Hey, check out this shampoo.  Look at this new game.   Try the ice-cream there.  How often do you get recommendations and actively seek them out?

Sure there is a chance that your word of mouth marketing efforts might bring you business and branding, but how many times do they work?

Seth Godin has a few thoughts on why sometimes there are problems in regards.

Sometimes, what you do is done as well as it can be done. It’s a service that people truly love, or a product they can’t live without. You’re doing everything right, but it’s not remarkable, at least not in the sense of “worth making a remark about.”

What’s up with that?

He then goes on to list some reasons why some things spread virally work out better than others.

Some of the reasons are fairly obvious.  Perhaps it’s not something that you would talk about naturally, or perhaps you’re with the wrong group at the time.  Anyways, this is a quick little article and I would recommend it.