If you’ve ever been approached by a person or a family that seems to be extolling the virtues of the particular product you are considering buying, you are probably experiencing Whisper Marketing. Similar to the marketing practice of women who approach men in bars not for a date but to chat up a particular beverage, Whisper Marketing employs people to engage in real world product endorsements at the moment of purchase. It could be while you are browsing the racks in your favorite clothing store or it could be more clandestine such as a person who appears to have just received a funny message on his cell phone only to share it with you for the sole purpose of telling you about his cell phone provider.
Along with viral marketing, Whisper Marketing attempts to sidestep the clatter and clutter of traditional marketing which, for the most part, people have tuned out. A recent study by Cap Gemini Ernst & Young and reported in Ad Age “found only 17 percent of the 700 U.S. consumers it surveyed in the past six months said TV ads influenced car-buying decisions. Ads on Internet search engines influenced 26% of consumers. Nearly half, or 48%, of the consumers said a direct-mail offer from a car dealer would influence their vehicle purchases, but the most influential measure was word-of-mouth, cited by 71% of consumers.” Yes, word of mouth. And word of mouth is exactly what Whisper Marketing puts to use.
