WOMMA – Word of Mouth Marketing Association

I knew that word of mouth marketing was big. I knew that it worked. I never knew that there was a whole association devoted to it! I’ve written blogs and articles about word of mouth marketing, but this is the first time I’ve run across the association’s Web site (www.womma.org). Either I’m completely out of touch or completely oblivious.

The Association began in 2004, so I guess I’m not totally out of the loop since it’s still young. Whew. It all started when Dave Balter, Founder and President of BzzAgent and Pete Blackshaw, Chief Marketing Officer of Intelliseek “were speaking about word of mouth at an advertising industry event in early 2004 when they began discussing the future of word of mouth,” according to WOMMA’s Web site.

This new field was gaining momentum and getting bigger with no trusted source of information from which people could learn about the basics of word of mouth marketing. The field had developed a research component and a marketing component, so an organization was needed to merge the two disciplines “to inform marketers about word of mouth, to promote it and to address major ethical issues.”

Word of Mouth Marketing Ethics
The WOMMA Ethics Code was written by members and released in February 2005. It was the first major issue tackled by WOMMA. “The Code calls for honesty and openness in all WOM marketing, requiring full disclosure for anyone doing word of mouth. The essence of the WOMMA Code comes down to its Honesty ROI:

• Honesty of Relationship: You say who you're speaking for
• Honesty of Opinion: You say what you believe
• Honesty of Identity: You never lie about who you are”

This is just what word of mouth marketers were looking for. Once WOMMA released its Ethics Code, membership soared. Obviously, these people know what marketers, agencies and business owners want.

Word of Mouth Research
WOMMA developed a Research and Metrics Council, which included many major leaders in the industry. In the summer of 2005, the Research Council was quite busy. They

• Released the WOMMA Terminology Framework, the first set of standards for discussing and measuring word of mouth
• Published Measuring Word of Mouth, Vol. 1, a pioneering book collecting cutting-edge articles on the science of word of mouth measurement
• Convened the first Measuring Word of Mouth conference in Chicago, with a standing-room-only crowd

Besides research, WOMMA also educated executives in the industry as well as those around the world with their Web site, blogs, newsletters and white papers.

WOMMA contributes ideas for best practices, training, standards and metrics, and mainstreaming for all who are interested in the word of mouth industry. Members are marketers that use word of mouth to reach out to prospects; agencies; researchers; and offline and online practitioners. If you don’t know exactly what word of mouth marketing entails, the WOMMA Web site has a nicely developed section that explains everything from what it is to types of word of mouth marketing to the philosophy behind it. If you want to better implement word of mouth marketing into your marketing plan, this Web site is the place to be.

Comments

[Jay Ehret]

While WOMMA is a good organization, they are a little expensive for what they offer. They also don't offer many opportunities for their word to spread outside of their events.

You may want to check out the free, Society for Word of Mouth (www.theswom.org). You have the opportunity to interact and ask questions of others also interested in WOM. It was started by the authors of the excellent book: Creating Customer Evangelists.

This month they are hosting SWOMfest in Austin, Texas. It's a fun and affordable WOM conference. Let me just say that the only association I have with this event is that I am paying to attend. Why am I commenting about it? Because I wanted to spread a little word of mouth.