Creating word of mouth hasn't changed, as always it is about creating engaging content, products or services that are worth talking about. It's also about being involved in news worthy causes or challenging the norm in some way. Viral and buzz marketing are just two attempts at engaging people but any brand worth its salt would be wise to not get to hyped in thinking that the internet is the only channel to generate true wom.

Brand managers everywhere have a duty to remain channel agnostic, and concentrate on the ability to have the conversation being the guide to the most effective messaging channels.

It is good to note print is not dead and the radio still has an audience and advocates and thus a value, the internet is a new channel not a replacement for everything that has come before it.

A TRUSTe study released today shows that 42% of people clean out their cookies on a weekly basis, and only 15% of survey respondents reporting that they never clean them out and instead wait for them to naturally expire. Where as this report is not fully unexpected, it is a blow to behavioral target marketing companies who are now left scratching their heads about exactly how they are going to collect the data they need to serve up relevant ads.

We use cookies all the time in web-development for many reasons, not limited to storing sessions where logins are required to indeed target ads. The information received is anonymous and yet privacy concerns prevail with users who do not fully understand the technologies and the benefits cookies can bring to their online experience.

The report suggests that many companies are now trying to harvest personal data posted online by users in social networking profiles and other rich informational properties such as forums, which to me at least is far more big brother and personal than cookies and does bring forth concerns of privacy online.

Practicality aside!

This would be a hard standard to achieve, but I for one would be in support of some kind of database of cookies with quality control and transparency of their purpose to then be shared with adware software companies so that they could discern which cookies to leave in place. We could also work towards browsers and operating systems policing cookies as an outsourced service rather like we do for viruses today. Permission based cookies could then be stored separately and be less prone to being deleted during traditional weekly maintenance of a users system.

The silver lining to this report is that a growing amount of people have positive outlooks on only being shown ads they will find interesting.

Satmetrix, a leading enterprise customer loyalty metrics firm has tackled and started researching the economic viability of Word-of-Mouth Marketing. The results look promising for well planned strategic WOM marketing campaigns and gives definite warnings for poorly deployed ones.

"When customer experiences are positive -- and loyalty is high -- we expect customers to spend more on average and to generate new business via positive word-of-mouth. Conversely, when customer experience is poor and loyalty is low -- we expect lower purchasing value (perhaps even defection), as well as the potential loss of new business through negative word-of-mouth," said Dr. Vince Nowinski, principal methodologist at Satmetrix.

Applying this framework to the computer hardware industry, Nowinski and his team discovered that each Promoter was worth approximately $2,634. Promoters spend $203 more than the industry average of $1,615 and account for roughly one-half of a new customer acquired through positive word-of-mouth. In comparison, each Detractor can cost a business 0.84 percent of a new customer through negative word-of-mouth. The lost business associated with their negative referrals subtracts nearly the entire value of their purchase behavior, leaving a total customer worth for Detractors of just over $100, accounting for $2,500 less than Promoters.

"While Detractors spend lags the average customer by only $158, their negative word-of-mouth behavior represents a significant hidden cost and net drain on future revenue," said Nowinski.

What becomes evident in this report is that companies who attain the true "conversation" with their audience and who can cultivate a transparent relationship based on common interests (Their products and services) will reduce detractors as this new ethical approach matures.

I am still left with many questions though...Was there a difference between media channels? Did offline relationships produce fewer detractors and more promoters? Is there a definable personality trait that separates detractors from promoters? Moreover, who is working on cultivating relationships with detractors to turn them in to promoters? Detractors are obviously passionate about their role in spreading the word about a particular company, wouldn't they make great advocates!

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