Branding and Water Towers

August 31, 2007 | 1 Comment

Water TowerA brand is much like a landmark.  You know where you are when you see a good brand you are familiar with.

My 2 year old likes to go to the mall and ride the carousel.  The water tower outside is her landmark.  When she sees the water tower, she knows we are in the right place and asks to go, even if we were not planning on stopping in.

Carousel HorseJust like every time I see a golden ‘M’ I think of hamburgers.

Can you create a landmark for your company?

  • Make something truly unique outside your business so that every time someone drives by, they think, “There is that …”
  • Make a brand or logo that is different and has meaning when people see it.
  • Use architecture and design to your advantage.  Don’t blend into the neighborhood.
  • Utilize other familiar landmarks to your advantage. - We are the mall with the carousel by the water tower….

Eventually that symbol has some preceived meaning and it takes on a life of it’s own.  My daughter thinks there is a carousel at the bottom of every water tower, just like we know there is a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Branding, Blog 

Timing + Perseverance = Buzz Success

August 30, 2007 | 1 Comment

A while back I wrote an article about a 16 year old entrepreneur named Elizabeth Grace.  Her business is called Book Test Online.  She recently wrote to me to update me on how the business and the buzz is doing.

Timing:  School is starting and her sales are going through the roof.  She has been creating buzz for a while, but it wasn’t until the need for her product was greater that the buzz started to pay off.

Perseverance:  It would have been easy for her to quit.  I am sure when she released the new site, it generated few sales.  I doubt the first month of buzz helped either.  Keeping at it is what has returned dividends.  She was just on the Al Sharpton Talk Radio Show and it generated a lot of good traffic and sales for her.  AND she has been invited to be a guest on the show which will help her gain more visibility.  If you want to know how she tailored her message to appeal to the show, go over to her site and drop her an email.

Her latest buzz efforts have been focused on talk radio, and with significant success.  If you read the book Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing, you may have read about talk radio and dismissed it as a lot of work.  It is, but just one appearance such as Elizabeth had can generate a significant return.

Generating buzz is really like playing the lottery.  Your odds go up with perseverance (playing every week) and timing is critical (the right combination at the right time).

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog 

Ask yourself the question…

August 29, 2007 | Leave a Comment

When you are designing a new product, writing an article, resolving a customer complaint or just providing a service, what are you asking yourself?

How do I get this done quickly? vs. How do I get this done write?

How do I write a book? vs. How do I write a best seller?

How do I take care of this persons problem? vs. How do I make this person a fan?

How can I make $100 today? vs. How can I be worth more tomorrow?

How do I get all these tasks done? vs. How do I change how I work and eliminate these tasks in the future?

How do I answer this person’s question? vs. How do I answer this question any time it arises?

Transformation to this mindset of building higher value now and in the future takes a lot of discipline and daily effort.  It does pay off down the road.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog 

Buying a new digital camera

August 28, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Sneezers are people who say something and other people react to it.  There was a time when marketing experts projected that 90% of the population did what 10% told them too.  More refined research later on revealed that many more people have a center of influence, even if they are not widely listened to.

HP Smartphone R937For example, I call my dad for car or computer hardware information.  So do about 30 other people.  However, he is not extremely social or influential to a wide audience.

The unfortunate thing about this from a marketers perspective is that you cannot just focus on 10% of the population and expect them to tip the scales and tell the other 90%.  You have to create remarkable products and services that people will talk about, and you have to get a critical mass aware of the product or it will never be discovered.

So yesterday I bought an HP Photosmart R937 digital camera.  Just a mid-range camera that I could use every day.  It is worth talking about because someone else completely influenced me to not only buy it, but to run out and buy it within an hour of talking to them.

Steve and I were talking weeks ago about how I keep putting off buying a decent new digital camera.  He owns very high end photography equipment and reads all the magazines, so I knew that he keeps up to date on what is good. 

