Posted By susanharrow on April 24, 2006

They call it: “Word-of-Mouth programs for some of the best products and services in the market today.” But is that just a fancy way to say that buying buzz is ok? Word of mouth marketing has been around a long time–real buzz. www.Bzzagent.com, a firm based in Boston “hires” people (30,000 volunteer brand evangelists – or BzzAgents ) by giving them free samples of products to try and then tell their friends, acquaintances and strangers about. The “testers” say that they like being on the cutting edge of talking about new and exciting stuff.

The question is, is it deceptive? When people love products they talk about them naturally. They want to share a good thing. What if, for example, your friend is waxing poetic about a bzz product ’cause it’s part of the job? Who can we trust if everyone may be marketing something? Will we become a nation of undercover salespeople where one’s trusted word could be corrupted by marketing motives? What do you think?

Category: Marketing & Publicity, Public Relations
Tags: word of mouth