Tim Ferriss on Personal Branding

January 29, 2008 | 2 Comments

Tim Ferriss has an excellent post on personal branding.  Let me add to his comments here.

1st captured your personal brand via domains, blogs, etc.  (Even if you are not writing regularly to them.)

Then use this platform to promote those things you care about in your life.  It could be where you work, your favorite hand cream, your kids soccer team, etc.

Talking about things you care about diversifies your online footprint and could lead to more career success.  Consider how an employer is going to feel about an employee that is out there writing positive things about the company.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Branding, Blog 

Is The Tipping Point Wrong?

January 25, 2008 | 2 Comments

Fast Company published an interesting article looking at Duncan Watts assertion that the theories in the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell are false.

The Tipping Point is a popular book that refers to how a small group of people are influential and can create trends.

Duncan makes some interesting points that I agree with in the Fast Company article.  In fact, while I respect the idea of influentials, we have always based Buzzoodle on the desire to create steady buzz, knowing that any given connection has a statistical chance of creating no buzz, some buzz or a great deal of buzz.  Those odds depend on the message, the audience, the product - and after reading this article, it obviously depends on the general social readiness to accept a new trend or idea.

I believe that you have to respect and try to get the attention of the big inluencers, but you will create a lot more success by paying attention to the wealth of people that rarely get attention but do have audiences in the 100’s or 1,000’s.

But remember, it still does not hurt to get your book on Oprah.

Updated 1/28/2008:  Guy Kawasaki discussses this article as well on his blog.

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

Blow up the marketing department

January 23, 2008 | 6 Comments

I was listening to an interview and Seth Godin said “I am in favor of blowing up the marketing department.”

Buzzoodle has the same attitude.

  1. Everyone in your organization is a marketer.  Your HR Director is your best CMO.
  2. If some of your members do not get the fact that they are marketers, they have no long term future in your organization.  They just want the paycheck.
  3. Someone can get huge results by empowering your base of evangelists - providing them with stories, examples and recommended tools.

Boom.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog 

Buzz Group Tool - Simple Employee Evangelism

January 16, 2008 | Leave a Comment

How do you get non-technical and non-marketing people to be better at being avid evangelists for where they work?

We are always asking ourselves this question.  It has to be simple and quick, yet effective.

With that in mind, we have launched our first SEE product.

SEE stands for Simple Employee Evangelism - and the first one  is a blog commenting strategy that is fun, fast and effective - and everyone can participate.  It is simply a downloadable package of documents, including audio, PowerPoint and more, that you can use to quickly get everyone buzzing.

Click here to see what we are talking about.

You will only want to buy this if you are trying to encourage other people in your organization to create more buzz.  When you buy it, you get full rights to customize it and distribute it within your organization.

Also, until mid-February 2008 it is also deeply discounted.  Since it has a money back guarantee, you may just pick up a copy quickly.

Be sure to read towards the bottom for the special (or not so special) free bonus that comes with it.

The number one reason we are trying this is that it targets ONE behavior.  If you get people to change this one simple behavior on a weekly basis, you are going to generate more buzz and website traffic.

PLEASE - Let me know what you think of this approach. If managers, marketing professionals and business owners like this easy format, we will begin doing one of these per month.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog 

Celebrity Apprentice Appearance

January 15, 2008 | 2 Comments

Jeffrey Hayzlett (Mr. Kodak) was recently interviewed on this blog about Kodak’s Employee Ambassador program.  This week he is appearing on Celebrity Apprentice.  (Thursday, 9:00 PM on NBC)

If I was not one degree away from Donald Trump before, I certainly am now. 

If you have not watched it yet, it is fun to see how celebrities use their ability to create buzz to get bigger results faster and win the contests.  If you have not watched it yet, this is the week to give it a try and support our friend Jeffrey, who was kind enough to let us peer into how the big companies are doing employee evangelism.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog 

Why a Quiz creates Buzz

January 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment

A new book is out busting down the Myths around Entrepreneurship called The Illusions of Entrepreneurship by Scott Shane

Take the quiz here.

I am talking about it for several reasons.

1) The author is in NE Ohio -  We have to stick together!

2) Topic is interesting - why not talk about it?

3) Look at how a quiz helps generate buzz

4) Guy Kawasaki was impressed.

What can you do to make your website more buzzworthy?

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog 

The 1st Promise You Break is your Last Chance

January 4, 2008 | 5 Comments

When a client, especially a new client, does not get what they are expecting, you are breaking an implied promise.  Once you break that first promise, they will be calulating in their head how much more they will take before letting you go.

Here are 10 ways you may have broken a promise to a client.

  1. Return a phone call when you said you would.
  2. Proposal or contract arrives the day you said it would.
  3. Reported back progress when stipulated.
  4. Delivered exactly what is expected.
  5. Clear pricing that does not go up for this and that.
  6. Built an ongoing, valueable relationship
  7. Failed to thank client for referral
  8. Did not follow up after delivery
  9. Miss a scheduled meeting or lunch
  10. Back-peddle on promises after sale

You cannot create buzz when you are creating regret.  I have been guilty of most of these at one time or another, especially when we were doing custom IT work (Which is why I do not pursue that work anymore).  The best you can doing is focus on the issue and work hard to eliminate it with better processes and customer service.  Great customer service does create great buzz.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Small Business, Blog 

Word of Mouth Blogs

January 3, 2008 | 3 Comments

I am sad I did not make this list, but here is a very good list of other Word of Mouth Marketing Blogs.  All the obvious ones are there - and some I am rediscovering.

Thanks Buzz Canuck

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

Make Money on the Internet

January 3, 2008 | 3 Comments

Dean Hunt is a Buzz Marketer that really focuses on making money on the Internet.

Here I try to focus on Employee Evangelism and group buzz efforts.  If you read this blog and would like to know about making money on the internet - and the two topics are not mutually exclusive - then you will want to contact Dean Hunt.  He and his partner are rolling out a Buzz Marketing - Internet Marketing Resource.

Leave him a comment or email him and he will update you once it is officially available if you are serious about making money from your buzz effort.  I can tell you he knows what he is doing and does a great job of making his efforts transparent to everyone.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog 

Get Your Leprechaun On

January 2, 2008 | 2 Comments

Ron McDaniel LeprechaunMy dad died before he turned 60 just a couple of years ago.  At his funeral, one of the two pictures that were diplayed was this one. 

He really loved St. Patricks Day and had a big party every year.  He dressed as a Leprechaun and greeted everyone at the door.  The kids searched the house for hidden Leprechaun treasure (chocolate gold coins) and the adults usually needed to have someone drive them home.

He was fun and energetic year round, but it was this party, and this picture that brought back the most vivid memories for people.

Standing out and being vivid in someone’s mind is not just being good, being funny, being interesting.  If you want to create a memory that lasts more than 5 minutes, you have to go the extra mile and get your Leprechaun on.  Then people will be talking about it long after you are gone.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Branding, Blog