The ruleless Word Of Mouth can be off- and online

In Brains on Fire Spike Jones claims that “Remember, 90% of word of mouth happens OFFLINE”

However as there are both:
- Word of mouth offline
- Word of mouth online
Word Of Mouth can be initiated or ignited by messages or events offline and online. Once the fire started it can spread both online and offline.

The real stories are not solely created offline or online as many stories can be online or offline and both can even exist side-by-side.

The medium used to spread is decided by the public, not by the creators, the originators or the starters.

The ignition and spreading of Word Of Mouth

It is not solely the segregation of online or offline as the word of mouth can ignite, come from many different sources and media not necessarily on- or offline.
The spreading of the Word Of Mouth Word can happen:
- Oral communications: face-to-face, remote: telephone or mobile.
- Verbal broadcast communications: radio.
- Written printed communications, written online communications, written mobile communications like texting/sms
- Visual communications in print, visual communication online
- Audio-visual communications broadcast like TV.
…All media can contribute to the ignition and the spreading of the Word Of Mouth: not just on- or offline.

Once a word of mouth has started it can crossover from online to offline and visa versa or from verbal face-to-face to mobile texting.

The Rules of Word Of Mouth

The rule is there are no rules for Word of Mouth as each case is different and operates differently.
- No rules
- No secret formula
- No manual

If there were rules then marketing could use to well the word of mouth. Apparently this is not so. A word of mouth campaign stays a unique event with unpredicted outcome and not related to the amount of money invested.

The main rule of word of mouth is the unpredictability.
That’s what it makes them so attractive and so difficult to put in place and to operate.
You can control most parameters and try to influence, but the set of parameters and the timing need to be right which comes down to luck.

And even if the Word of Mouth project gets going and becomes successful, it is to be seen if it will bring additional revenue or just branding.

Did your marketing ever got into a Word of Mouth project?
If so was it any successful?
Did they get any traction?
Did it result in any sales?

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