Rules of Engagement

This blog is dedicated to helping you create buzz. This tip is for small businesses to help them head off a potential problem if they create too much buzz. We are frequently writing about helping other people. If you help other people succeed, you will get a high degree of buzz. One problem that is easy to forget for some people is that you cannot just help people for free all of the time. Eventually, you will have to charge someone for your services. To avoid misunderstandings, have clear guidelines on what you are willing to give away and what you charge for. Avoid making exceptions and create a document that clearly spells out your rules of engagement. Provide this to clients and potential clients once they express interest in your services. If you are clear on how you operate, people will appreciate this and you will not be expected to provide more help than you are willing. However, if you help someone a lot, they may assume you will keep helping them in the future, and that could hurt your productivity and profitability.

Buzz Barriers

What are some of the issues that can lead to holding back and not creating buzz?

• Not taking the time to identify some good stories to tell. - Know what makes you and your organization special before you need a story.
• Feeling that no one will want to hear what you have say. - People talk endlessly on meaningless stuff, some even blog on it. Just open up to people more frequently and it will get easier.
• Don't like to sell. - Creating buzz is not like being a sales person. You do not have to convince them to spend money, just convince them to think about you and talk about you.
• You are shy. - If you do not like to talk to new people in person, I would suggest you work on getting more comfortable by achieving small successes. In the mean time, the Internet can be a better buzz tool anyway, so start there and work your way to personal buzz.
• Worried your organization will not approve of the message. - This is a sticky point if you are in a highly regulated environment, but if you take the time to plan out what you can say in advance, you can run it by your boss and be ready.
• Don't like your organization. - If you do not like the place you work, start working on getting out. One way to do that is to create positive buzz about yourself and where you work, despite how you feel. Remember, few people hire a complainer. The positive attitude and great buzz you create for yourself will help you achieve your goal and your employer will still benefit.

If you have barriers to creating buzz for yourself and your organization, keep at it in little ways and build up your confidence. Creating buzz is fun once you make it a part of who you are.

Who is Your Answer?

Today I had the pleasure to have a meeting with someone who is very well networked. After, I realized that a person is the answer to any question you ask. 1+1 = Jane who is good at math. How do I make more money? = Talk to john, he is a marketing wiz. How do I find a job? = Recruiter Beth can help you. If you think of each question someone asks you as a referral opportunity, you can build a wonderful network of people. The person I talked to today was helping my daughter build her business, and it was amazing how the resources were just pulled out of the air and applied to the challenges that were on the table. And each resource was a person.

iPOD - Vividly Cool

Two unrelated IPOD stories worth talking about here. Anyone that does not realize that an iPod is has been under a rock. All day today our office manager anxiously waited for accessories so she could use her iPOD in the car. What really struck me as unusual tonight was the vivid description of what an iPOD is from my 8 year old. I mentioned the iPod at dinner and she said they are cool. We do not have one, nor have we talked about it before that I can recall. So, I was curios and I asked her to tell me what it was for, what it looks like and why it is cool. She described it in vivid detail. Down to the apple with a bit out of it and one leaf. (I had to look it up to see if she was right.) We home school, so she did not see it in school. Those ads have just had a strong impact. Then, as a comparison, I asked her what is Microsoft. She had no idea nor did she know what they make. Even though she sees it on the computer every day. Then I asked her the same question about Dell. 12 inches from her hand sat my closed Dell lap top and she'd never heard of it, despite using it regularly. Maybe we just throw out all this other Buzz stuff and focus on design. Just kidding, but an interesting thing to observe.

The Accidental Blog

A few days ago I mentioned the success of this blog as a way to promote our business and philosophy. We did not initially think it would play such a critical role in our success. One unexpected result is that I have a blogger account, and the blog is not an integrated part of the rest of our web presence. Anita Campbell of Small Biz Trends recently moved to a more professional solution and I thought some of you may be interested in what is involved. Here is her case study. She reported to me that her search engine traffic has gone way up, and she is happy with the move. The moral of her story is the sooner the better, so I am going to have to think about moving some time soon myself.

Career Intensity Buzz

I have mentioned before the importance of communicating with people that like to communicate. Writers, for example. David Lorenzo has put up his Career Intensity website in advance of the book release and I am mentioned on his front page for the reviews. He wins, I win, we all win for ice cream.... errr, something like that. Creating more of these win/win scenarios is part of what your buzz plan should be.

As for the book, it really is great, especially for someone looking to manage their career and rapidly become a success. His book is far more useful than reading a Donald Trump book, because it is how to start at any level and achieve great results.

Blogging and Speaking

One way to create buzz is to give more speeches. How do you get more quality speaking engagements? Blog. Short of writing a best seller, blogging is one of the best ways to build up your credibility and get in front of more people. In the next eight weeks, I have ten paid speaking engagements, which is more than all of last year. What else can help you get speaking opportunities?

• Have a new approach to a common problem.
• Have a good story to tell.
• Have enthusiasm and believe what you tell people.
• Practice speaking regularly
• Let people know that you speak, want speaking opportunities and what you speak about.
• Write a best seller. (OK, I am padding my list with the obvious now)
• Know what your speaking fees are in advance so you are professional if you get an inquiry. I was not expecting some of the opportunities that have come up within 10 miles of my office, and was unsure of how to price them.
• Repackage the obvious. Is there anything older than word of mouth? No, it is just going through a renaissance currently.

