Word of mouth is the passing of information by verbal
means, especially recommendations, but also general information, in
an informal, person-to-person manner, rather than by mass media, advertising,
organized publication, or traditional marketing. Word of mouth is typically
considered a spoken communication, although web dialogue, such as blogs,
message boards and emails are often now included in the definition.
On the web, chat and email can contribute to the Buzz factor of internet
searches.
Word of mouth promotion is highly valued by marketers.
It is felt that this form of communication has valuable source credibility.
People are more inclined to believe word of mouth promotion than more
formal forms of promotion because the communicator is unlikely to have
an ulterior motive (ie.: they are not out to sell you something) (for
evidence as to the conditions under which word-of-mouth communication
is effective, see Grewal et al. 2003). Also people tend to believe people
that they know. In order to manufacture word of mouth communications,
marketers use publicity techniques.
