Giving people a reason to talk about your stuff and making it easier for that conversation to take place.

Word of mouth has been with us forever. What's new is the second M – marketing. Word of mouth exists. Word of mouth is natural conversation between real people. Word of mouth marketing is learning to work within this conversation so people are talking about you.

So why are marketers suddenly talking about it? Word of mouth marketing is a new specialty that is as actionable, track-able and plan-able as any other form of marketing. It has evolved from something that just happens to something you can have an influence on. Up until a few years ago, we sort of wished that good word of mouth would happen. You could have a special sale or do some silly publicity stunt and hope people would talk.

Now we have the tools to let us join the conversation. We can work with people who want to talk about us and help their ideas reach a new audience. We can provide a platform so more people hear what our fans are saying. We can use the Internet to give far more visibility to a conversation that was always happening.

We've also gained the ability to track and measure that conversation. Thanks in part to blogs and the Web, we can see who is saying what about us. We can listen to the conversation and understand it. We can figure out who is talking and why they are talking. It's not such a mystery anymore.

It's more than marketing (or maybe not marketing at all)

In many cases, word of mouth marketing isn't actually "marketing" at all. It's about great customer service that makes people want to tell their friends about you. It's about fantastic products that people can't resist showing to everyone.

This is called "organic" word of mouth – word of mouth that springs naturally from the positive qualities of your company. Many experts would argue that this is the only legitimate form of word of mouth. The opposite concept is "amplified" word of mouth – word of mouth that is started by an intentional campaign to get people talking. I like the organic methods better, but I'll talk about all of it here.

I like the idea that consumers reward companies that have earned their respect with great word of mouth. Nothing beats coming up with a product so interesting that people just can't help talking about it. Nothing is better than customers taking it upon themselves to support a business that they just love.

Often, organic word of mouth is created by great product design. When the first Mazda Miata rolled off the assembly line in 1989, it fueled a wave of positive word of mouth based solely on its retro styling, the original in a crop of look-alike, sporty, convertible, '60s-style roadsters. And the cars captured the imagination of men going through midlife crises all over the country. The same word of mouth buzz has been created by Michael Graves' designs for Target and OXO Good Grips utensils.

Organic word of mouth is created by products that get your customers to love you so much that they just can't shut up.

Sometimes the best word of mouth is exceptional customer service – think of the famously generous return policies of Nordstrom or the fact that Enterprise Rent-A-Car will pick you up at home.

The best way to get people talking

Traditional marketing is no longer the safe way to go. It may make you more comfortable, but it is gradually becoming less and less effective for more and more companies. It's time to focus on making customers happy – earning their trust and respect and getting them talking about your stuff.

The rules of the game have changed, but that's good news. It's a great opportunity for marketers, a great new way to engage with customers and forge longer-lasting, more profitable bonds.

The five Ts of word of mouth marketing

Sometimes great word of mouth is an accident. Sometimes it's a well-planned campaign. Either way, there are certain basic elements that need to be in place for word of mouth to spread like crazy. I've studied hundreds of great word of mouth successes, and every single one has the Five Ts.

Each time you start a word of mouth campaign, take a few minutes to go through these five steps and figure out how they fit into what you're selling. It's simpler than you think, and it will guarantee that you'll create word of mouth that's ready to spread.

Talkers: Find the people who like to talk – Are they your customers? Neighborhood moms? Doctors? Bloggers? Think about the people who are most likely to tell a friend about what you are doing. Make sure they know about your new topic of conversation.

Topics: Give them a reason to talk – Give people a reason to talk about you. It doesn't need to be fancy. A special sale, good service, a neat new feature, a better flavor, a funny package (remember the Gateway computers that came in cow-patterned boxes?).

Tools: Help the message spread faster and farther – Do everything you can to make it easy for talkers to pass along your topic. Include postcards and stickers in the box when you ship a package. Put up a chat room so people can talk to each other. Join a blog conversation. Hand out samples. (Did you ever get one of those emails with a "secret" coupon that was supposedly for employees only? Did you forward it?)

Taking Part: Join the conversation – Conversations die out when only one person is talking. When people are talking about you, answer them. Reply to their email. Comment on blogs that write about you. Send a lot of thank-you notes.

Tracking: Measure and understand what people are saying – The word of mouth conversation is the best feedback you're ever going to get. It's far better than any other kind of market research, because it is the authentic voice of the consumer. Hear what people are saying, learn from it, and use it to be a better company.

It comes down to this: Satisfied, interested people will say good things about you. It doesn't take much more than that. Understand this concept, devote yourself to it, and you will be a successful word of mouth marketer.

From Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking by Andy Sernovitz. Learn more at http://www.wordofmouthbook.com.

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