Brown!

Technorati Tags: Buzz Marketing, Hugh MacLeod, Ireland, Piaras Kelly, Stealth Marketing, Word-of-mouth