Get your computer fixed for FREE!

February 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Our good friend Phil Gerbyshak is involved with a company that charges by the minute for fixes to your computer.

Until March 15, 2008 they are offering free tech support.  Talk about buzz.  Get your computer charged up and running smoothly for free.  You will go back if you like them, and not use them again if you do not.  They must be very confident in their ability to provide great service.

Read about it here.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog 

Identifying Influencers

February 27, 2008 | 1 Comment

Here is an interesting “how to” on identifying influencers for your product or service.

Marketing Vox - Identifying Infuencers

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog 

Diigo - a must have web app.

February 25, 2008 | 2 Comments

I use a variety of tools for doing research and saving things.  Online notebooks are useful to capture data and save it.  For example, you can capture a page and even if the page changes later, you captured what you wanted.  Useful for book research, etc.

Then I stumbled upon a Diigo.  This is some nice stuff.  Now I can put notes and bookmarks on webpages and see my notes when I return.  I prefer this much over something like del.icio.us, which seems to not be doing too much to keep growing.

I did not install the toolbar.  I have too many things installed already and did not want to risk slower performance.  However, with a little playing around I added the button to the favorites and it is working nicely.

I especially like the feature that gets more information on a page.  Now I can see how popular a blog is before I contact them.

If you want a better way to do web research and organization, give Diigo a try.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Interesting Buzz, Buzzoodle, Blog 

I am too busy having fun, please write my best seller for me.

February 20, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Tell me how fun this is! 

Please write my NY Times Bestseller for me while I enjoy life.

I don’t know if it will work, but if it does it is very cool.  It is also a chance for you to finesse some great buzz.  If you can work your product or service into his book, that is great buzz.  But don’t spoil it.  Only try it if it is a good fit.

While you are at it, if you have a Buzz Marketing best seller that you would like me to take and publish, let me know.  :)

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Interesting Buzz, Blog 

Are you selling stuff or building relationships?

February 18, 2008 | 3 Comments

Guy Kawasaki has a post on his Apple upgrade to Air.  It is great because it looks at how a relationship can be very complex.

There are a lot of places this could have gone wrong, with Apple and with Microsoft, but everything comes together.  What is best with this article is how Guy analyzes himself as a consumer, instead of blaming the vendor.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog 

Cool Experts Wanted

February 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Our number one service that clients purchase from us is our online advocacy.

Weekly, we do searches and research to identify really cool people that are producing content in targeted industries.  We then contact them and if they are interested, we facilitate a relationship between them and our clients.

We strickly look at building 2-way valuable relationships.  I’d rather make 3 good contacts instead of 500 poor contacts.

ExpertWith that in mind, we are launching a new Expert Directory.  This is where people let us know if they are interested in particular topics.  If we have a client that is a good match, we first go to our directory to help the parties meet.

Why would you want to join our Expert Directory?

We always encourage clients to have something they can give away.  It may be their new book, or a sample of their product, or a chance to interview the CEO. 

The key for us is that you are producing information regularly.  Bloggers, Podcasters, eNewsletter writers, etc.  We can help you with some interesting content and you can help our clients with a tiny bit of buzz.  We never try to control what you say, by the way.

Sign up here is you are an expert or working at becoming an expert.

If you like this directory application, I will tell you a cool secret.  We are using Zoho Creator.  Currently it is free and makes doing this kind of thing super easy.  I know how to program databases, but why would I when I can toss this together in minutes and change it in seconds whenever I want.  www.zoho.com - I love these guys.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Buzzoodle, Blog 

7 Tips to Protect Employee Evangelists

February 8, 2008 | 2 Comments

We always encourage people to do it themselves.  Your employee base can create a lot of buzz for you.

Today I talked to someone that was creating a lot of buzz for a company she used to work for.  She left the company and it ended up going out of business.

The problem that resulted from her was this.  She’d set up pages on myspace, facebook, etc. and built communities around herself and the company.  When the company went under, all those people got upset and she was the only person left as a visible target.

Then, because a company email was used to set up those accounts, she could not cancel them because it no longer existed.

So here is someone that did everything right, and ended up hurting her personal brand.

So how do you protect yourself?

