Life is noisy. We are saturated by messages -- on the radio, TV, the Internet -- all competing for our attention. A recent study by Google in the UK found that people with Internet access spent on average 41 days per year surfing the net, while TV watchers dedicated 37 days to the tube. It's no wonder then that we have become desensitized to the uproar.

Marketers are now turning toward non-mainstream media, such as word of mouth marketing (WOM). Groups like the WOM Marketing Association are cropping up, and knowledge in the form of white papers and books about how to harness the power of WOM are also growing. According to Dave Balter, WOM is defined as, "the actual sharing of an opinion about a product or service between two or more customers."

I unwittingly became a part of this movement earlier this year when I joined BzzAgent. Founded by Balter in late 2001, the "word-of-mouth marketing and media firm" relies on its network of over 135,000 "agents" to try out and spread the word about new products. Agents become eligible for BzzCampaigns depending on demographics, information which BzzAgent collects through surveys and polls, and then sign up for campaigns on a first come, first serve basis. They are then awarded points to write reports about what, who and how they "Bzz"ed. It is a solid business model working to deploy WOM campaigns in an organized fashion, and recently received almost $14M in venture financing in early 2006.

Appropriately enough, I first heard about the program from a friend. My motivation for joining Bzz was purely selfish; I was intrigued by the prospect of getting free stuff. After a few weeks of obsessively logging into my account to check for new campaigns, my diligence paid off. I was selected to Bzz about a new coffee drink. A few days later, I received a packet of information about the product, tips about how to effectively Bzz, and the BzzAgent code of conduct. I tossed everything except for the vouchers. I found the drink atrocious and then passed the freebies onto friends with dire warnings to try it at their own peril.

My next few campaigns were more positive. One was for a new chocolate bar. I received 20 snack sized bars in the mail, and ended up eating about 75% of them myself. (My husband said I couldn't give them away because they were too good.) I did hand out a few to my coworkers, and was surprised by my own natural enthusiasm in talking about a product that I absolutely loved. After one of my coworkers came back from lunch eating one that he had purchased from CVS, I became convinced that WOM worked.

What makes WOM powerful? Messages become a lot stickier when they come from sources that we are accustomed to paying attention to: friends, family, and colleagues. Because they tend to know something about us, we trust their judgment. And as Balter says: "The key to its success: it's honest and natural." To that end, BzzAgent has built a culture of transparency around its business and also amongst its community of agents. Agents are required to disclose about BzzAgent when they Bzz.

I initially signed up as an agent for the free stuff, but I am impressed by the company's code of ethics (whether this code is honored on the agents' end remains to be seen). Ultimately though, WOM is only a medium; a person's perception of the product will determine the final message. The only panacea for sensory overload is therefore not more clever marketing, but designing a quality product that speaks for itself.

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