Yesterday morning he called (not about the camera) and he started telling me he bought the HP camera for his wife and it really impressed him.  He knew the price, the model number and told me about the features, which memory card to buy and how much it was on sale for, and where to buy it.  He also told me they were selling really fast and to call first because they were probably out.  (Good job by the sales people to create the aura of scarcity.)

Well, I’d been putting off buying one because I knew I needed to research digital cameras first, but I kept putting off researching them.  So within an hour I called, had one held at the store and ran out and purchased it.  It is a nice camera but I do not know if I got the best deal or not, I just took his word for it.

This phenomenan is common with electronics, books, cars, music and some other products.  How can you make it happen for your business or product?  Do other people really get excited about working with you?

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Sales, Word of Mouth Marketing 

Leave Footprints in the Sand

August 24, 2007 | 25 Comments

When you meet a new person, do they usually say, “I have heard of you.”

The Internet loves footprints…. and they last forever (or at least a long while).
Even outside of the web there are a lot of opportunities to leave foot prints.
They key is to get over your doubt and reluctance and actually do it.

The great thing about leaving little foot prints is they build up if you do them enough.I would estimate that over half the new people I meet in my region tell me they have already heard of me. And it is not because of any big media appearances; it is because of having many little foot prints, having an effective brand and an easy story to tell.

So how can you leave more footprints?

Sign up for my free email buzz course and get the rest of this post in lesson #3.  If you already get the eCourse, go ahead and say hi in the comments - This post was created for YOU.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog 

Colleges and Word of Mouth

August 23, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Graduation CapI doubt this article will be shocking to anyone.  College students rely heavily on word of mouth for their purchasing decisions and they use social networking tools…..

But it is still interesting to read the details and eMarketer has a very nice article on it.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog 

Is your product a bargain? Should it be?

August 21, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Today I talked to a good friend of mine in Direct Mail Marketing.  He was telling me about how people advertise in those weekly clipper coupon mailers to try to generate new customers and then they complain that the customers do not keep coming back because they only generate bargain shoppers.

pizza.jpgI’d never really considered this before, but I took some time and thought about my pizza buying habits.

We do not eat pizza much because it is not exactly healthy, but we do get it occasionally.  The way we buy it is we fish the clipper out of the recycling bin and look for good coupons that are at any of the 5 or 6 pizza places we like and take the best deal.  No loyalty.  We simply have a few pizza places we avoid because we do not like them.

I am really not that price sensitive.  It is just the way I think people buy pizza.  I then made this comment to Steve.  I would feel ripped off if I paid full price for a pizza.

That really got me thinking….  what else do I expect a discount on?

  • A Car
  • Kids Clothes
  • Books and other media
  • Lunch as compared to dinner
  • Amusement Park Tickets

What products would you be upset to pay full price for?  Use the comments and let me know.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog 

Anatomy of Your Online Presence - Part 3: The Nose

August 20, 2007 | 3 Comments

This is part 3 of a 13 part series on the anatomy of your online presence.

See Part 1: The Brain and Part 2: The Eyes

The anatomy of your web presence, the nose, represents your ability to sniff out new opportunities. The days of websites are over. Things are changing at rapid pace and new opportunities are coming up all the time to increase your links, visitors, exposure, etc.

The reason you have to develop your nose for sniffing out new opportunities is because you will usually get more buzz with less effort if you find some new, upcoming opportunity vs. jumping on a bandwagon and competing with everyone else.

Take Digg for example. It is a great site and getting on the first page is very valuable, but it is also not something you can easily accomplish because so many people are trying to get on the first page of Digg too. If you were an early adopter of Digg, before it was so popular, it was much easier.

So how do you discover the next Digg for your industry?

#1 It is not about technology.

The first thing to understand is that it is not about technology.

The tools for developing web-based applications have gotten better and easier. You can now go to eLance or a similar site and hire a consultant that can often build you something great for a few thousand dollars if an off the shelf open source (free) application does not meet your needs. Technology is only a barrier to entry if you let it be.