  1. Use a free email account that you can access even if the company shuts down your email - Whether you are fired, quit or the company closes.
  2. If you are building buzz on your own time, work more on your personal brand as an expert but mention the company frequently so you both get buzz but you are building an asset for yourself.
  3. Don’t say something you may regret later.  If you say your current company is better than a competitor, you may find it hard to get a job with the competitor later on.
  4. Don’t build a community around a product that is likely to fail.  It is a lot of work to create a good community and you must have the focus be broader than a product that you are not sure will make it.
  5. Keep a list of things you need to update in the case of a major change.  If you leave the company, you will need to update a lot of things.  LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, Blogs, Twitter, MyBlogLog, etc.
  6. Don’t promote something you do not believe in.  In fact, don’t work for a company you do not believe in.  But if you are stuck for the time being, don’t create fake buzz.
  7. Take your time in creating buzz.  Make good choices and be careful not to say things that can be misinterpreted or used by a competitor.

The general best way employee evangelists can protect themselves is to respect and manage their own personal brand as well as those elements of company buzz they create - with an eye on growing both independently in the future.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Branding, Employee Advocates, Blog 

Are You Important Enough?

February 5, 2008 | 3 Comments

I wrote a post a while back called Leaving Footprints In the Sand.  In my free 20 lesson buzz marketing course, I have one lesson that is tied to this post.  It talks about the importance of participating and leaving comments.

Even though many people read the lesson, and many people respond favorably to it, it still gets fewer comments than I would expect.

You are important enough!

No one likes to get spam comments that waste their time.  Outside of that, bloggers love to get feedback and comments.  The link and visibility helps the commenter too. 

Get over whatever is stopping you.  You do not have to write something important or profound.  Just contribute something positive and reap the rewards of more people visiting your website or blog.

When you read the Leaving Footprints In the Sand post, you can see that most people are just saying, “Thanks…”

I like getting those comments.  People click on the links.  So you have to ask yourself, why am I not commenting more?

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

Docstoc - Great Resource and Buzz Outlet

February 4, 2008 | Leave a Comment

One of the great challenges of our time is creating professional, well documented processes and systems that protect us legally and do not cost a fortune.  This used to mean that you would purchase a document, make modifications and then ask a lawyer to review it.  Now it has even gotten better with Docstoc - a free repository of 1,000’s of documents that you can download, modify and send to your lawyer.

Not only that, but you can upload useful document you are willing to share and create some buzz for yourself.

This is one of those “must look at” resources for smaller businesses that are always struggling with creating better processes.  Go ahead and take a look.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog 

Can you hit a moving target?

February 4, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Shooting skeet on a blustery day is nothing like 25 yard target practice with a .22.  No, I am not a huge gun fan, but I have done both of these.  Shooting a clay disc as it flies through the air with your spray of shot is not the same as putting one whole in a target that sits there.

Today I had a meeting with someone, and talk about hitting a moving target.  We were discussing a 12 month plan, but he was saying that things would change so much in the next three months that his answers would change along the way.

That got me thinking - Are things moving so quickly now that any project will be outdated by the time it reaches completion?  Are we better off selling small, adaptbile pieces of larger plans instead of trying for a whole pie?

For me the answer was yes.  And as things evolve, they will be yes for more and more people.

Everything you try to accomplish is trying to hit a moving target.  If you understand that, then you will be more successful because you will plan for it.  Here are some examples of what I mean.

  1. Wealth Creation - The economy does not sit still.  Good ideas today are bad ideas at some point.
  2. Technology - We are way past websites.  What all does a company need to do?  Beyond some core items, this is changing all the time.
  3. Sales - Any prospect can be more or less likely to buy from you just based on what they had for lunch.  (People don’t buy on an upset stomach)
  4. Health - Which fad diet are you on?
  5. Family - Those darn kids keep getting older and talking back more… grrr

This list could go on and on, but you get the point.  Any plan you make is trying to hit something that it may not even want to hit when the bullet arrives.  So what can you do to hit more targets that just won’t stand still?

  1. Anticipate the move - Ask “What would we do if….”
  2. Create smaller, faster, more highly targeted and simple solutions.
  3. Create solutions that are disposible. 
  4. Look for solutions that already exist, even if they do not perfectly integrate into your other parts.
  5. Automate everything you can but do not feel like you must eliminate some human intervention.
  6. Don’t be afraid to change course half way through - if it makes sense.
  7. Don’t fall in love with your solution.

If you are wondering what this has to do with Buzz Marketing - it is the fact that I cannot recommend one set of web 2.0 tools because the landscape of buzz opportunities is one of the fastest moving targets of all.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog 

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