Word of Mouth Advertising

There is some overlap in meaning between word of mouth and the following: rumor, gossip, innuendo, and hearsay; however word of mouth is more commonly used to describe positive information being spread rather than negative, although this is not always the case.

Word-of-mouth promotion, also known as buzz marketing and viral advertising, is highly valued by advertisers. It is believed that this form of communication has valuable source credibility.

Research points to individuals being more inclined to believe WOMM than more formal forms of promotion methods; the receiver of word-of-mouth referrals tends to believe that the communicator is speaking honestly and is unlikely to have an ulterior motive (i.e. they are not receiving an incentive for their referrals).

In order to promote and manage word-of-mouth communications, marketers use publicity techniques as well as viral marketing methods to achieve desired behavioral response. Influencer marketing is increasingly used to seed WOMM by targeting key individuals that have authority and a high number of personal connections.

While any marketers places extreme value on word-of-mouth, this has historically been achieved by creating products or services that generate such "buzz" naturally. The relatively new method of WOMM bypasses the need to create satisfied customers, and instead attempts to inject positive "buzz" into conversations directly.

While marketers have always hoped to achieve word-of-mouth, many suggest there are serious ethical concerns in trying to generate word of mouth directly.

Word-of-mouth effects in the life cycle of cultural goods have been mathematically modeled. For evidence as to the conditions under which word-of-mouth communication is effective, see Grewal et al. 2003.