Unethical Word of Mouth Marketing Strategies:

Any practice intended to deceive people is unethical and should not be used.

"A Good Word of Mouth Marketing campaign does not use and in essence is absolutely opposed to any of the following unethical word of mouth marketing practices or tactics"





Stealth Marketing: Any practice designed to deceive people about the involvement of marketers in a communication.

Shilling: Paying people to talk about (or promote) a product without disclosing that they are working for the company; impersonating a customer.

Infiltration: Using fake identities in an online discussion to promote a product; taking over a web site, conversation, or live event against the wishes or rules set by the proprietor.

Comment Spam: Using automated software ('bots') to post unrelated or inappropriate comments to blogs or other online communities. 

Defacement: Vandalizing or damaging property to promote a product.

Spam: Sending bulk or unsolicited email or other messages without clear, voluntary permission.

Falsification: Knowingly disseminating false or misleading information.

Word of mouth marketing cannot be faked:
Artificial word of mouth marketing is dishonest and ineffective. Word-of-mouth marketing must be based on the honest opinions of real people. We strongly oppose any practice that tries to fake word of mouth. 

* Ethical and responsible word of mouth marketers do not… 
* Impersonate people, shill, or hide their identities 
* Manipulate or corrupt honest opinions Infiltrate, invade, or violate online or offline venues

Marketers must work to oppose and eliminate unethical practices. 

All marketers should be aware that unethical practices are currently used by unscrupulous or uninformed companies. The standards of ethics and consumer protection are evolving rapidly, and many marketers have not yet learned about the current standards (or choose to ignore them). Regardless of intent, such unethical practices jeopardize consumer trust and ultimately harm both consumers and honest marketers. 

We strongly recommend that all companies aggressively review their practices and always insist on the highest level of ethics, and make sure that all of your campaigns comply with a stringent Code of Conduct and Honesty, if you need a hand developing such strategies for your company or Brand, then please get in contact with us we would be delighted to assist, Regards….. Ashe, IT Bloke – London...

Positive Word of Mouth Marketing Strategies:

"Good word of mouth marketing strategies involve finding ways to support satisfied customers and making it easier for them to talk to their friends."





1. Encouraging communications:
* Developing tools to make telling a friend easier 
* Creating forums and feedback tools 
* Working with social networks

2. Giving people something to talk about:
* Information that can be shared or forwarded 
* Advertising, stunts, and other publicity that encourages conversation 
* Working with product development to build WOM elements into products

3. Creating communities and connecting people:
* Creating user groups and fan clubs
* Supporting independent groups that form around your product 
* Hosting discussions and message boards about your products 
* Enabling grassroots organization such as local meetings and other real-world participation

4. Working with influential communities:
* Finding people who are likely to respond to your message 
* Identifying people who are able to influence your target customers
* Informing these individuals about what you do and encouraging them to spread the word 
* Good-faith efforts to support issues and causes that are important to these individuals

5. Creating evangelist or advocate programs:
* Providing recognition and tools to active advocates
* Recruiting new advocates, teaching them about the benefits of your products, and encouraging them to talk about them

6. Researching and listening to customer feedback:
* Tracking online and offline conversations by supporters, detractors, and neutrals
* Listening and responding to both positive and negative conversations

7. Engaging in transparent conversation:
* Encouraging two-way conversations with interested parties
* Creating blogs and other tools to share information
* Participating openly on online blogs and discussions

8. Co-creation and information sharing:
* Involving consumers in marketing and creative (feedback on creative campaigns, allowing them to create commercials, etc.)
* Letting customers 'behind the curtain' to have first access to information and content

Well I hope that has given you a few positive idea's on how to use WOM, if you need any more or some help on how to implement them with you company or brand, please start a conversation with us and we will be glad to assist.  My next post is more on the the Negative, basically a 'What not to do with WOM' and the ethics of WOM, however I will endevour in my usual way to make even this as positive as I can, see you next time, Regards….. Ashe, IT Bloke – London.

WERE BACK:

Welcome back old and new IT Bloke Customers and Readers alike.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your patience, as we put together and launched this our new Multi-Blog website.

Don't worry we have not changed our ethos in anway,  just our site.  We will still be bringing you our own unique and ubiquitous brand of Gonzo Journalism tailored for the Social Media age that you have all come to know and love.  However now our new Multi-Blog site will allow us to expand on that and also make your life easier as it now has three totally separate Blogs/Sections:

HOME PAGE: which is now totally devoted to all things Word of Mouth {W.O.M.} Marketing.

product reviews and of course championing those less known about concepts, causes,  problems and facts that they don't want us to know about!.

IT BLOKE's: is our totally new section, where we will be blogging about the more leisure and cultural orientated side of being an IT Bloke or Blokette for that matter.

And so,  our dear  friends,  bookworms, most noble fellow drinkers, frustrated burglars, affronted policemen, upright citizens with furled umbrellas and secret buccaneering dreams--that seems to be very nearly all for now. It has been nice having you with us, and we hope you will come again, not once, but many time and once again thank you for your patience, we hope you enjoy reading our new site as much as we have enjoyed making it for you.

Kind Regards & Best Wishes ~ Ashe, Toby & all our  Staff & Gonzo Journalists @ IT Bloke - London.....