Word of Mouth Marketing or WOM as it’s affectionately referred to in the marketing community has been getting more and more buzz lately. In fact “buzz marketing” is also another term for WOM. Andy Sernovitz, the CEO of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, womma.org, recently wrote an article for MarketingProfs about the 5 Steps of WOM.

Now look at the graph below and think about how many similarities the WOM model has in common with affiliate marketing. Andy starts the article with “Word of mouth has been with us forever. But word of mouth marketing is a new marketing specialty that is as actionable, trackable, and plannable as any other form of marketing.” I have some ideas brewing. Couldn’t a passionate group of affiliates be recruited for a healthy WOM campaign?

The Five Steps in Word of Mouth Marketing – From MarketProfs. Sign-up to read full article.

Step Easy Advanced
1. Talkers Volunteers, customers, bloggers Influencer, agent, evangelism programs
2. Topic Special offer, great service, new product Viral campaign, buzz stunt, new feature
3. Tools Tell-A-Friend form, forwardable email, coupon Message board, online communities, blogs
4. Take Part Join blog & message board conversation Outreach teams, campaigns by PR and customer service
5. Track Blogpulse, Feedster, Technorati, Google Advanced metrics program, trend analysis
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