So if it is not a “latest greatest technology” issues, what is the issue?

You are the issue. How do I get you and 1,000’s of people just like you to use common tools and communication channels to create a community of people that pay attention?

#2 Community is the Future, and the Future is Now.

Your best bet is to become a major force in driving a community to success that is populated by your target audience. Notice I said a major force in driving a community to success. You have to find the right community online and help it grow, add value to it, be a major player and make it a better place for people to succeed in.

Can’t find a great community around your industry? Form one and commit to promoting it and adding value.

Here are some technologies to build an online community. Remember, the technologies are less the issue, and getting people to come an participate will be your challenge.

Wiki – A Wiki is a group of web pages that a community can contribute to, build and comment on.

Online Groups – For years there have been online groups consisting of message boards, profiles, email lists and image uploads. The obvious ones are hosted by the major search engines.

Online Communities – Many magazines and other online properties have their own community centered around there topic. Why don’t you? It’s Free.

News sites - News Sites are where the community posts and votes on the best news in their industry. Because you can also build a group of friends in these sites, you can build your own group around your common interest.

Blogging – The biggest advantage of blogging is the community you can build around it. Not only can you participate in other’s blogs, but you can build a great community around your own ideas. Add some of the following tools to your blog.

But do you really need to create a community?

But before you use any of these tools to create your own community, use your nose to sniff out other opportunities. Do some searches and sign up for some other people’s communities and lurk around a bit. Here are the questions to ask yourself when assessing the value of participating in a new online community that you have found.

  1. Are people in this group interested in what I have to talk about?
  2. Do I like them?
  3. Is the community active and growing?
  4. Can I stand out in this community is I participate regularly?
  5. Can I contribute valuable information regularly?
  6. Will this group be curious about what I am selling? – Since you should not sell directly, will the group be interested and explore who you are?

Don’t join too many. Find the best and commit to helping the group grow and you will have an impact and get more results.

How do you find new opportunities?

There are a variety of tricks to sniff out new opportunities.

Search Engines – The most obvious is search engines. Doing searches on your industry and words like community, profile, members combined should bring up some interesting reading.

Follow the leader – A great way to find valuable resources is follow likes from respected resources. For example, an article in your trade magazine or a popular blogger may point you to a great new resource.

Find lists – There are many websites that rate and list good resources. A good list can be very valuable to you. Here are a few examples.

Read Web 2.0 in the news – Keep an eye out for news items mentioning buzz and web 2.0. Things like this article - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19712442/

Word of Mouth – If you know some geeky tech entrepreneurs, I can assure you that they find out about these new things before they become wide spread. The first time I heard about Digg was from a podcaster. I wrote it off as not a big deal but should have jumped in back then. Ask your tech friends what is new.

Make a habit of sniffing around

Your Internet presence will be enhanced when you participate more. You will create buzz if you get comfortable nosing around online communities and new web 2.0 tools and giving them a try. You may even have some fun too.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog 

Congratulations Phil

August 17, 2007 | 1 Comment

A good blogging friend of mine was named manager of Slacker Manager Blog.  He has done a great job at Make It Great for years and now his influence is spreading.

Congratulations Phil. 

If you are wondering why you should blog or if you are interested in being a slacker, start with Phil’s interview.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog 

Do you own a word?

August 14, 2007 | 1 Comment

Not long ago, someone remarked to me that everyone had stolen my word.  BUZZ.

I am going to say I own it or even that I was the primary person to make it more mainstream.  What is interesting is that I have made the word BUZZ synonymous with us in the minds of the people that have gotten to know us.

Take for instance my friend Dan Tudor. [we have never met in person]  Read this post and notice that when he writes the word BUZZ, he links to us.  It is like we are the wikipedia entry for Buzz - At least in Dan’s mind.

Owning a word, even if it is not legal, is a good thing.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog 

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