Buzzoodle Buzz

November 30, 2006 | Leave a Comment

Phil Gerbyshak is just one of those nice people that you wanna hit sometimes. I mean, how can anyone always be so happy and positive. I have actually spent two days with him at a conference, and other than when we were both carrying several bags of books what seemed several miles, he was always cheerful.

You can get his secret elixer in his book: Make It Great. This guy does tech support someplace, and loves it. His teams he built are regularly recongnized for being top teams, and I am sure it is all because of his attitude. He also has a ton of buzz because he just loves to meet people.

Here is the thing. I have not sent Phil a copy of my book yet. I did ask him to read the advance copy with all the typos, and he was very kind and did so. I mentioned to him it was OK if he mentioned it on his blog if he wanted to. Look at what he wrote!

He is more excited than my mom. It only takes a few people like this to create significant buzz for your organization. Unfortunately, there is only one Phil.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Buzz with Blogs, Viral Marketing, Buzzoodle, Blog

Randomness and Luck

November 29, 2006 | Leave a Comment

I sat down to watch a presentation yesterday by Connie Dieken (An excellent speaker) and the woman next to me, Joan Looman of GEMS and I started talking. She asked me some questions about what I do and I eventually mentioned the book. I happened to have one demo copy with me and she bought it on the spot. I did not try to sell it to her, she really wanted to buy it. Random sale

The same evening someone was telling me about stopping in to cold call a business to sell them advertising about 10 years ago. He said the receptionist tried to blow him off, but the woman behind the desk smiled at him and asked him to come in.

She took him to her big, executive office and when she turned to him, she asked, “Don’t you recognize me?” It turned out to be his teacher from middle school. She bought some advertising just because of the chance meeting. Random.

You can count on a certain percentage of sales from any given activity (assuming it results in at least one sale.)

You can also count on a certain percent of good luck, which is not truly luck. If you create more buzz, you are communicating with more people and spreading more good stories. This will increase the frequency of things that happen to you just out of luck.

Maybe I should have named the book 57 Ways to Get Lucky.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Sales, Networking, Buzzoodle, Blog

Little Things That Matter

November 27, 2006 | 3 Comments

I hope readers in the US had a nice holiday. Today I am going to talk about little things that can make a big difference.

As regular readers know, I recently published a book, Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing.

I am working with Book Surge, and Amazon company for the publishing. They have been good to work with and by no means is this a blog post bashing them. However, I do want to use what happened as a lesson in perspective.

I got my shipment of 100 books in the mail last week. Many of them had minor imperfections in the cover and as I looked through, I could see that the ink did not dry well before they were put together. I called Book Surge and they have a replacement shipment being printed. - Good Customer Service - and I know they work with multiple printers and will investigate why this happened.

Here is the perspective issue. They did everything right from their perspective. The book industry has a process where you rip off the covers and send them back, to prove you did not sell them. I understand this.

Here is the thing from my perspective. I am not a crook. I am saying they are flawed and I sent pictures of some of the covers as examples. Why do I have to spend time today ripping up books and going to the post office? Why not use the less bad covers as promotional copies or donate them to local libraries or schools? (Some appear to have minor scratches and would not have been very noticeable to many people)

And I just missed the chance to do book signings before the holiday season.

Did I ask them about this? No. They did their job and I understand their process. But the little things matter and even if I am smiling on the outside, I am somewhat frustrated on the inside.

The little things they could have done are:

Allow me to use the books for promotion and just throw away the really bad ones.
Sent a pre-paid envelope for the covers, if they must have them.
Ordered me a few extra copies for the hassle.

Again I want to say they have been very good to work with. They have clearly defined processes and have been very responsive. I wrote this as an illustration to you that there is a difference between fixing a problem and creating a fan.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Marketing ROI, Buzzoodle, Blog

RSS - Stay up to date with Buzzoodle

November 24, 2006 | Leave a Comment

Take a moment and subscribe.

