Anatomy of your Online Presence - Part 4: The Mouth

September 26, 2007 | 4 Comments

This is part 4 of a 13 part series on anatomy of your online presence.

The anatomy of your online presence, the mouth, represents communication.  Not just answering email and phone calls type communication, but creating systems that make your communication more consistent and inclusive.

Talk to anyone that is an expert on sales and they will tell you that following up and following through is where most sales are lost.  Creating a buzz and having people talk about you, link to you and increase your online presence is the same. 

Take this example:  If you got an email from someone and they said how much they enjoy your blog and they ask you a question, you could answer it several ways.

1) Yes (or no)

2) Why would I answer them, I do not have time for that….

3) Thank you so much.  [Answer question] If there is ever anything you would like to see us do…..

Number three is the obvious choice, but are you doing it?  If you have developed your website beyond the basic brochure, and you are adding to it regularly, you will begin to develop a real following.  It will start with a person or two, and depending on how well you feed that flame, it will grow.

Example:  Seth Godin - Seth Godin is a Marketing Guru and author of many great books.  His blog is one of the top marketing blogs and he is always working on a variety of projects, such as www.squidoo.com.  You would think that he would be too busy to respond to the emails he gets (his email is right there on his blog) but I have emailed him at least 10 times and have always gotten a polite and sometimes funny response. - Not long, but personal.  It made me a much bigger fan.

So how do you Be The Mouth and do a better job online?

  1. Respond to people every time you get a chance.  If they comment on your blog, if they buy an eBook from you, if they email you a question, take a few extra seconds to send them a personal response.
  2. Be prepared with stock materials - I have PDF’s that I can attach with my personal message if someone needs some bio information.  I frequently get those requests when I am going to speak.
  3. Reply again a month later - If you have some time, follow up a month or two down the road again.  This always impresses those people that contacted you and then went on with their lives.
  4. Take a moment to return a compliment - If someone emails me, before I respond I frequently look at the domain of the email (the part after the @) and if it is their blog or a website they are actively involved with, I will comment on it if I have something to say.  (If it is terrible, I will just not mention it.)  This shows them you have taken the time to get to know them as well.

But wait, we are not done!

We still have a big problem.  You  cannot possibly communicate with 100’s of people every day using this technique.  And the only realistic way to achieve a big online presence is to have more than a handful of people care about you.

Here are a list of tools that can give you a bigger mouth by helping you communicate to lots of people WITHOUT spamming them.

  • Set up a blog - It is like having your own, text radio station.  This company makes it very easy and is affordable.
  • eNewsletter - Easy eNewsletter and auto-responder tool.  Build a list of people that can and also consider using it to create your own personal list of friends, like I did - click here to see - This smaller list is very powerful because these people have chosen to be my virtual friend.
  • Join online groups - There are too many online group options to list here, but join a targeted group that interests you and PARTICIPATE in the online conversations.  Make sure people know from your comment how to find out more about you.

These are just some of the ways to increase your online presence and increase the volume and reach of your voice.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog 

Employee Evangelism - 7 Reasons

September 24, 2007 | 1 Comment

I do not usually promote my book too much here, but give me this post to give you a little background on why you should buy Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing for every member of your organization.

My goal when I wrote it was to make it simple for non-sales and non-marketing people to create some buzz in a few minutes each day.  I know it is not an easy transition, and I know that 20% of the people will do 95% of the buzz, but it is a goal well worth pursuing.  Organizations that make it clear up front that advocacy is part of the organization will realize big advantages in sales and visibility.

Here are the 7 reasons you should buy a book for each employee and start putting some energy into making it part of your culture:

  1. Employee Moral - There may be some initial resentment from some, but others will see this as the opportunity they have been waiting for and have a good time creating buzz.  Those are the people you want to keep anyway.
  2. Simple Challenges - Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing is written in simple, one page buzz challenges that most people can do.  Even if your staff does not read lots of books, this one is easy to browse and pick stuff out.
  3. Share Responsibility - Buzzoodle is crafted around the idea that anyone that is a member of the organization is responsible for the success of the organization.  Once everyone understands they share the responsibility for buzz, there can be no more fingure pointing.
  4. Job Security - Employees can decrease the chance of slow-downs or layoffs by helping create buzz and increasing demand.
  5. Rare Word of Mouth - We all hear people complain about work a lot, but imagine how powerful it is to hear people praising work.  The positive word of mouth this creates strengthens brands.
  6. Help Sales People - Over time, Employee Evangelism will increase the inquiries coming into the organization.  This turns your cold-callers into order-takers, which is a much easier way to earn commission.
  7. Brand Strengthening - One unhappy customer can trash your brand online in minutes.  The best defense is a good offense.  With your staff writing and posting things that are positive about the company, search engines will already have so many positive pages indexed, that future bad buzz will be less effective or damaging.

