Marketers who view consumers as partners rather than target markets will reap the rewards.

Word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing has drummed up significant buzz in marketing circles as the hot new initiative. This renewed interest in advertising in its simplest form is undoubtedly a result of the increased fragmentation of media and a decreased level of trust of advertising.

Marketers are well aware that traditional channels such as print, radio and television simply do not pack the same punch they once did. There is an emerging generation that wants little to do with mass media messages and advertisements that seem more like pontifications than honest information. So rather than rely on the sermon from up high, many marketers have turned to WOM to recapture consumer attention and trust.  

As this new marketing discipline grows, however, the discussion of "what is WOM" often overshadows the driving force behind this movement: Marketers now realize that they must interact more closely with consumers.

Consumers have more power, options and savvy then ever before and they know it. This is best illustrated online where consumers play a much larger role in how they and others consume content. They now create, rate, edit, comment and tag content. Consumers are no longer passive participants, but are now actively engaged in the entire lifecycle of the marketing process.

So while it is important to define WOM and harness it, the real objective should be to define why it works and find new ways to employ those principles to drive marketing activities powered by personal interaction.

Consumers have become a media channel powered by conversations, events, blogs, text-messages, wikis and much more. If done in a transparent, ethical, honest and non-intrusive manner, each of these types of personal interactions doubles as an opportunity for marketers.

But just like WOM, the key to all these solutions is the consumers themselves and a developed network that enables marketers to easily reach, partner and measure these campaigns. "Consumer Powered Media" will continue to form as an efficient channel that marketers can plug into just as they do with TV, print, radio and online media. Continuing to define new ways to involve consumers in the design, marketing and sales of products will drive many changes in the marketing industry.

Early-adopter demographics such as the 14- to 29-year-old age group have already embraced this change in the marketing industry and put it into full effect. This influential demographic is more entrenched in the changing internet landscape, and therefore expects the same principles to be applied in the marketing realm.

The new consumer does not want to be told what to buy and even when they are told, many have become far too savvy to believe much of what they hear. We have entered a significant paradigm shift in the industry that will not be solved by one particular tactic but instead by an entirely new approach to how we view and interact with consumers. How we can best partner with our consumers to deliver our message becomes the critical issue.

In many cases, the answer might be to try to best replicate genuine word-of-mouth conversations, providing VIP privileges or free samples to consumers to help accelerate that process. Other situations may call for forming a brand ambassador network to extend sales and marketing reach and to deliver messaging on a localized peer-to-peer level. Or as many brands have increasingly done, marketers might want to partner with consumers to throw local events, sample products and educate their peers.

In reality, future marketing plans will likely contain all of the above and many innovative and hybrid solutions not yet explored. WOM deserves the hype it is getting, but marketers would be wise to consider the larger realm of personal interaction beyond simply conversations. By extending the mode of communications, marketers can exponentially extend their reach.

Mass media still offers broad reach and remains a critical part of most media plans. But the days when marketers can rely solely on mass media to drive a marketing campaign are rapidly coming to a close.

In short, a campaign that does not embrace today's consumer is destined for failure. Honest, ethical and transparent inclusion of consumers in the marketing process not only enables marketers to deliver a more customized message on a peer-to-peer level, but it also gives them direct contact with the consumers themselves. Companies that view consumers as partners rather than target markets and most effectively find ways to nurture and extend those partnerships will reap the rewards.

Brandon Evans is the managing director and partner of RepNation. Read full bio.