Are you a Bullet Point on a To Do List?

May 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment

The idea that you can contact someone and they will drop everything they are doing to talk to you, write about you or even promote you it not a very realistic goal.

Lets try it.  - Stop reading and promote me to all your friends and family for the next 30 minutes - go ahead - just start calling and emailing….

I will wait….

See, you kept reading instead, didn’t you?

Yet when we start promoting and creating buzz, that is exactly what we hope for.  I sent you an email, why haven’t you blogged about me yet?

The best you can hope for is often to get on someone’s to do list.

That is not as bad as it sounds - we all want repeat exposure, and if someone keeps rewriting your name on the to do list and moving it forward each day or two, it is better than an advertisement.

Here are some tips to stay on someone’s to do list until they finally act.

  • Make your request easily actionable (Something they need to do)
  • Repeated contacts, but not too frequently.
  • Make the person feel appreciated - SuTree made me an expert.
  • Have a clear benefit stated.
  • Make your request difficult to decline. 
  • Assume you are on the to do list of a busy person.  It is not a NO until they say no.
  • Follow up after a yes. 

My to do list is always full of technologies to check out, books to review, etc.  I say yes, but the people that keep communicating with me rise to the top while others may never get addressed and may fall off the list eventually.  If you think about the dynamic of the to do list, you will change the way you interact with people.

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

Want Meat in your Webinar?

April 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment

All too often, you sign up for a free webinar and you get an idea or two, but the majority of the presentation is a sales pitch.  It is actually very effective and as long as you know that going in, that is fine.

Lee Salz wanted to find a place where he could pay for real training instead of suffer through the pitch.  When he could not find the network of business experts he was looking for, he created one.

Business Experts Webinars is a network of specialists giving (for fee) webinars that have real meat.  No sales and pitching to the audience - real training.

I am really pleased to be a member of this group.  I have watched Lee bring this thing to life with boundless energy.  The great thing is I make a little something from the effort and I can feel confident sending people to this network.

Please go check out the list of webinars and look for mine - I have one each month.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Interesting Buzz, Buzzoodle 

Why You Need the Virtual Buzz Assistant Network

April 15, 2008 | 1 Comment

For years I have been saying, “You can do this.”  and I stand by that.

You can create buzz yourself, but you can create more buzz faster with an assistant that really focuses on buzz.

I hear from people all the time that tell me they know they CAN create buzz, but they do not have the time or could not stick to it long term.

In the past, we did not really have options for these people because you either had to hire me, and I work on only a few projects at a time, or you had to train people in the organization, which many people did not want to do.

So here it is:  The Virtual Buzz Assistant Network

We find great people that want to work from home and be your buzz-only Virtual Assistant.

To do this successfully, we needed to work out a system where clients work directly with the virtual assistants.  So it is a placement system where we look at your project or need and forward you our best members for your consideration - and you pay them directly.  This keeps the cost low for the client and puts the pressure on the assistant to perform well or lose the client.

We stay involved if someone requests monthly oversite by us (yes, there is an additional fee) and we also do satisfaction surveys frequently to help everyone get the most out of the relationships.

Best Use - Clear Marketing Goals

The best way to use this service is to set a clear marketing goal, like “I want to increase my email newsletter subscription by 3,000 people.”  If you just say “I want buzz.” it is less likely to succeed.

If you already do SEO, Web Design or Traditional Marketing, you can either work with Virtual Buzz Assistants to offer new products, or you can join and add the services to what you offer personally.

Our current biggest need is to get more Virtual Buzz Assistants signed up.  It takes some time to go through the basic certification and we have several clients on waiting lists for when we have a bigger selection of Virtual Buzz Assistants.

If you have questions about either end of the program, feel free to contact me.  Thanks for reading.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Buzzoodle, Blog 

Impersonal Buzz Marketing

April 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Even when you have a strong brand, people do not appreciate being treated like a number:  Seth Godin blog post about Forbes.

Remember when you are contacting people - the more they feel like they are the only person you are talking to that day, the more likely they are to respond in a positive manner. 

Does this mean that the Virtual Buzz Assistant Network we run doing the same thing? 

Sure, Virtual Buzz Assistants are short-cutting the relationship - but the point you need to remember is that companies that hire Virtual Buzz Assistants respect and care about online relationships - so much so that they have an assistant that helps them maintain them. 

Caring about the relationships and full disclosure is what makes the marketing services a Virtual Buzz Assistant offers unique.Â

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Buzzoodle, Blog 

2 Successes

March 7, 2008 | 3 Comments

Last night I went to an event where I ran into several people that have seen me speak before.

One told me that after seeing me speak, he and his partner both started blogs.  His has not done much, but she really got into hers and she is now seen as an expert in the Akron area for her specialty.  It resulted in a large bank calling her (after reading the blog) and asking if they could send all their Akron inquiries her way. 

A second person I talked to said they took a while to get LinkedIn going, but once they really started using it they were very plesantly surprised.  They have generated several new clients in a short time.

It is really gratifying to me to know that people are not just walking away happy about the speach, but that they also walk away with tangible benefits that help them.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Buzzoodle, Blog 

Are you available for Interviews?

March 3, 2008 | 4 Comments

One great way to get more visibility is to be interviewed.  Sounds hard if you have never done it, but it is not.  In fact, let me help you out a bit.

If you are available to be interviewed by writers, bloggers, etc. - please leave a comment on this post and tell us your website/blog and what topic you can talk about.