And did I mention blog?

Phil Gerbyshak Pointed Out an Interesting Blog Post

Phil Gerbyshak of Make it Great wrote: Hi Ron, I really enjoyed your restaurant marketing idea from the other day, and I saw another article online that might fit with your theme, or perhaps it's worth sharing with someone you know who is doing restaurant marketing. I hope you enjoy it!-- Make every day a Great Day! Phil

Marketing a Private Practice

Thanks to Juliet Austin for mentioning Buzzoodle in her blog on Marketing to Private Practice. She discusses word of mouth and buzz and how it applies to therapists, councilors, coaches and healing professionals. She points out the importance of word of mouth for hiring great employees.

Quality + Good Will + Nice Fit

What is the equation that you use to choose to link to someone on your blog or webpage? My equation is Quality + Good Will + Nice Fit = Link Quality: You do not want to be elitist, but you do not want to link to something that does not have quality content and a clean design. Nice Fit: Your visitors are on your website or blog for a reason. Don't water down your message by linking to everything under the sun. Good Will: Links are precious, and linking to people is a great way to create good will with people you read and would like to know. I frequently link to people that are linking to me, as a good will gesture and because our sites often compliment each other. SEO Specialists often do link campaigns by emailing people and asking for links. That is fine, but it is far more effective to link to someone first, and encourage a reciprocal link after you have done them the service.

Blog Magic

If you read blogs, but do not write one yet. Start. I started this one hoping just to document the creation of Buzzoodle. I had no idea it would become the voice of the company. Once people start following what you have to say, even just a few people, it is fairly magical. The audience you grow will talk about you, link to you, email you and maybe buy something from you one day. Imagine if 100 people expected you to call them on the phone three times a week and spend 20 minutes telling them thoughtful, interesting stuff. A blog is just a shortcut to have this kind of dialogue.

Buzzoodle 10 Reasons to Create Buzz for Where You Work

Buzzoodle 10 Reasons to Create Buzz for Where You Work

1) You were going to talk today anyway.

2) Aren't you tired of making fun of your boss? Tell a great story about how your company helped someone.

3) Positive Word of Mouth will result in increased sales, which could results in free trips to Hawaii. You never know.

4) Word of Mouth is the best form of marketing, and it does not even require a Marketing Department. Start creating buzz and make them obsolete.

5) Word of Mouth is like a chain letter, and we all love chain letters.

6) Word of Mouth is easy. Just try being 1,000 times nicer to customers and they will start talking.

7) Be an enthusiastic advocate of where you work. People love to steal great employees and you will have job offers in no time.

8) Make every day remarkable for the people around you and someone is bound to buy you lunch eventually.

9) Telling an interesting story about your employer makes you look smarter than talking about the weather, unless you are the weather man.

10) The more people that know that you have a great job, the better chance of getting a date.

What Makes a Buzzworthy Story

The books out there on Buzz Marketing will tell you there are things that make your story really take off. Is it sexy? Is it incredible? Is it a secret no one is supposed to tell? All very true things that can work. Not always the most practical solution for a business, and not something you can do every month, or eventually it would just stop working because people would recognize it as your standard mode of operation. So let's assume you are going to do two to three Major Buzz Campaigns. What about all of the other time in between? In advertising, you see the same ad time and again because repetion is what creates familiarity. In word of mouth, it may take hearing about something from two or three sources before you create a sense of real desire on the part of the listener. Take for example, Rich Dad, Poor Dad. My business partner has told me to read it, one of our clients has told me to read it, and a vendor told me to read it. I still have not read it, but I will soon. How can I not read it after that! So if you are really interested in creating word of mouth and buzz, you need to create repetition and have people hear about you from different sources at different times. Which gets me to the point of this post: What makes a good, Buzzwothy story. Not necessarily one that is so big that people in China are talking about it (unless you are a chinese business.) A good story should be:

• Easy to tell (See post on evaluating story)
• Easy to repeat
• Easy to slip into a conversation for non-sales people
• Remarkable enough that it makes the teller look smart and interesting
• Illustrate how your organization helped someone
• Include mention of the organization

A good story should also be something that all of your employees and customers are aware of and encouraged to repeat whenever they get the chance.

Good buzz is reinforced with different stories from different sources, which will create the illusion (or illustrates the fact) that you have a diverse, caring organization that everyone is talking about.

Paid Buzz Gone Bad

Thanks to David Lorenzo for pointing out that my post was referring to a Jan 2005 Brand Autopsy post, not 2006. These "Best of last year" things make life difficult.

Via Brand Autopsy there is an interesting thing going on at Bzz Agent. If you do not have a great product, the last thing you want to do is pursue word of mouth marketing. Of course, if your advocates are your employees and existing customers, they are going to be a bit more forgiving.

Buzz in the Classroom

The Pressure is On. Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing blog is part of the Miami University curriculum. See the list of blogs that made the list here. It is a good list of quality blogs to look over. It is going to be fun to see what people say as well, if any choose to follow our musings. Now I have to try to think up at least one thoughtful post before May. Thanks for including us, Mark.