Buzz : Med individen som insats

Sammanfattning: abstract   buzz marketing, the phenomena Have you ever thought about why the small French pastries called macarons suddenly became so extremely popular? Soon they were seen everywhere in the media, on every celebrity party and shortly after of course on every Swedish person’s cake dish. Could it be that a trendy it-girl happened to mention these lovely creations in her blog? What (or who) is it really that decides and controls what is popular and what is going to sell? If one individual can influence a whole group of followers it is definitely something marketers should take advantage of. One cannot any longer rely on traditional advertising, one needs to be more creative and rethink the possibilities to get through the media noise. This brought our attention to Buzz Marketing and Word-of-mouth which is a tool for marketers to make use of individuals to spread positive information in different ways.   research question How does Buzz Marketing work with the individual as a channel of communication?   methodology This is a case study on the idea of Buzz Marketing and the individual as a channel of communication. The foundation of our research is based on a selection of three companies that are all involved in activities oriented towards Buzz Marketing and the individual as an influential factor. The three companies studied are; Pronto Communication, Buzzador and Springtime. We have also used one independent source. The empirical facts have been collected from homepages, personal- and mail interviews and the secondary data has been collected through subject literature and scientific articles.   result & conclusion One needs to choose the right communication channel to get through the media noise, from sender to receiver. The individual functions within Buzz Marketing as a channel of communication and finding the right individual to spread positive Word-of-mouth is of major importance for the message to reach through. What these individuals are called and their required characteristics depends on the person who one asks and the task the individuals are about to perform. What they actually do is basically the same; they spread a message to a specific target group on behalf on a marketing bureau and its clients, often in exchange of free samples or something else that is coveted.  One can then choose to call them ambassadors, innovators, influencers or opinion leaders. It is very important that these individuals have the ability to influence specific target groups and that they are committed. They should also be willing to try new things, have a large social network and be curious. Marketers just need to identify these individuals and get to know them. This may sound like a simple task, but is in fact far from it. If Buzz Marketing is not transparent and well-planned enough it can result in a negative Buzz; every marketer’s nightmare.   Keywords: Buzz Marketing, Word-of-mouth Marketing, Buzz, Word-of-mouth, innovator, opinion leader, communication channels, media noise, segmentation, IT, individual, diffusion of innovations, source credibility.