There are more advantages.  These are just some of the benefits people enjoy.  If you are interested in 100 or more copies, let me know and I can offer you a special rate.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Buzzoodle 

Tim Ferriss - 4 Hour Work Week

September 21, 2007 | 10 Comments

Advocacy at its best!

Tim Ferriss wrote a book called the 4 Hour Work Week.  I really like this book.

I do plan to hire a Virtual Assistant, but here is the funny thing.  Tim Ferriss wrecked Get Friday. (The Indian Virtual Assistant Company he recommends heavily in the book)

Any time you successfully help people succeed, you are creating an advocate for yourself.  On a good day, that could generate a lead or two.

On a great day, your advocate will write a best selling book and tell everyone to buy your service.  Now, Get Friday cannot hire people fast enough and they are experiencing growth pains like very few businesses do.

The moral of this story, and there are two, is:

#1 You could get very popular unexpectedly.  Have a plan for what to do if you experience explosive growth.

#2 Buzz happens at all levels, from barely noticable blips to industry transforming exposure.  Keep at it and you will succeed.

Bonus #3 - Treat every person like they are your future Tim Ferriss.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog 

7 Reasons you must have an Intimate List

September 20, 2007 | 3 Comments

I have an intimate email list.  It is entirely separate from my main email list and it is called FoR: Friends of Ron.  Please click on that link and go see what it says.  Don’t sign up - unless you REALLY want to after reading that.

You see, that list is my friends list.  I write that email periodically just like I would write to a good friend.  I send links people might be interested in, I let them know about events, and I may just tell them how my latest trip was.

While we all want to cultivate new clients, consider how much stronger your “friends” would be at telling people about you if they simply heard from you a little more regularly.

Here are your 7 reasons to have a friends list.

  • Over 200% open rate - Everyone reads these emails multiple times
  • Over 30% clicks - they spend time with the email and check out the resources
  • Easy to write - If you want to be my friend, you have to be forgiving.  I write these emails quickly like a personal email.
  • A “Go to” resource - I do not think twice about asking this list for a favor.  They are my friends.
  • 50% of the list wants to be your friend.  -  I only know about 50% of the people that sign up.  The other group, I assume, would like to get to know me.
  • Replies directly to me - People always reply to these emails as if I’d sent the message to them personally. “I am sorry I can’t make it….” type thing.
  • Word of Mouth - The fresher you stay in the minds of people that know you, the more word of mouth you will create.  Plus, these people want to hear about what is new with you, so you can send them stories and updates.

This list is too new for me to know the impact it will have on the business, but I do know it is strengthening relationships and I enjoy the connections.

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

TYE – Transform Your Environment

September 18, 2007 | 2 Comments

TYEHave you ever seen a speaker or read a book and been really inspired?  Did you want to make all kinds of positive changes? 

The problem is that after a short while the energy and enthusiasm starts to diminish.

And you have been told a lie:  Change is all about you.

Most motivational speakers and books tell you it is all about you.  I guess you could become a Buddha-like master of shutting out your environment, but that is not very practical. 

This time positive change will work for me!

Recently, I read a few books that got me excited about positive change, better health, etc.  I also started listening to David Lorenzo’s success audio package.  It is really a perfect storm of inspiring, motivational and realization.

The realization is that it is not about me.  I want to change.  My environment does not want me to change.  Here are some examples of what I mean.

  • My wife and I both cook, but when she cooks, she always wants to give me big portions.  She was programmed from childhood that the father eats first and a lot.
  • When I say I want to have more fun and travel more, my daughter does not want to go because of the stress on the dog.
  • We all agree to have less stuff and throw away a lot of things, but someone always has a reason not to throw THAT particular thing away.
  • I do not eat sweets, but extended family thinks that does not apply to parties.

Likewise, a business environment can be challenging.

  • Employees are more concerned about putting in the time than getting results.  Changing to a results oriented workplace is hard.
  • Some processes can be improved.  But the improvement may take initiative to design and launch, as well as the willingness from the people that must do it a new way.
  • Getting non-marketing people to create buzz is challenging because it has never been part of their job before.

This boils down to something fundamental and different from what others have been teaching.  You must put most of your effort into bending your environment, not yourself, to where you want to be.  And your environment will always try to wait out your change attempt and push you back into your usual place.

Because you must lead by example, you will change yourself better than you ever have before.  In the mean time, you will also be transforming your environment to one that will resist you changing back to the status quo.  That is your recipe for success.

So with that in mind, and believing in small acts towards big goals, I am launching TYE. 

Each week I will write on a TYE Template an inspirational quote that I make up and has meaning to my family.  I will put it on the refrigerator for the week.  It may start conversation, it may make people think – or I may get made fun of.  The goal is to keep us all on the positive change train.

You can get involved too.  If you like this idea, here is how it works.  I will post mine to the blog and I will also post links to anyone else’s below it each week (Up to the first 100 I receive.). The key is it must be a picture of the quote on your refrigerator in the office or at home.  Feel free to add additional commentary if you want in your post, but TYE is transforming your environment by publicly inspiring your environment and questioning unwillingness to change.  Email me at ron@buzzoodle.com with the link.

