I have a long history in Internet Marketing before Buzzoodle.  We started out with simple eNewsletters and grew a big content management system for ePublishing.  The right client found our tools very effective.

The wrong clients found us overpriced or too complex.

I fully understand the value of focus in a business.  However, I think it is worth thinking about the various levels of conversion that can take place, and how all of these help you in the long run.

Conversion is getting people to take action.  On the most basic of levels, you subscribing to my RSS feed would be a conversion.  You have let me create a long term relationship with you (that you can delete any time).  And it is free.

Then, something I was lacking until just recently, is the easy conversion.  Purchasing my book, Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing, is an easy, low risk conversion that gives me the chance to help you and make a couple of dollars.  This is wonderful because when someone calls me and wants to hire me, but has no budget, I can now suggest the book.

Next is the moderate conversion.  For us, this was the addition of the coaching program where we help people get some of their staff up to speed on creating buzz and we help them stay motivated and results oriented.

Then I do speaking, which is getting paid to go out and create some buzz.  I would say this is also a moderate conversion for companies and organizations that do not want to commit to an ongoing engagement but want a shot in the arm to create some buzz and get staff to think about ways to increase the organizational visibility.

Next is the custom Buzz Marketing.  This is the most complex sale that involves a significant investment of time and money by a client.  We only want 10 of these a year because having too many dilutes our effectiveness.

Why am I telling you this?

There is an important Buzz Marketing point here.  None of these things are separate products.  They are part of our unique message and brand, and are just different ways to create relationships and value for organizations with different needs.  And they all feed off of one another.

Can you create a worksheet that you could give prospects and they will appreciate, because it is valuable and does not just sell you?  (Easy Conversion)

Can you go out and speak about your industry? How do people know if you can?

Even if you have a complex sale, can you develop something that is a simple sale for people that are not ready for the complex sale yet?  An online course?  A book or DVD?

If you are frequently turning away people that are interested in your products or services because they are not the right fit, make something ancillary that is of value to them and will get them to remember you and buzz about you.

I often talk about contests and how to get people to create some buzz.  Doritos contest for Superbowl tickets is a good example. 

One of our collegues has a friend that submitted an ad.  Not bad.  I was rooting for the mouse all along.

For the cost of a few tickets, Doritos got their moneys worth.

As an FYI, they are not taking more submissions.

I once heard that if “average people” start investing in the stock market, professionals knew it was time to get out.  I am not sure if that is still true today as it is so much easier, but it probably was true 10 years ago.

If you enjoy creating buzz online, you have to be cutting edge.  If everyone knows a product creates buzz, there is probably a good chance that its usefulness as a tool to create buzz is on the downturn.  Maybe not, but often this is the case.  It just gets too crowded and people stop paying attention.

So what can you do to be cutting edge and know about buzz tools before they become mainstream?  Here are some ideas for you.

• Read technology magazines and business magazines
• Sign up to be a beta tester before products are out
• Meet other people who are cutting edge and build a friendship with them
• Educate yourself on what to look for.  Don’t sign up for the newest sp @ m tool or other shady technologies
• Help products you like, grow, by referring friends to it
• Blog about new things.  Chances are you will get a lot of hits if the new technology is building more buzz

Once you start doing these things, other people will email you when they find something new that may interest you.  It gets easier to find new things when this happens.

Seth Godin has an interesting post about the state and evolution of social bookmarking.

I frequently talk about Digg and other social bookmarking sites, and I have watched the effectiveness go down as they become more popular.  Maybe I am just writing worse stuff. 

Seth talks about companies paying to get Diggs.  That is like politicians paying for votes. 

I gave a client of mine a copy of the new Book, Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing.

He owns a successful construction company.  He likes technology, but he is not very web or marketing savvy yet.  It was a good test to see what my target market (non-marketing small business owners) would think.  Here is his blog post, and no I did not request that he post about the book.

One way to create more buzz with people that already know you is to create something new.  My recent book release has created a lot of buzz with our existing clients.  It does not have to be something as time consuming as a book though.  How about a new product, a new service, a new website dedicated to helping current customers or a new employee that will make a big impact for clients.

Most people like to see that you are successful or trying new things to become more successful.

Some other new things you could do:

• Open a new business
• Redesign your logo (don’t do this just to be new)
• Redecorate your office and have an open house
• Speak at a conference
• Conduct a workshop or seminar
• Have a contest

There are many things that you can do to have something new to talk about.  Make sure you make a special effort to get the new news to your client base and they will easily start buzzing more about you.

OK, Dan Tudor may not be the world’s leading sales guru.  However, he might be depending on the criteria we use to judge.  How can any of use ever really know who is #1?  He does have an excellent sales blog called www.landingthedeal.com and I read it regularly.

As he is so good at, he adds great value to the conversation about customer service that I mentioned. He also endorses the book, Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing.

It is fun when you know all the coolest people in the world.

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.

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.

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.?