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THE ANATOMY OF BUZZ: HOW TO CREATE WORD-OFMOUTH MARKETING
Emanuel Rosen
Copyright 2000, New York: Doubleday 303 pages + xvi
A COUPLE OF new books on word-of-mouth marketing are on the shelves. One is one of those slim, "It's another year, I'll write another book" offerings. The other book, The Anatomy of Buzz, by Emanuel Rosen, recently retired as vice president of Marketing at Niles Software, is a good, substantive look at creating word-of-mouth excitement about a product or service.
Marketers who have to launch products will find this book particularly interesting. We must successfully launch products into markets that are crowded, use media that are expensive and cluttered, and convince buyers who are cynical about advertising claims. Can buzz save us, and how do we get it?
According to Rosen, buzz is espedally useful if our products are exciting (people will talk about them), innovative (there is something interesting to talk about), complex (people will listen to other people who can help them understand the product), or observable (people tend to ask and talk about things they can see). Some target markets are more susceptible to buzz. Teens are very connected and rely on each other's opinions. Persons age 55 and older are less connected and more confident in their own opinions.
How do we spread positive buzz about our products? We start with hubs, also known as influencers and opinion leaders. Some hubs are obvious. Get Oprah Winfrey...