|
Public
relations is designed to get people thinking and talking
about your company, product or service. This can be
accomplished through articles, interviews, public
events, blog mentions and more. Now, however, marketers
are attempting to create “buzz” through manufactured
word of mouth – a practice falling under increasing
scrutiny.
It’s one
thing to introduce a new product to “influencers” and
hope they recommend it to their friends – or, better
yet, to use the product in a public arena. It’s quite
different when you hire actors and celebrities to pump
the product in public as if they discovered it on their
own.
This
practice is being criticized as deceptive by many
marketing people, and a new association has sprung up to
combat it. The Word of Mouth marketing association has
40 members who all subscribe to a code of ethics: people
talking up products or services must disclose whom they
work for, and marketers must use real consumers, not
actors, who discuss what they really believe about a
product.
One watchdog
eyeing the practice of deceptive word of mouth marketing
is
Commercial Alert in Portland, Oregon. The group
believes that using paid shills in public areas to
promote products is “commercializing human
relationships.”
Marketers
are searching for new ways to promote their companies
and products as consumers exert more control over their
media consumption. Lines will be crossed and companies
who go too far will be called out. As always, companies
that keep within ethical boundaries when designing
creative marketing and PR strategies will see the best
return on their marketing investment.
|
