This is Dave Balter’s second book, (hence the Volume II) his first was Grapevine (yes, he knows).

Lee Kantor turned me on to Grapevine, where Balter shared the surprising information gleaned from his business, BzzAgent, the first word-of-mouth marketing company.

In The Word Of Mouth Manual Volume II

Dave continues sharing incredible value.

The book itself is unlike any other – remember the Volume II? that’s the least remarkable feature. The size, paper, placement of title, author’s name and photo, and the price ($45!) are all singular.
On page 71 he covers the reason why paying for word-of-mouth doesn’t work. (Same principle as Dan Airely, different logic.)
On page 77 Balter references Duncan Watts research at Columbia University, which shows that marketers should focus less on people who influence and more on how people are influenced. (That would be InfoMinute technology.)
On page 94 (there are only 119 4″ x 5″ pages!) Balter uses a rolling the dice metaphor to explain the difference between viral marketing and word-of-mouth.

I’m looking forward to having that same discussion with him about the relationship between word-of-mouth and referrals.

Until then, I’d love to discuss it with you. Which is possible because Balter is giving the book away by .pdf! (He calls this the non-waterproof version.)

Can’t wait to hear what you think ~ W!

I’m a BzzAgent
The Frogpond is a perk.
And that’s where I learned about Rohit Bhargava’s book:

*Personality not included
*Why Companies Lose Their Authenticity-
And How Great Brands Get It Back.

He inserted a little punctuation personality!
I’m liking Bhargava’s material for several reasons:

• It’s real. As he says in the forward, he’s currently working in the industry. This is not a case study from one successful client. These are principles he uses daily.
• His layout is fresh. He says most books peak in chapter six. So he ends the first section at chapter six, and included feet-on-the ground exercises and templates in the second half of the book. Then he references a tool in a chapter, (so I flip forward) ends the tool with a reference to another chapter (so I flip back) it’s taking me a pack of post-its to keep my place!

Bhargava also included ten marketing techniques:

• Curiosity Marketing
• Karmic Marketing
• Participation Marketing
• Un-Whatever Marketing
• Sensory Marketing
• Antimarketer Marketing
• Insider Marketing
• Incidental Marketing
• Useful Marketing [Members who have partipated in the GateOpener Workshop have explored this arena.]

Each technique begins with reasons to green light or red light the technique.

Un-Whatever gets a green light for businesses in a crowded marketplace; a red light if the product or service is only marginally different from competitors.

How fresh; what personality.
This work ties directly to InfoMinutes.
Great new material.
Can’t wait to share it.

For years we’ve known that offering a referral incentive (“Give me a referral and I’ll give you $100″) backfires.
Dan explains why.
His description of social norms vs. market norms is emotional and memorable.

Do I believe in saying thank you?

Yes, of course.

Do I believe in offering a thank you to generate a referral?

Now less than ever.