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WOM Process

As a followup to yesterday's entry about the word-of-mouth (WOM) roundtable, I thought I'd highlight an interesting tidbit in the discussion. Steve Rubel (I think) outlines a four-step process for developing a WOM marketing program:
  1. Find an existing community of users of your product. That community may exist on the Internet (as a group on Myspace or as a newsgroup) or may be a club.
  2. Determine what are they saying about your product. What's the "vibe"?
  3. Engage them in dialog. Enable them to shape or "co-create" the product and its marketing.
  4. Empower them to do things they might not be able to do on their own.

As with all marketing programs, it's important to research the market and have your key messages and strategies in place.

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