RSS is a simple technology to keep you up to date on your favorite blogs and other RSS tools. To subscribe to this blog, click here.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Buzz with Blogs, Buzzoodle

Make your software more buzz-worthy

November 24, 2006 | Leave a Comment

Creating a buzz takes some strategy and consistent effort. It also takes an exceptional product or service. One area that has a lot of advantages for creating buzz is software.

Think about it. Can I get beta uses for a child safety seat? Can I change the product in 5 minutes if I sold you a microwave that had a bug? Could I give you a free 30 day trial of my book, Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing?

Software, especially web-based software, has huge advantages. But first, what are some of the disadvantages.

Competition – The low cost of entry makes it hard to create software that is truly unique, useful and defendable.
Trust – People do not know if your software will damage their computer or pose a security threat.
Information Overload – You may think your software is cool, but people have too much information already and unless you offer a huge value, they will not care about what you are offering.

Word of Mouth and Buzz are the difference between success and failure for your new software product. People trust people they know, and if someone recommends your software, they will be much more likely to try it. They will also be much more likely to put the time into getting to know the software, and not just dismissing it.

Buzz is also the biggest competitive advantage you can have against others doing the same kind of thing. Look at Face Book and My Space. My Space got the buzz and the big payout.

Here are the critical things you need to do to get buzz for your software or website:

Plan extra time into your development to do beta tests with the public. Get people to sign up, communicate with them and build a fan base among them by addressing their comments and ideas.
Assume that the real works after release. Everyone, me included, hopes that as soon as you release something it will be so good that it takes off and sales pour in. The fact is, you have to constantly promote your product and create awareness. It is harder than the actual development, because it is far less certain. Just assume you will have to spend at least an hour a day promoting your software and make a plan to do just that.
Recruit advocates – Communicate with your customers. Make it easy for them to refer a friend. Make them ambassadors for you by giving them a good product and building better relationships with them.
Get Testimonials – Every chance you get, solicit testimonials and publish them on your website.
Build Partnerships – If you know of software that is valuable to the same customers you are targeting, consider a partnership with the company. Package the two solutions together or at least refer people between the sites.
Help people be successful – Have a good help system and support so that customers will be successful with your software. This will make them much more likely to create positive word of mouth, which is paramount for your success.
Don’t wait until the complaints get loud. Often with software, people may point out minor improvements you can make or little bugs that do not stop them from using the solution, but do make it less pleasant. Often you will wait and only fix the things that are causing the loud complaints. This is a mistake in the long run, because you are not addressing the customer’s concerns and they could eventually abandon your product in favor of a competitor that they feel will be more responsive to their needs.

You should assume that someone (maybe a competitor) will question your client’s decision to purchase your product. Will your client react with confidence that they made the right decision? If they are not championing your cause, they are just waiting for someone to come along with a better offer.

If you think this is useful, digg it here.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Small Business, Buzzoodle, Blog

5 Minutes?

November 22, 2006 | Leave a Comment

I tell people that in 5 minutes a day they can create a buzz. No, not a Paris Hilton Sex Tape Buzz or an If I did it OJ Buzz, but some buzz that will add up.

Case in point. A one minute comment: Free Form Marketing

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog

Kicking into Gear

November 22, 2006 | Leave a Comment

The first shipment of Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing books has arrived and if you wrote a testimonial for the book or preordered a copy, you will be getting your copy or hearing from me soon.

Everyone celebrating Thanksgiving, please have a wonderful holiday. I will be spending time converting my extended family to advocates for the book. It is just the way I like to spend a day off: creating more buzz!

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog

The Art of Perseverance

November 21, 2006 | Leave a Comment

Marketing is perseverance and the art of evolution. If you have always done direct mailing, and you continue to do what you have always done, then you are bound to see a drop in effectiveness eventually. Yet, if you try something once and give up when results are disappointing you will never succeed.

To be effective in marketing you have to keep marketing, but evolve. Don’t cut and run after trying things once, and do not keep throwing good money after the bad. Here are some tips on how you can evolve your marketing strategy.

