from the wall street journal.
"Talk may be cheap, but it can be incredibly valuable to companies and their reputations.
For the first time in its seven-years of studying corporate reputation, Harris Interactive Inc. analyzed the effect of word-of-mouth communication and found that it strongly influences reputation and people's plans to buy a company's products. The survey of the American public shows that word-of-mouth -- comments from friends, family members, co-workers and others -- carries much more weight than corporate advertising and public relations.
About 85% of survey respondents said word-of-mouth communication is credible, compared with 70% for advertising and PR. About three-quarters rated media stories about a company as credible, and 84% found the opinions of company employees believable. Only personal experience with a company scored higher than word-of-mouth, with 92% of people calling it credible."
"Talk may be cheap, but it can be incredibly valuable to companies and their reputations"
"analyzed the effect of word-of-mouth communication and found that it strongly influences reputation and people's plans to buy a company's products"
"The survey of the American public shows that word-of-mouth -- comments from friends, family members, co-workers and others -- carries much more weight than corporate advertising and public relations"
does that say much more than corporate ads???
so it seems word of mouth is the most powerful tool in marketing, unless the 7 year study is wrong. google found a way to create a giant with its gmail for free and no marketing, thats means other companies should be able to do the same, or at little cost and little marketing.
bottom line its the best form of marketing for a company like ours, now we just need someone smart enough to get the initial word out at a low cost. and maybe just maybe some of the consultants are helping with that area of marketing. of coarse thats speculation.
all just my opinion
AI
Market Data 
Markets 
