Buzz Marketing with Blogs: Finding the Magic People

Finding the Magic People

In a Dec. 5 story, ”The Hidden (in Plain Sight) Persuaders,” the New York Times has published a lengthy look at the success of word-of-mouth marketing practices centered around groups of volunteer (yes, volunteer!) evangelists. BzzAgent, a New York-based agency, gets plenty of press space, and walks us through the history of buzz marketing and the psychology of product adoption. It’s fascinating reading, although I winced when one of the self-appointed BzzAgents talks about useing her grandfather’s funeral as an opportunity to do a little buzz marketing. Here’s a tidbit from the story:

Maybe it’s altruism, maybe it’s a power trip, but influencing other people feels good. As an example of how powerful the desire to have the upper hand can be, consider that some participants in a campaign for a new scent called Ralph Cool simply could not wait for their free sample to arrive and rushed out to buy the $40 product so they could start buzzing. Word-of-mouth marketing leverages not simply the power of the trendsetter but also, as Balter puts it, ‘’the power of wanting to be a trendsetter.’’

Blogs aren’t mentioned directly, but the issues explored here directly apply to the kinds of conversations going on in the blogworld.

Posted by Susannah Gardner on 12/05 at 05:02 PM • Marketing