WOMMA Conference

Made it to Chicago for the 1st ever WOMMA conference. They certainly have lived up to one aspect of their name. The place is packed and they did it all without any marketing budget – all WOM. Have been meeting several blog friends that I haven’t met before, so I think it’s at least going to be a fun two days!

I’m on a panel, but I’ve had some challenges with this since I got involved. I believe that WOM is the by-product of a great product and/or service. You shouldn’t go out with the intention of creating buzz, you should start with creating a product that people want to talk about. Otherwise, you might get cool attention and buzz, but you can’t live up to that buzz. And certainly if the product doesn’t match the hype, it turns people off even more. Chase Manhattan, my old bank, used to answer the phone by saying “Hi, this is David. How can I give you excellent customer today.” Well, that was OK if they could help me, but when they couldn’t, it sure made me cranky. Why ask about giving me excellent customer service if you can’t help me?

So, there’s all of these conversations about creating WOM and what it means and how to measure it. Lots of conversations about ethics and whether or not it should be regulated, etc. That will be a very interesting conversation as the conference comes on.

Was speaking with Chuck Donofrio during one of the breaks and he had a great quote! “Nothing kills a bad product faster then people talking about it.” That comment was repeated throughout the program in different ways. Lots more to come from WOMMA. Just remember --

“People want to hear a great story, people want to tell a great story and people want to participate in a great story.” Me

Link: A Penny For...: WOMMA Summit - Day 1.

Link: WOMMA Summit 2005.

Link: Word-of-Mouth Marketing: Temper Your Enthusiasm?.

Comments

[Asa Bailey]

Thanks for that, please do continue to write up your experince of the Summit for those of us who could not make it...

Thank you

Asa Bailey.