The original blog was the mouth. The mouth is still a virtual blog. Easy to use to state whatever pops into your mind. How do you get people to talk about you, and blog about you if they have a blog?

Keith F. has a great post on how someone made his dinner party feel very special.

In the short time it took to make an impression on this group, imagine the long term ripple. How are you making people use their virtual blog?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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

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.