BUZZ Marketing

Association of Indian Management Scholars organized their 5th International Conference at ICFAI Business School, Hyderabad during 27-30, December 2007. I participated in the conference and presented two papers.

1. Neglect of Industrial Engineering in Management Literature.
2. Role Industrial engineering in Technology commercialisation.

There was a paper on technology and marketing and it mentioned buzz marketing as one of the new themes. I started my efforts to understand this topic.

What is buzz marketing?

Buzz marketing is a viral marketing technique that attempts to make each encounter with a consumer appear to be a unique, spontaneous personal exchange of information. The advertiser reveals information about the product or service to only a few "knowing" people in the target audience. By purposely seeking out on-on-one conversations with those who heavily influence their peers, buzz marketers create a sophisticated word-of-mouth campaign where consumers are flattered to be included in the elite group of those "in the know" and willingly spread the word to their friends and colleagues.

Although buzz marketing is not new, Internet technology has changed the way it's being used. Buzz campaigns are now being initiated in chat rooms, where marketing representatives assume an identity appropriate to their target audience and pitch their product. Personal Web logs (blogs) are another popular media for electronic buzz marketing campaigns; advertisers seek out authors of the "right kind of blog" and trade product or currency for promotion. Instant messaging (IM) applications are also being looked at as a vehicle for carrying out buzz marketing campaigns with either humans or IM bots doing the pitching. As with all buzz campaigns, the power of the IM model relies on the influence an individual has in an established small network -- in this case, his buddy list. As technology continues to facilitate the delivery of a electronic buzz marketing message easier, and software applications make message deliveries easier to quantify, some advertising experts predict that electronic buzz marketing techniques will become a standard component in all cross-media advertising campaigns.

SearchCRM.com Definitions (Powered by WhatIs.com)
http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid11_gci939341,00.html

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buzz marketing is the practice of gathering volunteers to try products, then sending them out into the world to talk up their experiences with the people they meet in their daily lives.

Buzzing, which might also be described as 'micro-marketing,' assumes that a person-to-person marketing message is much more powerful because it is so personal


What is the buzz about buzz marketing
12 January 2005
Knowledge@Wharton
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1105#
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Hindu Business Line carried an article on it in November 2003
What is the word-of-mouth in the ad world, now?
Tuesday, Nov 18, 2003
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2003/11/18/stories/2003111802780200.htm

The article starts with Prof C K Prahlad's statement.

WITH the growing fragmentation of conventional media, and with consumers getting increasingly networked, word of mouth (WOM), or `buzz', will become a more important tool for firms and marketers, according to Mr C.K. Prahalad of the University of Michigan Business School.

It also quotes Yale's professors' study.

A recent study by the Yale University professors showed European studies indicated that 60 per cent of consumers in Europe said that family and friends influenced their decisions on specific brands.


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Business Week had a cover article on buzz marketing in 2001

JULY 30, 2001

COVER STORY

Buzz Marketing

Suddenly This Stealth Strategy Is Hot--but It's Still Fraught with Risk

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/01_31/b3743001.htm

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Books on buzz marketing

Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing by Ron McDaniel (2006)

Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking by Andy Sernovitz (2006)

Buzzmarketing: Get People to Talk About Your Stuff
by Mark Hughes

Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover; 1 edition (July 7, 2005)

Buzz: Harness the Power of Influence and Create Demand
by Marian Salzman (Author), Ira Matathia (Author), Ann O'Reilly (Author)
Wiley; 1st edition (April 25, 2003)

The Anatomy of Buzz: How to Create Word of Mouth Marketing by Emanuel Rosen (2002)
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An interesting article on how to create buzz.

http://www.straightreferrals.com/customers/105062415481214/filemanager/Marketing_Buzz_MarketingL.pdf