Not too many years ago, the question might have been, "Do you have e-mail?" Today, it’s "Do you blog?" If you answered Yes in either case (depending on when the question was asked), then author Malcolm Gladwell has you pegged. You are either a Maven (an expert or connoisseur, who wants to know everything and then pass on the knowledge to others) or a Connector (someone who knows tons of people, who has a genius for making friends and acquaintances). In his 2001 best-seller, The Tipping Point, Gladwell postulates that Mavens and Connectors are both essential to the creation and spreading of trends. And buzz, or word-of-mouth marketing, is certainly one of the biggest trends yet to hit alternative marketing.

Gladwell’s theory is that observable trends grow and spread themselves through a society like viruses. He cites trends in behavior (sudden drops in crime, sudden waves of teenage suicides), products ("enhanced" bottled water, combination shampoo-and-conditioner), and ideas (word-of-mouth marketing), referring to them as "epidemics". It’s because of the Connectors and the Mavens, and one more type – the Salesmen – that these social epidemics occur, says Gladwell. Mavens, those databases of information, create the message. Connectors spread it around like social glue over their wide networks of connections. And then there are the Salesmen, people who are skilled at persuasion, who turn the conglomeration into sales. They make us want to buy the next great product.

The Salesmen, that third select group, are the ones who are critical to word-of-mouth marketing – which, in its turn, is the mainstay of alternative marketing.

Alternatives Everywhere

Alternative marketing goes by many names: word-of-mouth and buzz are only two of them. Have you come across guerrilla marketing, virtual marketing, diffusion marketing , street marketing, ambush marketing, covert marketing, renegade marketing, below-the-line marketing,– and yes, viral marketing? It’s confusing, all right; but all of these are ways to try to reach consumers without resorting to traditional advertising means such as television, radio, and print. One thing that may strike you is that most of these names imply stealth or warfare or infection, or a combination of all three. Advertisers seem to have realized that in today’s environment the bludgeon is less effective than the virus, when it comes to selling their products.

No matter what you call them, alternative media depend on the social influence of Connectors. This group of people seems to have endless numbers of acquaintances; and the more acquaintances they have, the more powerful Connectors are in our society. They are in the perfect position to activate trends. Other words used by marketers to describe these folks are carriers, trendsetters, evangelists, and influentials. Their opinions carry weight. Companies want these people in their ballpark; their large networks make them potentially very profitable friends.

Mavens are detail-oriented. They’re the ones who love to share the knowledge they have gathered from all their research and product comparisons. Gladwell says that Mavens are often the first to pick up on new trends because of their intense gathering of impressions. They are not, however, trendsetters in themselves; they need the Connectors to take the information and "infect" the rest of society with it. Alternative marketing needs the Mavens, though. Who else can provide the details of the new product, and share them when asked to do so?

Notice that Connectors and Mavens are rarely, if ever, the same people. If they were, they would not be so effective. We don’t view the detail-oriented data collectors of the world as cool and hip. We can get information from them when we want it, but they don’t inspire us to want the information they have. It’s the Connectors who are trendsetters, and it’s the Connectors who make us want the information the Mavens have in such great supply. Here’s how it works: you see a cool-looking guy coming out of a Vespa Boutique on his new scooter, and you think, Hey, that could be me! You see a hip-looking girl talking on her iPhone, and you think, Yes! I could use one of those! So you look for a Maven, and find out all about your new object of lust; and if you happen to meet a Salesman, in the meantime, so much the better, because he’ll convince you that you shouldn’t have to live another minute without your iPhone or your Vespa.

Why Is Word-of-Mouth So Effective?

In today’s world of advertising, as in so many other areas, we are flooded with seemingly limitless choices, all competing for our observation and our business. It’s small wonder that the ordinary consumer just shuts down. This endless intricacy may be the reason for the popularity of the digital video recorder (DVR), which makes it unnecessary for us to deal with traditional television advertising.

A first response to intricacy and complexity in our environment may be frustration and confusion. We try to clarify the issues by seeking more facts, but that just adds to our information overload. We are overwhelmed. We find ourselves seeking isolation within the confusing crowding of the marketplace, and we turn to family and friends, people whom we know personally. We can handle this smaller group, where the number of possible options is not so overwhelming. We thus limit ourselves to learning about products known to people in our personal network, our trusted few informants. And eventually, we become immune to the influence of the media. We respond only to known influentials.

This is why word-of-mouth advertising works so well. Blogging and e-mail both fit right into the picture, too. If someone in your e-mail Address Book tells you about a product or a service that’s really great, you will be inclined to look it up, or at least to remember it when you need that sort of service or product. If a blogger whose blog you enjoy, trust, and maybe even comment upon once in a while recommends something, you’ll think more favorably about it. These people are now "known influentials."

In addition, it’s the secret behind the incredibly successful television shopping networks, where you can buy anything from diamonds to diapers to designer clothing to gourmet doughnuts. Prices are sometimes unbelievably low, and quality is high, because by now the network has literally millions of shoppers who watch the shows and – wait for it, here it comes – consider the informal and attractive hosts to be friends. So everybody’s happy: the shopper is happy, because she saw this pair of shoes on her friend, took the friend’s recommendation, and got great shoes at an excellent price. The TV host is happy, because she’s an extravert who loves being in front of the camera and talking with shoppers on the phone, and taking home a great salary, too. The shopping network managers are very happy, because more and more people are becoming regular shoppers. These networks have gone well beyond the traditional television informational advisory and into the realm of alternative advertising.

They have learned to put marketing on the basis of word-of-mouth, in the context of a network of personal connections – even if those personal connections are only personal in the eyes of the shopper. It’s a great example of the alternative marketing strategy we now call "buzz."