What is Word of Mouse?
Word of mouse is an electronic version of the time-tested idea of word of mouth. Numerous advertisers have jumped on the word of mouse bandwagon, using a variety of innovative techniques to get their message out to consumers, and businesses all over the world rely on word of mouse to promote good reputations. As electronic media grew in importance in the late 1990s, word of mouse became a new holy grail of marketing, with a host of books, articles, and commentaries on getting good word of mouse. The idea behind word of mouth is that people tend to rely heavily on the opinions of friends, peers, coworkers, and neighbors. Businesses have known for centuries that a bad word of mouth reputation can be acquired very easily, and it is very difficult to get rid of. All a business needs is one person who complains about their service to a friend, and a bad reputation can snowball. Conversely, people who praise a business to friends can create a good word of mouth reputation. In the rise of the
Word of mouse is good old-fashioned word of mouth, but with the ability to spread much faster because of the Internet. Another way to look at it is as advertising you don’t pay for. Before I share with you how to make sure that your business gets strong word of mouse, let me demolish a few myths. Myth 1: Strong Brands Need Memorable Taglines It’s easy to see how the myth about taglines came about. All major brands seem to use them. The world of advertising seems to be full of famous taglines. But when you recommend a brand to a friend, do you ever remember using a tagline, except in jest? What’s far more important is to have an idea that your brand stands for and to allow the advocate of the brand to use his or her own words to express that idea. Myth 2: You Must State Your Business There has been a rush to claim brand names that spell out or imply the business category your company is in. All that achieves is to make your business interchangeable with any other business in your catego
