http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SqJz0NgnnE

The ad was designed to be a part of a viral marketing campaign for Gatorade. The ad was pulled however when Gatorade decided it wanted to pursue a different direction with it’s marketing campaign but somehow the video still leaked out and to Gatorade’s great fortune, they got to see just how successful the campaign might have been.

Granted, Gatorade has millions of dollars it can spend on stunt girls and fancy video editing but no amount of money can buy the phenomenal reach their video has had online. It goes to show that if your video is worth watching, people will watch it and spread it around whether they know what it’s for or not. This is the "word of mouth " marketer’s dream come true. I bet the folks at Gatorade are kicking themselves now for not attaching a bigger logo to the end of the clip!

I was introduced to PlentyofFish.com today. It’s an online dating service that was started by one guy in Canada 5 years ago. It is now the third most popular online dating service and pulls in an annual revenue of 5 million+ from Google advertising. You know how many people run it now?

Just 1.

Yes it’s true, the same guy that started it still runs the site out of his apartment in Vancouver and is sitting quite pretty with his "little" venture. The difference between his site and the others out there? Well, #1 it’s absolutely free (people love free stuff right?) and #2 his success is based solely on word-of-mouth marketing. Kind of amazing isn’t it?

So now you might be wondering "why does it work?" In a word: trust. People naturally trust the recommendations of their friends, neighbors, family and peers over that of an anonymous marketer. Seems obvious but to employ this tactic isn’t as easy as it sounds.

Anyone attempting to use word of mouth marketing tactics must be very careful not to fool anyone about the source of the recommendation. Being straightforward is key. If you are from the company you are recommending, tell people you are. Because if you lie and people find out, the trust is broken, and word of mouth will work twice as fast but negatively against you.

Things you can do to start getting the word out:

• Create publicity (contests, event sponsorship, polls/surveys, organize a speech/talk, invent then present an aware, etc.)
• Viral marketing/advertising ( video clips, e-books, images, text messages, etc.)
• Choose influencers to spread the word (these will be individuals who are trusted already and can carry your message to their contacts)

If you have any other thoughts or comments regarding word of mouth marketing please share!