Chapter 27
There Is No Word-of-Mouth “Marketing”
Pay close attention to Stephanie's story:
Roger's feet get cold easily, so I bought him a pair of sheepskin slippers. He loved them, but it wasn't long before the wool lining started wearing off. So I called Lands' End to see if I could get them replaced under warranty. The lady I talked to was very nice, but she couldn't find any record of my purchase, and she couldn't figure out which slippers I was describing. But, she cheerfully told me that she'd be happy to exchange them, and gave me a return authorization. I was pretty excited when I told Roger that Lands' End had agreed to replace his slippers even though I couldn't find the sales receipt. He told me that was because I bought those slippers from L.L. Bean.
Stephanie tells her story well. People laugh at it. It's the kind of story that people tell each other daily. It's the kind of story likely to be repeated by people who don't know either Stephanie or Roger.
There's a critical lesson, though, in Stephanie's story. Did you catch it? No problem. We'll come back to it in a minute.
Stephanie's story is an example of word-of-mouth.
It's not, however, an example of word-of-mouth “marketing” (WOMMA).
And apologies to WOMMA aside, I'm not convinced that word-of-mouth marketing exists.
Why? Because adding the word marketing assumes that it's something the business causes to happen. Word-of-mouth may be influenced by business, but by its very nature it can never be controlled. ...
