New research shines light on importance of Word of Mouth Marketing

By Ted Wright

In an era of declining ad views, un-trackable digital marketing initiatives, and fake news, we know that word of mouth is the single most reliable source of brand information. A new UK study confirmed what we’ve already known here at Fizz for more than a decade. According to a new Customer Advocacy Research Report, 51 […]


‘Tis the season for your best word of mouth marketing success

By Ted Wright

When you see the Christmas holly, Word of Mouth gets very jolly! Do you like my poetry? There is actually an important lesson here and maybe that phrase will help you remember the connection between holidays and your Word of Mouth Marketing success! The part of the year between Thanksgiving week and New Year’s Day […]


Here’s a solution to corruption in the influencer marketing space

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 […]


Influencer or Advocate, you make the call.

By Ted Wright

  Every marketer has influencers on their mind today. It appears to be an unavoidable conversation at any meeting or conference. But I think the term “influencer” is overly used to camouflage garden variety advertising. Same kind of messaging and effort. Differences are that the channel you are viewing it on and the people producing […]


Why Word of Mouth Marketing Is A Timeless Strategy

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 […]


My favorite online resources for business and fun

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 […]


Opening a word of mouth conversation with kindness

By Ted Wright

By Scott Jenson Recently, a word of mouth marketing conversation was saved with a bag of cookies. Today I want to show you how conversations and kindness go together. I’ve been working on a program to to raise awareness of the high quality made-to-order food at our client’s chain of convenience stores. Our target audience […]


You’re probably missing this huge word of mouth marketing opportunity

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 […]


Why word of mouth marketing is like great street art

By Ted Wright

I am a huge fan of great street art … you know the exuberant expressions found painted on the sides of buildings and empty concrete spaces in nearly every big city in the world. To me, it is an unbridled and authentic story somebody is expressing to the world. I love it so much, I […]


The skills I look for in word of mouth marketing talent

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 […]


The marketing tactic adoption cycle of life

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 […]


Offline and online word of mouth marketing are not the same

By Ted Wright

By Scott Jenson Online word of mouth online is a much different than offline. You know this, your board of directors knows this, and most certainly consumers know this. So why is there still such an emphasis on social media without an equivalent share of mind spent on offline conversations? It’s not the wrong choice […]


The surprising truth about seasonality and word of mouth marketing

By Ted Wright

By Ted Wright I was asked, “Is there any seasonality factor with word of mouth marketing? Is there a better time of year to do activations?” There is no seasonality for word of mouth because people are always talking. In fact, they may be even talking more over holidays and down times. Holiday seasons can […]


Are Influencer Marketing and Word of Mouth Marketing The Same Thing?

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 […]


Build Your Own Word of Mouth Marketing Strategy

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 […]


Word of mouth marketing and the value of swag

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 […]


Why word of mouth marketing is a long haul

By Ted Wright

By Scott Jenson We’ve all heard the cliché phrase “Rome was not built in a day.” Often used to call for reasonable expectations when something isn’t happening fast enough, and when used in marketing you can be sure that it is attached as an appeal to patience. This phrase is never more relevant than when […]


We’ve been very successful. Is word of mouth marketing necessary?

By Fizz

By Scott Jenson No, WOMM isn’t necessary for your brand or product to be wildly successful, but Word of Mouth is. Revisionist marketers who are in tune with modern consumer behavior understand that the greatest multiplier for brand awareness and equity is engaging advocates to tell your story, and ensuring that they have the story […]


Fyre Fest and the evolution of social media “Influencer”

By Fizz

By Scott Jenson We’ve all heard the stories by now. A young entrepreneur named Billy McFarland planned on throwing the world’s most glamorous music festival on a private island in the Bahamas. The Fyre Festival was introduced to the world through videos and still shots of beautiful Instagram models and “influencers,” and a simple orange […]


DIY WOMM? Sure.

By Ted Wright

By Scott Jenson I sell (insert thing here), how can I use WOMM to sell more stuff to more people? The easy answer is to hire our team of professional Word of Mouth Marketers at Fizz, we’ve created a proprietary system that determines what is unique about your brand and we’re pretty good at doing […]


Why I’m passionate about word of mouth marketing

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 […]


Influencers who take short-cuts should raise red flags

By Ted Wright

By Ted Wright On a long trip to Oman I had a chance to catch up with the news and read about the college entry scandal. An article by Ashely Reece chronicled the social media journey of influencer Olivia Jade Giannulli, daughter of actress Lori Laughlin. A few findings: Red flags Olivia was already the […]


Word of mouth marketing failures: The two fatal flaws

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 […]


How emotional connection ignites Word of Mouth Marketing

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 […]


Three traits of influencers normally overlooked by influencer marketers

By Ted Wright

I know what you’re thinking,  “Who are these elusive Influencers everyone’s always talking about anyway?  What makes them special? How do you know one when you see one?”  And most importantly, “How can I get them interested in my cause?” “Influencer” is a term bandied about a little too loosely these days. In this short video, Ted […]


Why Word of Mouth Marketing matters more than ever

By Ted Wright

A guest post by Mark Schaefer For the last two years, I’ve been immersed in study and research, preparing to write a new book, Marketing Rebellion: The Most Human Company Wins. The process forced me to face some very uncomfortable facts. At the top of the list — our traditional approaches to marketing don’t work […]


Marketing Is Always About Conversation

By Ted Wright

Marketing in today’s America is all about generating conversations between two consumers. Did you see the woman at the Golden Globes with the tray of Fiji water? If not, check out this link first:https://theblast.com/fiji-water-girl-golden-globes-sues-fiji/ All Fiji had to do was pay the girl an outrageous (so it’s talkable), think $1,000,000, sum for the global rights […]


Why Should Marketers Care About Word of Mouth Marketing?

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 […]


Marketing Strategy or Halloween Costume?

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 […]


The clue to word of mouth marketing was in Cluetrain Manifesto

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 […]