Is Word of Mouth advertising driving Black Friday this year?

John Wanamaker, the famous department store magnate, once said that he knew that at least half of his advertising budget was wasted.  Problem was, he didn’t know which half. For anybody that’s in business today, you know how difficult it is making your product or service stand out among the competition and noise of today’s marketplace. It’s a lot tougher than it was for Don Draper.Advertising is everywhere.  Television, radio, billboards, digital, banners, mobile, native advertising, telemarketing, and pop ups.  It’s on everything that isn’t implanted into us….and that may be not that far away.So what works.  What is, in the buzzword of the day, authentic, effective and creates real Return on Investment?  One of the most powerful tools of the marketer has always been word of mouth.  Social media and things like Yelp, have only amplified that power. But is word of mouth marketing just some random confluence of events, or can it be shaped, molded and directed in ways that are both authentic, and beneficial to both seller and buyer?This has been the work that Ted Wright talks about in Fizz: Harness the Power of Word of Mouth Marketing to Drive Brand GrowthMy conversation with Ted Wright: Get full access to Talk Cocktail Podcast at jeffschechtman.substack.com/subscribe