By Ted Wright
How does a story find its ideal audience? This is a very common question and an important one. If you’re trying to activate word of mouth marketing for the first time, what’s the process to identify the ideal audience targeted for your stories? There is a very old adage in sales and marketing – you […]
By Ted Wright
The heart of the word of mouth marketing process is the company story (or stories!) – something that is authentic, interesting, and relevant to a group of people who can become your customers. At Fizz, we put a tremendous amount of effort into creating these stories. It might involve weeks of research and days of […]
By Ted Wright
I recently saw this headline: Why Your Brand Needs a Signature Story and How to Tell It.” Well, that attracted my attention since that is the centerpiece of what we do at Fizz. The article defines a “signature story” as: “An intriguing, authentic, involving narrative with a strategic message that clarifies or enhances the brand, […]
By Ted Wright
The Wall Street Journal just published an in-depth post about the corruption and lack of accountability in the influencer marketing industry. Is this the beginning of end for this marketing mega-trend? Let’s take a look at this today. The problems with influencers Here are a few highlights from the WSJ feature: Influencer marketing is […]
By Ted Wright
By Ted Wright Like the Roman colosseum, a good Word of Mouth Marketing strategy will stand the test of time. Word of Mouth Marketing may not always be as glamorous, but it’s solid and unbreakable. Defining Word of Mouth Marketing Word of Mouth Marketing has come to mean something broad for many people, so I […]
By Ted Wright
By Ted Wright I thought I’d provide a peek at some of the daily reading I do when I get up every morning. Here are some of the most valuable publications out there. Ben Evans works at Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm in Silicon Valley that invests in software companies. He taps his connections […]
By Ted Wright
By Ted Wright In Mark Schaefer’s excellent book Marketing Rebellion: The Most Human Company Wins, he profiles the workout gear company Lululemon and documents how the retailer has turned their brick and mortar stores into a living world of mouth marketing opportunity. Lululemon has exploded on the scene and bucked almost every retail trend. They […]
By Ted Wright
By Ted Wright The most important thing we do at Fizz is finding ways to transmit customer stories in authentic, interesting, and relevant ways. And while the “what” behind the story is essential, the “who” in the delivery of that story is also critical to our success. So an essential part of our job is […]
By Ted Wright
By Ted Wright My friend Mark Schaefer recently wrote “Marketers flock to the most popular idea until they ruin it.” He is correct, and it prompted me to articulate my Unified Theory of Marketing Tactic Adoption or “UTMSA” for those of you looking for a new conference to start. (To get this most out of […]
By Ted Wright
By Ted Wright I’ve been immersed in the world of word of mouth marketing for more than 20 years. I’ve had a hand in many well-known case studies including Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, Intel Inside, Fireball and AT&T’s move from 3G to 4G. But the one that really made me say “wow” was a project […]
By Ted Wright
By Ted Wright The short answer is… no. But you can’t have one without the other. Influencers like to share things and Word of Mouth Marketing is about sharing stories. Can see why they’re so closely connected? Everybody wants to compare Influencer Marketing vs Word of Mouth Marketing But you need to truly understand both in […]
By Ted Wright
By Ted Wright At its core, Word of Mouth marketing is about people organically sharing stories. So how do we encourage people to share your brand story in a real, natural way? Create a story worth talking about. A good brand story is at the core of building a Word of Mouth Marketing strategy This […]
By Ted Wright
By Ted Wright One of the most all-time most popular marketing ideas is swag – you know those little gifts you hand out at a trade show booth, customer meeting, or industry conference. Today I’m going to save you a lot of time and money by telling you the truth about the value of swag […]
By Ted Wright
By Ted Wright One of my proudest achievements is writing the word of mouth marketing book Fizz: Harness the Power of Word of Mouth Marketing to Drive Brand Growth. Although it was written a few years ago, it stands the test of time because, in fact, the fundamentals of word of mouth marketing are timeless. […]
By Ted Wright
By Ted Wright When Ronald Reagan came out of the Reykjavik Nuclear Arms Summit with Gorbachev, he said about the agreement, “We will trust, but we will verify.” I think that is a great business lesson, too. It’s a great rule for your employees, for your customers, for your marketing. Say you’re working with a […]
