Comments on: Networking: The Angel Sitting on WOM’s Shoulder

By: olivier blanchard

olivier blanchard — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 02:57:36 +0000

The WOM/WOMM thing is clear enough, but I’m still not 100% on certain scenarios. Here’s an example:
Company X is planning a promotion. Their marketing department plans to rely heavily on WOMM to spread the word. An employee of company X tells all of her friends about the promotion WITHOUT being prompted to do so by her bosses or colleagues. It is NOT part of her company’s WOMM campaign, which she knows nothing about… but word of the promotion spreads through her network and results in thousands of dollars in sales.
Remember that prompted or not, as an employee, she is by definition an agent of her company.
To add another layer of complexity, let’s say that a third of the company’s workforce does the same thing, again without being asked to do so.
Is this an example of WOM or WOMM?

By: Spike Jones

Spike Jones — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 21:35:53 +0000

Thanks for the reply, Lewis. A member of our team actually sits on the board of directors of WOMMA (of which we are also a member). And from their terminology framework:
WOM (Word of Mouth) – The act of a consumer creating and/or distributing marketing-relevant information to another consumer.
WOMM (Word of Mouth Marketing) – An effort by an organization to affect how consumers create and/or distribute marketing-relevant information to other consumers.
—-
You can find the full document at http://www.womma.org/terminology.htm
Sorry to split hairs. I think that this WOMM world is still so new that the sooner we all agree on the specifics, the better.
Great post.

By: Lewis Green

Lewis Green — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 17:46:15 +0000

Thank you, Spike. Your acronym is more specific; however, all the marketers I know personally and whose work I read use WOM to describe the tool, not WOMM. Of course, there is the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, WOMMA, but even they use WOM to describe the strategies and applicable tactics.

By: Spike Jones

Spike Jones — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 12:50:32 +0000

Lewis, I agree with everything you and Jonathan are saying, except one: you’re talking about Word of Mouth MARKETING – not Word of Mouth. WOM is the part that does just happen. WOMM is the part that’s crafted.