Fizz

FIZZ

Harnessing the Power of Word of Mouth Marketing

to Drive Brand Growth

By Ted Wright, CEO of Fizz

If you’ve ridden an Italian scooter in Asia; bought a 4G LTE device; used chocolate milk to recover after a tough workout; or cleaned your carpets with a Bissell sweeper - then you’ve been touched by word-of-mouth.

In a shifting media landscape, there is nothing more powerful than “the conversation.” Recommendations by consumers, friends, and family, talking or sharing through social media can boost your sales and marketing more than any form of traditional advertising. Yet marketing executives are wary of using word-of-mouth marketing campaigns, primarily because they are hard to measure; it’s difficult to show a return on investment; and there’s a general lack of understanding about WOMM (AMA/WOMMA).

Here to make sense of the promise – and navigate the pitfalls – of WOMM is Ted Wright, a WOMM pioneer and author of FIZZ: Harnessing the Power of Word of Mouth Marketing to Drive Brand Growth (McGraw-Hill; HC, $25.00; November 11, 2014). In it, he offers a replicable and remarkably consistent method for using conversations between consumers to sell product in a world where traditional advertising is dead.

Wright has been at the forefront of WOMM since he helped reignite the Pabst Blue Ribbon brand in 2001. After 23 straight years of declining sales, PBR experienced combined annual growth of 55% by 2006 as a direct result of the WOMM program. Wright thought he just got lucky. But then he did it again. And again. Here are the ingredients to make it work for you!

In FIZZ, Wright tackles the power and attributes of influencers; how to create a brand story and deliver it to the most responsive community and develop a brand ambassador program; take advantage of Big Data to stay on top of what is relevant; and real-life case studies of word-of-mouth in action.