Is Jack Trout at Forbes.com All He’s Cracked Up To Be?

March 27, 2006

By Greg Magnus

Is Word Of Mouth All It's Cracked Up To Be? – Forbes.com With more than 40 years of advertising and marketing experience, Jack Trout still doesn't appear to get it. He states in his recent article,

I certainly would never tell a CEO, "B.J., I just put a big chunk of our budget into word-of-mouth." If you did, all I would say is "good luck."

Yes, Trout is right when he states WOM isn't new, but who believes it is? Adopting "WOM" nomenclature is relatively new, the concept of using electronic as well as offline communication strategies to get people talking about your company or ideas isn't. Measureable results from WOM campaigns are readily available and campaigns can be controlled to a certain extent if your communications are concise, clear, honest and your marketing department knows what they are doing. Trout's recent article at Forbes.com includes several good points, but his conclusions are behind the curve. When implemented and measured properly, WOM is an effective, yet sensible, non-traditional marketing strategy in today's rapidly changing world. Everyone now has a "printing press" and there's no need to worry about a shortage of ink. TAGS: WOM, social networking, word of mouth, Forbes, eoecho

Posted by Greg Magnus | Filed Under A WOM Approach - Word of Mouth 

Comments

No Responses to “Is Jack Trout at Forbes.com All He’s Cracked Up To Be?”

  1. Errol Smith (of the Nanocasting Alliance) on April 3rd, 2006 5:51 pm

    In response to all the chatter about Jack Trout’s comments on word-of-mouth marketing, Jack Trout invited a group of “buzz evangelist” to face off with him on his radio program. Steve Rubel and Rick Murray of Edelman, Emanuel Rosen of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, Seth Godin, Joseph Jaffe and Errol Smith (me….producer of Trout Radio) sat down to deconstruct the buzz around word-of-mouth. I listened to all the arguments before sitting in on the roundtable discussion to end the series and concluded that rumors of Jack’s “passing” are indeed greatly exaggerated… You can hear the interviews at the roundtable wrap up at:

    http://www.jackstreet.com/jackstreet/WJCK-SteveRubelE.cfm

    and the entire series at:

    http://www.troutandpartners.com/radio/Strategy.asp

  2. Greg on April 5th, 2006 6:05 am

    Thanks for the post. I listened to the Podcast summary, which was well done and informative.

    I still fail to see Trout’s understanding of WOM and his statements makes it clear he hasn’t bought into the power of this strategy. He sounds like a smart guy and I’m sure he’s learning, as we all are, about the techniques and methods of analysis.

    WOM is a “strategy” that requires analysis, a managed approach, and sincere interest in the community at hand.

  3. Marketing - Communications - Greg Magnus at eoecho » Fishing for Clarity - Revisiting Jack Trout’s Comments on April 5th, 2006 2:50 pm

    [...] eoecho By Greg Feedbacks on this entry via RSS 2.0 Please leave a Comment or discuss via Trackback! Comments Please Leave aComment! [...]


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