Andy Sernovitz (WOMMA CEO) delivers three new realities for today’s marketer:

New reality #1: People are already talking about us. Are we going to join the conversation? There’s no choice here. Ignore word of mouth and take the hits, or engage and turn it in your favor. The train has left the station.

New reality #2: Advertising can’t cover for bad products and services. People talk about you because they like or don’t like what we do. We used to be able to cover our mistakes with a bombardment of high-power advertising. But the balance has tipped. The weight of consumer-shared opinion is greater than our advertising power. We need to make sure that customer opinion is positive.

New reality #3: Talk to your customers. Respond to their concerns. Participate in the conversation. Keep people happy (something we should be doing anyway).

via: PR Machine