General

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I’ve just revised my bio. It was pedantic and academic, and didn’t give a picture of what I’m all about. So, I revised it. Here’s the problem, I have Expert Blindness on this subject. While I think I’ve trained myself over the years to have less expert blindness than most, ...

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Sometimes, exerting a little pressure on customers to get them to use your services again seems perfectly reasonable from the company’s point of view. From a recent Hilton email: .. But Time is Running Out We don’t want to lose you as a valued member. Please act by June 01, ...

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Quick heads up: I don’t know where the word of mouth is on this one. You just HAVE to see the new Harry Potter movie (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) at the IMAX. Turns out that (only at IMAX) the last part is in the most mind-blowing ...

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Did you know that there is a hidden symbol in the FedEx logo? It symbolizes speed and precision. Once you see it, you can’t not see it. I won’t spoil the fun by pointing it out. Spoiler Alert: If you don’t know about it, stop here and look for it. ...

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Most companies focus on beating the competition. Apple focuses on … well, let’s let Steve Jobs say it: Is Apple’s goal to overtake the PC in market share? Jobs said, “Our goal is to make the best personal computers in the world and make products we are proud to sell ...

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In case you missed this hilarious spoof on WOM agent marketing, published over a year ago: From the Onion

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I found the WOMMA (Word of Mouth Marketing Association) conference in Washington last month both exhilarating and disturbing. I’ve been worrying about the current state of word-of-mouth marketing ever since. It was quite a turn-on to see so many people enthusiastic about word-of-mouth marketing. But, after Andy Sernovitz’ inspiring opening ...

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Update: So far, the following prediction was wrong. [See the update at the end] I still think that it will be true, when Apple finally gets around to making their Leopard announcements. It was a big disappointment to not hear anything about Mac at MacWorld Expo. Maybe instead of renaming ...

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Extraordinary review of a new product by an acknowledged expert: Pogue’s review of Zune What an example of the kind of word of mouth no one wants to get for a new product! So, how do you avoid such negative word of mouth? Involve people like David Pogue as consultants ...

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How’s this for a great product sample? It’s hilarious, but the reason I’m posting it is that it’s a great marketing example of giving out a sample in the hope it goes viral, I’m sure. As you probably know, I’m not a fan of gratuitous virality attempts, but I’m happy ...

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Here’s a great example of word-of-mouth marketing, on many levels. Background: I’ve recently gotten into home coffee roasting. It’s a growing trend that you’re going to be hearing a great deal about. The whole home coffee-roasting phenomenon is rife with wonderful word-of-mouth examples and case studies, about which I will ...

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One of the most frequent questions I’m asked in my speeches and interviews is, “Don’t all the word-of-mouth tools, such as feeds, blogs, the proliferation of other web sites, etc. cause chaos? There is so much crap out there, how do people sort it out?” It turns out that WOM ...

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I have been so caught up in what I see as the nobility and purity of the word-of-mouth marketing movement that I’m shocked when people view word-of-mouth marketing as sleazy. I understand where they’re coming from and I sympathize with their strong condemnation of attempts to manipulate consumers, hype unworthy ...

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As I predicted, it happened. I won’t rehash the thousands of blog posts on the subject of running Windows on the Intel Mac. For those who haven’t heard, and for the record, Apple announced yesterday an official version of a program that allows Windows to run on the newer Macs ...

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GM revises 2005 loss to $10.6 bln after charges – Mar. 16, 2006: GM revises ’05 loss $2 billion higher The automaker says actual losses were $10.6 billion; company also says it will delay its annual report due to an accounting error. March 16, 2006: 7:27 PM EST DETROIT (Reuters) ...

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The contest for putting Windows on a Mac that I posted about here has been won. Details here. The implications are enormous, on many levels. First of all, it shows that a desirable outcome can be encouraged by a very interesting kind of word of mouth: user, customer, consumer initiated ...

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Told You So I hate arrogant titles like this one, but I have been shouting about the coming implosion of Big Pharma for several years. Well, it’s here. Consider these three factoids from, again, Forbes: In the last 3 years big pharma have laid off 70,000 folks. Pfizer, Merck, Bristol-Myers ...

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Brand Autopsy Here’s part of what John Moore had to say about the Jack Trout Forbes.com article attacking word-of-mouth marketing. Read the whole thing, here. Jack … it’s not about you. It’s not about how you, or any one marketer or one company for that matter, can control consumers with ...

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I’ve been following an interesting contest, but realized that it has wider, Earth-shaking implications. Here’s the contest, posted by a guy named Colin. See if you can see its wider consequences: “My new Apple MacBook is shipping …. I told my boss that this would replace my IBM desktop and ...

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Word of Mouth is Nuclear Marketing, not Viral Marketing. Word of mouth can spread at explosive rates, not the usual “viral” rates that most people think in terms of. Yes, sometimes, the word spreads slowly at a very small “infection” rate, spread by many contacts, until it reaches a “tipping ...

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