Like their consumer counterpart, business-to-business brands are only as good as a customer experience with them. The difference today is that the Internet affords customers lots of ways of communicating those experiences to their peers. Consequently, they're influencing marketing strategy as never before.

More and more, there are less and less places where brand owners exclusively controls content. This is especially true on the web. Blogs are just one example of how the Internet is creating a world driven by "Word-of-Mouse." Business-to-business marketers have always recognized the importance of word-of-mouth, but the Internet enlarges the scale on which it operates. Why spend thousands telling millions how great your company is if there are hundreds quietly telling them the opposite?

Word-of-Mouse more compelling than ever today because it's not just words, but images (increasingly moving ones, thanks to YouTube, etc.). When a video of a Dell computer self-combusting appeared online, it spread like wildfire (pun intended) in a way word-of-mouth would never have achieved pre-Internet. Not to pick on Dell, but the company also recently suffered in the blogosphere when serious customer-service issues surfaced--and then multiplied.

We believe this phenomenon--a kind of Industrial Strength Web 2.0--represents nothing less than a fundamental shift in the nature of business-to-business relationships. Brand owners are no longer the sole masters of their messaging. Business-content consumers are online, sharing thoughts and information, and taking away control from brand and media owners.

Let's face it, business-to-business buyers are savvy--they fully understand the marketing game. They resent being patronized, they hate the old corporate cliches and they won't stand for hyperbole. Companies really do need to ensure that they deliver on their promises and that their brands stay relevant. They need to enter into a dialogue with customers, not a monologue. Most importantly, brand owners must recognize that they no longer have (and never will have again), the same level of control they once enjoyed.

In the Word-of-Mouse world, measuring the effectiveness of advertising will become increasingly difficult. Not because the quantitative tracking capabilities that we all love will suddenly become less valuable. Rather, it is the Internet's ability to spread messages on a one-to-one basis en mass that has the potential to build--or undermine brands--more quickly than ever.

In such a world, your marketing plans need to stop thinking purely from an exposure-and-response point of view. They will need to look at how ideas can engage customers, then go on and create positive Word-of-Mouse. More often than not, viral elements will need to be incorporated into campaigns if they are to achieve their true potential.