Buzz is a constant effort. You can use things like this:

http://blogsforsmallbusiness.com/

to get your blog attention. Ask your self how many five minute things you can do to create more stories about you and trails to you.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/6/prweb254472.htm

Here is our press release that went public today. One of the fun things about technology is I can see that people affiliated with buzz organizations are coming to Buzzoodle now.

You do not need Buzzoodle to create challenges. It just helps.

I go to many events and business get togethers. This morning I was at one where there were eight people. Everyone gets a few minutes to talk and it is usually very sales oriented.

While it works, it is often hard to refer people because you are looking for a lead to a specific sales for them.

The Buzz Networking philosophy is different. I gave each person in the group my card with my buzzoodle ID on it. I challenged each of them to pass it on to someone, and then pass it on to someone else, spreading an interesting story about me and our organization. It is a chain card, basically.

What is in it for the other people? I told them if I get 10 responses (measured by the challenge ID on the buzzoodle card) I would take them to lunch and we would spend that time going though my outlook figuring out who they want to meet that I know.

I still got some great referrals that may turn into sales. More importantly I know Guy Shirk ( http://www.buzzoodle.com/theguy.buzz ) was going straight to a large real estate firm and he was going to spread our stories there. He is not selling me, just talking about me. That makes all the difference. It is much easier for him because I gave told stories instead of talked about what we sell.

While the typical sales person wants to convert sales quickly, the Buzzoodle way is to build buzz, build awareness, and change the way your staff thinks about you outside of work. It lays a broader, stronger foundation that sets you for future success.

By the way, you can find out more about this group by buzzing ron at http://www.buzzoodle.com/ronfink.buzz

What can buzz do for you?

I know that as a tech company with employees, we regularly have businesses try to get us to move to them. Amazingly, in the last 18 months, we have had Youngstown, Kent, Akron, Lorraine and now Cleveland make us great offers to move our business to their local.

Talk about what you do with city officials when you meet them. They like positive buzz and stories that they can repeat and you never know what kind of offer you are going to get.

When we created Buzzoodle, we were looking for a word or phrase to describe it. For a while we were saying it is a different kind of Buzz Marketing. Today we got the phrase:

Buzzoodle is Buzz Networking.

Buzz Networking is creating a group of advocates to create buzz by many different means while enhancing their own network of friends and acquaintances.

This adds value to the organization and is also of value to each advocate.

If you use Buzzoodle you will find that it asks you to do many things that may seem like they will not get results. For example, I did a challenge recently where I was to write to an author I admired.

I posted to his blog first, figuring some familiarity would be good and a few weeks later I emailed him. Now we have exchanged a few emails and will be getting together.

Considering he is one of the most networked people in the world, I feel very honored to meet him. His name is Keith Ferrazzi and his book, Never Eat Alone is great.

The moral of the story is that Buzzoodle works. Stepping out of your comfort zone works. Results are only a short distance away.

Ronald Finklestein is having an event that is going to ask people to envision what they will be doing in 5 years. What is interesting for me is that we will be using Buzzoodle to set up challenges and make those dreams a reality.

What percent of those people that attend really work at it remains to be seen, just as we know that every employee in Buzzoodle does not perform at the same level.

Should be interesting.

I think you can still attend. Visit http://www.buzzoodle.com/buzz/Calendar/event.aspx?eid=53 and read about it.

Some people have trouble seeing the difference between buzz and sales. Certainly sales can be driven by buzz.

I just heard a story this morning from Rob Felber that he was wearing one of his clients shirts at a party and a nine year old asked him if it was the painting company. (The logo just had the name.)

He was shocked and said yes. Turns out this little girl went to school with the owners little girl and knew the company name and recognized it on the shirt.

Did that generate a sale? No. But buzz is when I post something on a blog about oberlan paints because people are talking about it. Who knew that shirt and that little girl would make it in my blog?

How many other people has rob told this story to?

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

I did not discover this author until after Buzzoodle was rolling out, but I really enjoyed Idea Virus and it has changed how we make the software interactive.

Required reading for people interested in Buzz.

http://www.connectedmarketing.de/

A Buzz Marketing group in Germany is buzzing about Buzzoodle. Idea to company is three months, and release to global phenomena in three weeks. We have users around the world already and large companies are coming to find out how to utilize their most under utilized resource. Their Advocates.