Word-of-Mouth Marketing, or WOMM, is a term used in the marketing and advertising industry to describe activities that companies undertake to generate personal recommendations as well as referrals for brand names, products and services.
Word-of-mouth promotion is highly valued by advertisers. It is believed that this form of communication has valuable source credibility. Research points to individuals being more inclined to believe WOMM than more formal forms of promotion methods; the receiver of word-of-mouth referrals tends to believe that the communicator is speaking honestly and is unlikely to have an ulterior motive (i.e. they are not receiving an incentive for their referrals). A marketer has successfully created buzz when the interactions are so intense that the information moves in a matrix pattern rather than a linear one. The result is everyone is talking about or purchase the product or service.

Contrast with (non-examples)

Marketing
Promotion
Publicity
Viral marketing
Word of mouth
Business Marketing
Online marketing
Reputation management
New Media Marketing
Evangelism marketing