If you have a blog, podcast show, etc. and want to interview people, let us know in the comments section where to find you and what topics you are looking for.

Be sure to bookmark this post and check back.  It may become a wealth of opportunities, regardless of which side of the coin you are on.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Buzzoodle, 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 

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 

20 Free Buzz Marketing Lessons

December 17, 2007 | 3 Comments

Are people BUZZING about you?

Sign up FREE today and your will get:

  • 99 Websites Where You Can Create Buzz Now

  • Buzz Marketing Email Course
    20 Lessons on Building Buzz

  • Buzzoodle eBuzz!
    Buzz and Internet Marketing News and Tips

Not Sure?You can unsubscribe any time and we take privacy very seriously. We will not share your information with anyone outside of our organization.The goal of our emails is to jump start your buzz marketing effort and keep you up to date with the latest buzz marketing trends and opportunities.Who should sign up?

  • Business Owners and Professionals

  • Employees that want to stand out and create buzz for their organization

  • Authors, Speakers and Public Relations Specialists

  • Marketers that want to add buzz marketing to their marketing mix

  • Non-Profit Organizations that want to raise more money

  • Event Planners

  • Someone with Internet Marketing and Internet Business interests

 Don’t fall behind your competition. Buzz is easier than ever and companies everywhere are training their entire workforce to create buzz daily. The sooner you start the better results you will achieve.  

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Buzzoodle, Blog 

Employee Evangelism with Phil Gerbyshak

November 27, 2007 | 2 Comments

I have scheduled a variety of experts for our upcoming Employee Evangelism Worshop. 

Phil GerbyshakThis post is asking some tough questions to Phil Gerbyshak, the make it great guy, on why he is participating and what is his role. 

1) What do you contribute to the Employee Evangelism Workshops?

Phil: As a full-time employee in corporate America, I live employee evangelism every day. Additionally, as a full-time solopreneur, I live personal brand evangelism every night. The techniques I use to talk about my day job cross over into the things I do to build my personal brand; being authentic, making it easy for folks to talk about me, and repeating the same message over and over again.

I’ve also been blogging to develop my personal brand since March of 2005, with varying degrees of success. I can share my successes and my struggles, and help you cut years off your personal branding learning curve.

2) Phil, you have a good full time job with a large company and you are not in sales and marketing. Why have you worked so hard building a great personal brand?

Phil:  Great question Ron! To borrow a term from Daniel Pink, we live in a “free-agent nation,” and aren’t guaranteed of anything from our companies, only an offer of what might be. If I’m going to be successful in this world, it may or may not happen at my day job. What I can do is build myself to be the best me I can be, by continuing to learn more about my passions and my strengths, and not let myself get boxed in by the typical definition of an IT guy, a manager, or even a guy from Wisconsin.

Most of all, I don’t want to be defined by anything not of my choosing.

3) What have been the biggest advantages of building your brand?

I see the biggest advantage being folks know me as Phil Gerbyshak, helpful guy, and few think about me as an employee in a faceless corporation.

I’d bet if you asked folks where I live (Milwaukee), many know my name, but few know where I work or what I do. That’s been a very intentional brand building part of my life. This helps folks see me in a very positive light, and don’t equate my success with the success of my company.

To be clear, I love my job and my company and my team. I just don’t want to be pigeon holed as an employee of company x.

4) Phil, how do you juggle a full time job, time with family and building your personal brand?  Do you have a social life?

Phil: Very carefully Ron. Seriously, I do it by making sure that instead of living 3 distinct lives, I interweave them all into 1 great life. When I’m at work, I am the go-to guy people turn to when they don’t know who else to ask. Though I’m an IT manager, I’m seen as a leader who folks can turn to for personal development, management advice, and just an overall helpful guy. You could say many of these same things about my personal brand as a solopreneur, and in my family.

Social life? Sure, I go to movies with my wife, go to sporting events and house parties with my friends and family, and find time to mentor a 16 year old boy with Big Brothers Big Sisters, in addition to giving back with several other non-profits locally in Milwaukee.

The key? It’s all congruent with who I am, and it makes it part of the brand that is Phil Gerbyshak.

5) What are the biggest advantages of having a strong, online personal brand?

One of the biggest advantages I see is folks can easily find me in the way that I want them to find me. If you search for Phil Gerbyshak,  you will find items I created or interviews with me, so the message is directly from me. My message is consistently spread because I took the time to build my brand. If you don’t take the time to build your brand, you run the risk that someone else will. And I don’t want someone else to say who I am, I want to be part of that story!

The other advantage I’ll mention is having a strong online personal brand easily translates into a strong OFFline personal brand. I’ve gotten to meet some really amazing people (like you, Timothy Johnson, Priscilla Palmer, Kevin Eikenberry, Steve Farber and Rosa Say, to name a few) all because I’ve taken the time to share my brand with others.

6) Where are the best places to see your personal brand in action?

Phil: Right now the best places to see my personal brand in action are at Make It Great! (http://makeitgreat.typepad.com) and at Slacker Manager (http://www.slackermanager.com). You could also pick up a copy of my book 10 Ways to Make It Great! at http://makeitgreatbook.com if you wanted a practical  workbook to improve your life.

Thanks Phil.  Come join Phil and me in Las Vegas in January, 2008.  Everyone can build a personal brand and everyone is a buzz marketer.

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Buzzoodle, Blog 

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