Find a new way to market yourself every month, without giving up on the other stuff you are doing. The Internet is full of places you can get a little bit of exposure.
Keep marketing every day
Look for ways to improve your products and packaging every day.
Meet someone new every day.
When something does not work after sustained effort, shift your energy to other things that are working.
Recruit advocates to market for you from customers, friends and employees.
Identify influential people in your marketplace and build solid relationships with them.
Don’t just work on the next big campaign. Find a way to get your message out every day.
Simplify your message any time you can.

If you keep at it, marketing is more effective. Yet shifting your money and time to those areas that are most effective is how you win the game. Just don’t get complacent because tomorrow the game will change.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Branding, Small Business, Buzzoodle

Keeping Promises - Buzzworthy?

November 19, 2006 | 1 Comment

As I was writing my post from Friday, I had the terribly interesting idea to talk about systems that can help you create buzz, and I wrote about tracking promises as one of the bullet points. I thought I would expand on it here. This is a big issue, and no one likes to admit they do not follow through on all of their promises.

It is easy to imply things or agree to something and not deliver. Not every time, but you always have potential customers that say, “No onions.” and then you deliver their food with onions. Or you say the software does something that it either does not do, or it is difficult to make do it. Or you say you can get something by a deadline and it is nearly impossible to accomplish.

These kinds of things are critical to creating a positive experience with the customer and creating buzz. Have you ever bought something that you thought was going to be a pain but went very smoothly because of good planning on the part of the vendor? Have you bought something and said WOW, that was fun?

Those vendors kept their promise.

So here is the deal. It is hard to get every employee in the organization to create buzz by spreading stories. I believe it can be done in many types of business, but it is hard and take a while to get in place. Regardless of an employees willingness to directly create buzz, his or her attitude towards making and keeping promises on behalf of the company could create enough buzz all by itself.

Here are some points to consider when training employees on promise keeping:

You may not think you are making a promise, but the customer may.
Approach each task as if it is a promise you made to someone you care about.
Telling someone no is better than breaking a promise down the road.
Delivering what is promised is the minimum option, not the goal.
Do not promise things that cannot be controlled. Let people know the risks and rewards.
Feel good when you keep your promise to the customer. It is not just a job, it matters to the people you are working with.

Of course, sales people need to have a meeting and discuss what can and cannot be promised. After, you may decide that you have some things you frequently promise but cannot always fulfill. Find ways to manage those expectations and clarify your promise in the sales cycle. Your buzz will be much greater.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Small Business, Buzzoodle, Employee Advocates

Systems that Enhance Buzz

November 17, 2006 | Leave a Comment

Systems can greatly enhance the long term buzz and word of mouth you develop. Having systems in your business means being consistent and dependable. I am not talking about technology, necessarily. In fact, overly intrusive technology can often be a hindrance to Buzz.

For example, a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system can be very beneficial in helping you connect with more people and the right people more frequently. However, CRM Installs often fail because they are too burdensome to employees that have to put in too much data.

So what processes and systems can be helpful for creating long term buzz and word of mouth?

Certainly a CRM that is easy to use and does not require unrealistic data entry.
A buzz tracking system to measure the ROI on employee buzz. This could be a simple online form where they can put data.
A good voicemail system that gets people to people with minimal effort and does not loose voice mails.
A follow up process for measuring customer satisfaction and likelihood of word of mouth.
eNewsletter that keeps you top of mind.
News creation and distribution through a press release service.
Customer Complaint Process – Handling customer complaints in the best possible way is a top concern.
Promise Tracking System – Nothing frustrates me more than people making promises on the companies behalf if they cannot be sure they get done. Are your sales people or support people promising stuff they do not get delivered? How about training and a say to record every promise that is made to a client, and an assurance that it gets done.

These are just some of the processes and systems you should have worked out to ensure your customers are buzzing in a good way, and not creating bad buzz.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Marketing ROI, Small Business, Word of Mouth Marketing, Blog