By Ted Wright
By Ted Wright I’ve never met a business leader who told me they had too much money for marketing. Luckily, smart leaders using Word of Mouth Marketing can depend on influencers to cost-effectively carry their story. Word of Mouth Marketing is all about sparking conversations, and most companies already have marketing materials that point to […]
By Ted Wright
By Ted Wright If your company has been following a traditional marketing path for awhile, getting started with a Word of Mouth Marketing process may take an adjustment of your mindset. There is no such thing as a grassroots change of a company culture. Most companies like sticking with the playbook they’re used to, because, […]
By Ted Wright
By Ted Wright I’ve discussed word of mouth marketing with hundreds of companies and there are certainly patterns you can see where it works and where it doesn’t. Here are the three ideal organizational requirements for successful word of mouth marketing: 1. Openness to innovation You have to like to try to do new things. […]
By Ted Wright
By Ted Wright I could have gone a lot of different ways in my career, but I wanted to talk a little today about why I have devoted my professional life to the craft of word of mouth marketing. Bottom line … It’s just so cool! I think people are very interesting, and I think […]
By Ted Wright
By Ted Wright Today is the birthday of Pluto and I thought it would be fun to explain why the foundational principles of word of mouth marketing are exactly like discovering a planet. Not the Disney dog, although he is sort of cool too. The existence of an unknown ninth planet was first proposed by […]
By Ted Wright
By Ted Wright Many companies try to create word of mouth marketing efforts on their own, and they should. As I describe in my book, Fizz, with focus, discipline and a little practice, a word of mouth marketing strategy is within reach of almost any business willing to commit to the effort. But when WOMM […]
By Ted Wright
By Ted Wright I have true admiration for Gwyneth Paltrow. I am deeply in love with how she is using her advocate personality to create an authentic and trusted business. Gwyneth is building her company goop based on her ability to share things she loves. And we pay attention to her because we have this […]
By Ted Wright
In this short video, Ted Wright discusses the efficacy of word of mouth marketing as a strategy on low-value items versus high value items. How would word of mouth marketing impact the purchase of a bottle of water? Of a college education? An interesting view of purchase price as a factor in the word of […]
By Ted Wright
If your company has been following a traditional marketing path for awhile, getting started with a Word of Mouth Marketing process may take an adjustment of your mindset. There is no such thing as a grassroots change of a company culture. Most companies like sticking with the playbook they’re used to, because, let’s face it, […]
By Ted Wright
By Ted Wright While trust in companies and advertising is on the decline, trust in friends, experts, and entrepreneurs is up. People trust people. If Word of Mouth Marketing has always worked so well, why aren’t more business professionals using it? Simple because Word of Mouth Marketing is hard work. More time. More effort. It’s also […]
By Ted Wright
By Ted Wright As times change, company strategies should too. Many have adopted social media marketing in recent years, but Word of Mouth Marketing, when done right, is one strategy every company has access to, and should experiment with. If you’re looking for a guaranteed overnight spike in business, you may want to find another […]
By Ted Wright
By Ted Wright It’s official, Influencer Marketing is dead. When Urban Outfitters makes fun of the marketing strategy you sold just six months ago as “The NEW New Thing,” you have problems. Debate me in the comments if you’d like, but I don’t want to be the person on stage when the SVP of Marketing […]
By Ted Wright
By Ted Wright As you’ve heard me say many times before, Word of Mouth Marketing at it’s core is all about sharing stories. The more people share your story, the larger the impact it can make. Also at its core, Word of Mouth marketing is about people organically sharing stories. So, without being pushy, how […]
By Ted Wright
By Ted Wright In 1999, a few friends were chatting online about the inevitable destiny of business and the internet. They believed that companies would have to humble themselves and show a more human face to the world to survive in this new space driven by human conversations. The friendly conversation turned into a blog […]
By Ted Wright
Appreciating Word of Mouth Marketing may take a re-set of your view of how business works. I love sharing this example of what Word of Mouth Marketing looks like “in the wild.” Earlier this year, I was at a break in a meeting when a friend turned to me and asked me if I had […]