In your post, you must also cite and link to this post so that people know what it is all about. 

Here is week #1
Transform Your Environment
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Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog 

AdAge - Power Marketing List

September 17, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Buzzoodle (this blog) made it up to about 100 a while back on this list, before AdAge bought it.  Now we are still respectfully ranked around 200.  This is a lot of great marketing stuff. 

Thanks Mr. Relationship Geek for pointing out the new positioning.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog 

Your blog results suck! Or do they?

September 17, 2007 | 3 Comments

I recently presented to a group that I’d also presented to about 8 months before.  We focused more on blogging and less on general buzz marketing this time because of the interest in the topic.

I spoke with 4 people that started blogs based on my first presentation.  Of the four, three reported fantastic results.  But the funny thing was this - All four were measuring different things that they considered success factors.

Your blog sucks if you set a specific goal and do not achieve it. 

The one person that reported bad results was entirely focused on one thing.  No one is commenting on her blog.

The three that were succeeding were all different.

  1. Increased visibility and is now being paid to write for other sites - Directly because of his blog.
  2. Added three new clients that cited her blog as the reason they finally hired her.
  3. Sold significant add-on products to existing sales and to the public that wanted to do it DIY instead of hire them via the company blog.

As you can see, all three have added to their income, but in entirely different ways.

Blogs are not an all-or-nothing tool.  Blogs increase the probability of things happening for you.  Here is a list of things that are more likely to happen for you or your organization if you do a good job of blogging.

  • Write a book - Eventually you get used to writing and have a lot of material to draw from, so writing a book becomes a no-brainer.
  • Sell products - As you build an audience, it is easy to recommend products you know they will like and earn a commission.
  • Speaking - Before hiring a speaker, many event planners read the blog of a potential speaker to make sure they fit the need.
  • Add clients - No matter what you are doing, you can add clients via blogging because your blog increased search engine results and it increases relationships.
  • Build Community - Depending on your topic, your blog can become the center of a community on a particular topic.
  • Advertising Income - As a blog becomes a respected resource, you will get offers from people that want to advertise on the site.
  • Interviews - Your blogging increases your visibility, and you become an attractive person for interviews.
  • Reviews - Writing reviews means you will get free stuff - like books, sent to you regularly.
  • Moral Support - Blogger’s are great at helping each other out and offering moral support.  It is a strong community of people that really care.
  • Improved Communication - You may just want to be a better communicator and blogging is a great way to organize your thoughts and improve your writing skills.

So what does blogging success look like for you?  You will only know if you are successful if you pick the 2-3 goals that matter most to you and measure those.

Feel free to use the comments on this blog to share your blogging goal and the results you have achieved.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog 

Wanted: Employee Evangelism Stories

September 14, 2007 | Leave a Comment

I am working on some new projects and the more stories about great employee evangelism I have the better the projects will turn out.  If you, or one of your employees is a great evangelist for the organization, I want to hear about it.  You may get included in a course, workbook or some other project.  Free buzz!

Email me (ron@buzzoodle.com) and answer the following questings:

1) Evangelists Name, Title and Responsibilities

2) What does the person do outside of the job resonsibilities to create buzz?

3) What has been the impact on the organization?

4) How has the evangelist employee benefited?

Only send me this if I have full permission to use it.  Include links to websites and anything else you would want to have worked into the story.  An image is great as well.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Buzzoodle 

When does more = better?

September 10, 2007 | 2 Comments

Usually, I am a fan of less.  I skim, and I do not care for long blog posts.  However, the comprehensive interview by Tamara Adlin of Seth Godin is interesting and impressive in it’s detail.  If you are a fan of interviews, take a look.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Buzz with Blogs 

Las Vegas for Families

September 10, 2007 | 1 Comment

Speaking -Desgin for Business - Las Vegas 2007I just got back from speaking to the Business of Design group in Las Vegas at the Wynn.

I was talking to some locals - they had thier kids with them -  and we were talking about what kids can do in Vegas.  They did have some suggestions, but they also said that the city tried to rebrand itself a few years ago for families and failed.

That is how strong Buzz is.  Once you have Word of Mouth and buzz for something - it is hard to change.  A marketing campaign is certainly not going to change the powerful buzz around what people have experienced.

Business of DesignWhen I went into business 8 years ago, I was primarily working in technology.  We developed a great reputation for technology.  We were cost effective (cheap) and good.  Eventually we grew via word of mouth very effectively.  So effectively that we had hire and grow the company, even though we never planned to have a Custom IT service.  It wasn’t until I really thought long and hard about who we wanted to be that I realized I’d built great buzz and word of mouth for something I did not want to do.  Cutting it was a hard decision, but essential for me to grow the business intentionally.

This is the danger of word of mouth.  Once you develop it, it is hard to change.  Think about your real goals and focus your efforts on those.  It is not going to be easy to become family friendly vegas later on.

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

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