March 31, 2005

Influentials vs. Individuals

[UPDATED to include a link to Dave Balter's presentation]

WOM practitioners are clearly divided on who drives WOM. Some say influentials are responsible while others say its individuals.

Ed Keller (CEO of Roper ASW and author of The Influentials) has oodles of research data identifying the integral role influentials play in determining how the rest of society acts. On the other hand, Dave Balter (CEO of BzzAgent) contends everyday people are the best drivers of WOM. (Click here to download a PDF of Dave's presentation.)

Could it be that Influentials help remarkable products and services reach the proverbial chasm and then hand off the WOM baton to Individuals who carry the product/service across the chasm and deep into the mainstream?

Mar 31, 2005 9:28:55 PM | Word of Mouth Marketing

The comments to this entry are closed.

NEXT POST
Greater the Promoters, Greater the Growth If you need analytical ammunition to better champion the allocation of funds to implement evangelism marketing tactics, share Frederick Reichheld’s Harvard Business Review article titled The One Number You Need to Know with your company’s left-brain naysayers. This article was...
PREVIOUS POST
Developing Ethical Guidelines for WOM Question … how can you establish guidelines for something that is still being created and still be understand by its practitioners? I dunno. Yet, that’s exactly what we at WOMMA are trying to do with establishing ethical guidelines for WOM....

johnmoore (from Brand Autopsy)

As a marketingologist with the Brand Autopsy Marketing Practice, I give companies “Second Opinions” about the business and marketing activities they are currently doing or considering doing.

The Typepad Team

Search

My Other Accounts

Recent Comments