Todd Tweedy has launched Boldmouth.com a new word of mouth (WOM)marketing services consultancy that differentiates WOM from Buzz marketing by virtue of the former being authentic and the latter being contrived.
Todd says his new firm will recognize customer interests and use them to attempt to "create word-of-mouth moments. "
Real word-of-mouth marketing is about sharing advice as well as product and service recommendations. These informal and typically person-to-person dialogs should not to be confused with “buzz marketing” that is nothing more than an attempt to artificially engineer a referral by offering incentives so that “agents” make recommendations on behalf of an organization. Buzz marketing companies don’t create buzz. People that are interested in a product or service create ‘buzz’ using word of mouth,” said Todd.
I've known Todd slightly for a long time and I trust him. It will be interesting to watch how his new enterprise emerges. I have long struggled to keep words like viral and buzz out of what I've had to say about conversational marketing, because they are still attempts of companies to push into customer behavior. Word of Mouth to me, works bets when the customer becomes the company champion on his or her own volition.
