Beyond Buzz: The Next Generation of Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Brain-based learning experts have found that the four factors in making meaning are relevancy, emotions, context, and pattern making.

“Consumer identification exists when a consumer feels a connection to a company and feels like he or she is part of a community of like-minded customers,” said the authors of the study.

have a point of view that provokes discussion around ideas that are relevant to customers, fit within their frame of context, and move them emotionally.

Beliefs and ideas that help build understanding, provoke conversation—and are something a person would actually say

One note about relevancy: Sometimes we become too attached to the products and services we’re marketing. So we need to always step back from time to time and understand our customers’ point of view—what is relevant to them? (Chapter 7 provides seven ways to do this.) The more people see the relevancy connection, the greater the likelihood that they

Our job as marketers is to help people see the patterns, to help them connect with ideas.

To engage people, we have to be willing to share our beliefs, perspectives, and opinions.

If your marketing doesn’t lead to some sort of dialogue with customers and market influencers, it’s not effective marketing.

A point of view is not meant to be the headline of a Web site or the tag line on business cards. It’s not meant to explain the company’s entire value proposition. It is meant to get people thinking and talking.

“Consumers spend twice as much of their personal income on entertainment as they did just five years ago. The market turmoil lies in the fact that how consumers want their entertainment and how companies have traditionally delivered it is not just