It’s the oldest form of marketing in the world, and it’s the most effective. Now, with the technology consumers and business owners have at their fingertips, Word-of-Mouth Marketing (WOMM) can be leveraged for more bottom-line impact than ever before in history.

Online forums; blogs; vblogs (video blogs); moblogs (blogs fed from mobile phones or PDAs); podcasts; and a host of other emerging technologies all combine to put consumer opinion on multimedia steroids.

WOMM is on the move, and this is not subjective analysis either. A 2004 Forrester/Inteliseek study found “recommendations from others” and “consumer opinions posted online” significantly outranked TV, radio, print, and online advertising on the trust scale. Research from Jupiter Research, NOP World, and Capgemini echo this theme as well.

IF you want to succeed in the marketplace of the new millennium, gaining consumers’ trust is critical. With consumers being exposed to more than 3,000 marketing messages per day, trust is essential to overcoming the clutter and noise of traditional interruption advertising. And most importantly for business owners, trust is an undeniable prerequisite for persuasion.

The reality is that, done correctly, WOMM is a solid strategy for effectively attracting highly qualified prospects to your company’s doorstep.

BEWARE though – WOMM is a powerful tool that cuts both ways

Try to deceive or trick the consumer and blog-powered “word wardens” will snap into action. Try to shaft the consumer and search engines will remind the world of your foolish actions for years by ranking the most scathing testimonials at the top of any search for your company name.

There are strategies and techniques that you must learn, and certain rules that you should adhere to – but don’t be afraid to jump in. The information and coaching you need to successfully market in the 21st-century marketplace is available. The bottom line is, you must make WOMM part of your click-and-mortar growth strategy before your competitors do.

How you can start implementing WOMM immediately

There are two simple steps you can take to begin learning how WOMM works and start integrating it in your business.

1. Dedicate some time each week to be active in online business networks, online communities, and blogs related to your industry or niche. This will begin to give you a feel for the multiplication power that technology and the Internet have on WOMM.

2. Whether your company is large or small, local or national – you should have your own business blog. This will help you build rapport and trust with consumers by giving them insight into your business operations. It’ll equip you to respond immediately to situations in your company or industry. Plus, a properly structured business blog will help you achieve top search-engine rankings too!

You can learn more about this powerful pair of Word-of-Mouth Marketing Multipliers, and learn how to start putting them to work for you and your small business in this special four-part series at AdvancedBusinessBlogging.com.

Taking action on these steps will allow you to build trust, gain permission, and maximize your leverage of WOMM. And when you develop a click-and-mortar growth strategy that integrates permission-based marketing with WOMM – you’ll catapult your company to a leadership position in your industry or niche.

© Copyright 1999-2005 by RPM Success Group ®, All rights reserved. Reproduction in any form without the express written consent of RPM Success Group ® is prohibited. You may use this article/post in it’s entirety as an RSS feed without previous permission, so long as it is published in it’s entirety with all copyright notices. Call RPM Success Group toll free at 888-334-8151 for offline reprint permissions, or by email editor@rpmsuccess.com.

About the Author: John-Paul Micek and his partner Deborah Cole Micek are Business Growth Coaches. They help small business owners like you, achieve profit-doubling growth in one-third the time it would take to do on your own.

In just 12-months with your membership in the www.BusinessOwnersCoachingClub.com you can bridge the digital divide and transform your small business into a click-and-mortar powerhouse that delivers the profits, personal fulfillment, and free time you want.