Jack Trout Fishes for a Hook

File this under man bites dog. Marcom guru Jack Trout is throwing a big dark cloud over word-of-mouth marketing (including blogging) because there's no way to control it. What's worse, he's urging folks to just advertise instead.

I think Jack Trout is fishing for a hook for his column. This is the same Jack Trout who last year urged the ad industry to rise up against amateur ads. I wonder what now he thinks of YouTube.

This is nostalgic thinking. It's almost like saying that we should go back to using typewriters over computers since we don't have to worry about getting a virus. With consumers pumping oodles of content onto the Web, marketers have already lost control of their brands whether they like or not. They need to deal.

Marketing today is much more like sailing than driving. Your boat is the brand. If you point your boat in the right direction, follow the winds/currents and steer, you will get the boat to go where you want it. Marketers should become the wind, but accept that they're at the mercy of the currents and weather. Word of mouth marketing, when done right, is the wind.