At the Book Expo America in DC this weekend.

Why should you blog and how it is related?

About a year ago David Lorenzo of Career Intensity emailed me and said he liked my blog and the theme. He asked me to review his book and I was happy to. Around the same time, Phil Gerbyshak of Make it Great emailed me and we got to know each other over time. I also reviewed his upcoming book.

They also met each other through blogging.

David has a booth at the expo and he could get more tickets than he was planning on using, so he invited both of us to the Career Intensity Book as exhibitors. So this weekend we all met in person for the first time.

So I traveled from Ohio, Dave from New York City and Phil from Wisconsin. It’s been a blast and we have been all getting to know each other. – And selling some books for dave, and making some buzz and connections for ourselves….

It was also smart on Dave’s part. Extra sales people at no extra cost. That is why you build advocates before you need them and then give them something to talk about and a fun way to do it.

Thanks Dave.

I hired Marion to work with us for a month on finances. He then went to Germany. He is a recent graduate looking for a marketing job with an big, international company. He is interesting because he combines strong quick books and accounting skills with marketing.

Here is the email he sent. [Yes, I was the one that made him start a blog]

Hi Ron,

Just wanted to drop a line and let you know the address to my Blog http://mariongermany.blogspot.com/ It details my daily experiences here, which really are great! Unfortunately, I am not able to keep it quite as current as I would like, given all the German beer I am consuming in conjunction with our tight schedule. Oh, and I can’t forget. I spoke to someone in Germany who had already heard about your company. Yes, you’re international presence is quite impressive. His name was Jason, and he is a Kent State student (computer science) interning here in Dresden. He said he’s heard good things about Liquid Learning. [Buzzoodle Parent Company]

Schuss,
Marion

Last night I met Phil Gerbyshak in person for the first time and then we are off to help with the Career Intensity booth because David Lorenzo got us tickets into the expo.

Fun stuff. Watch this blog and Phil’s to see who we meet.

I am off to the book expo in DC tomorrow. Thanks to David at Career Intensity for the tickets. He is also the person that mentioned to me that there is a lot of demand for a comprehensive Book Buzz Marketing package.

We have worked with authors in the past, but doing something truly complete and big is an entirely different strategy. We did up the Buzzoodle Book Buzz program to address the need and help busy authors get on the road to having a best-seller. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Look at the word of mouth impact on your company.

I first found it on Dan Tudor’s site, Landing the Deal.

- Anyone that understands word of mouth and takes an organized, 12 month + approach to the issue should be able to increase the positive WOM. If you are not doing this yet, you had better start.

We are always talking about creating buzz through many little Buzz Incidents. People are in love with the jackpot buzz, but that is not the realistic approach. (It will happen as part of a steady buzz effort, but not as the sole goal of the effort)

Seth Godin backs up this philosophy with a home run analogy.

Want to create really bad buzz?

I made arrangements for a two bedroom apartment for my stay in Washington DC this week. With only a few days to go, I get this email:

We are unable to honor your reservation here due to many current guests having extended their stays with us causing the building to be over booked. I truly apologize for this situation and the inconvenience this is going to cause you. Unfortunately it is some thing beyond our control. We cannot demand current occupants of our apartments to leave if they wish to extend their stays.

Should you wish us to assist you with alternate accommodations please call our reservation center at …

The result is: I am embarrassed because I am meeting a business associate for the first time and he is counting on that space too, and my family is coming to sight see while I attend a conference. They may not go now.

So my daughter was crying, I had to apologize to someone that I have not even met yet, and I am wasting my time trying to find a new place at the last second.

That is not only bad for this particular business, but bad for the industry. I will not trust this kind of service again. Just not worth the headaches.

It is one thing to give a person bad service, it is entirely another thing to disrupt someone’s life and upset the balance. You don’t just make unhappy guests, you make enemies.

If you want your employees to create more buzz, you need to give them things to talk about. Sharing your organization’s success stories is a critical aspect of Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing. What are the different ways that your organization can get the word out?

• Newsletter
• Group Email
• Bulletin Board
• Intranet
• Blog
• Message Boards
• Staff Meetings
• Paycheck Stuffer (Note)
• Luncheon
• Speech – Live or Video
• Podcast Interviews
• Testimonial Handouts

It is just as important to let them know how to let you know of successes as well. This discipline will result in better buzz and better employee moral.

Seth has a post today with a look at building something that will last and building something that picks up steam and does not burn out.

Just like we always talk about with our buzz strategies. It is better to create steady, growing buzz than to hit the jackpot and then fizzle out.

His blog post is also a lesson on how to add popular keywords to your blog to get more traffic. When he writes:

Want to guess what these musical acts have in common?
The Rolling Stones
The Eagles
Elton John
U2
Paul McCartney

Intentionally, or unintentionally, he is adding some powerful keywords to his blog. Along with his high rating, he could end up getting a lot of website hits on this article. And by using this example, now I might.

2 Lessons in one. This morning is a bargain!

OK, it is true that I often tell people that they should spend a little extra effort trying to make an interaction with a customer special, and yes, having conversations.

However, this does not mean everybody all the time.

I was out with my daughter on KidsRoar business today and we stopped to get something to eat. I am not going to name the place because we do like it, but the experience was not as good today. We were tired from three meetings and driving all over, and we were having some of that rare father daughter time, when a busser decided to try to become our best friend.

I noticed he talked to people at another table for about twenty minutes. I thought it must be his family. Then those people left and he wheeled his cart down to our table and struck up a one sided conversation.

I am not stuck up. I worked in restaurants and such, but we just wanted to have lunch. He tried way too hard to talk to us, and there were several uncomfortably long pauses that were clear signals to go work and stop trying to talk to us. He was not rude, but the impression I got was he just wanted to talk to customers so he did not have to work.

He finally left, but it took a 30 second awkward pause before he moved on.

Be sure your employees know the difference between friendly and creepy.