I have worked with a lot of people that come to us and say, “I want buzz!”

Some succeed, and some fail.  Buzz itself is not an acceptable goal.  If you just know you want buzz, you are dooming your effort.  The success factor has little to do with buzz, and everything to do with understanding what a reasonable goal is in the first place.

So what are some examples of good buzz goals I have seen?

Goal:  Increase search engine saturation for our brand.

Goal:  Increase local word of mouth to pass a levy that is too close to call.

Goal: Increase website traffic by creating links and referrals.

Goal:  Establish our expertise over the next 24 months in the ______ industry.

Goal:  Generate 10% more referrals by facilitating word of mouth on the web.

Goal: Build an audience that wants to hear from us – add a minimum of 500 names per month.

Goal: CEO to be interviewed by 4 bloggers per month.

Now some examples of bad goals:

Bad Goal:  I want to create buzz to blow the sales off the roof.

Bad Goal:  I want to be #1 in Google for a general term.

Bad Goal:  I want to have a blog/myspace page/facebook profile because I read about it and I have to.

Bad Goal:  I want people to go into Walmart and demand that they carry my product.

The list goes on.

Here is the simple key:  It is great to have long term goals that are big, but your short term buzz efforts must be achievable steps to realizing those dreams, not the dream itself.  Focus on things that will interest your target audience and be valuable (and/or) easy to pass on.

I had the pleasure of seeing Jeffrey Hayzlett speak a few months ago.  It was especially impressive to me because Employee Evangelism is something I usually have to dig for, and here was a CMO talking about how Employee Ambassadors are a huge part of their growth.

I got the chance to ask Jeffery some questions about how it works for Kodak and how they implement it.  Be sure to check out the link to their Print Ambassador program.

1) Question:  Kodak has gone through some major changes in the past few years. How has your employee-base changed?

Jeffrey Hayzlett: Kodak has gone through an historic transformation from a vertically integrated manufacturer to a diverse supplier of digital and conventional solutions. That transformation was successful due to the enormous talent of the Kodak employees. Now a horizontally lean company, the Kodak employee remains one of the company’s greatest resources…that has not changed.

2) Question: With so many newer employees, has it been easier to encourage Employee Ambassadors?

Jeffrey Hayzlett: I’m proud that two of Kodak’s strongest assets are our people and our brand. Employees have long been ambassadors of the brand. In fact even after retirement, former employees continue to support and tout Kodak solutions. While there have been many change in the past few years, I think one of constants has been both the employees and the public’s desire to see Kodak succeed in its transformation. That support was one of the factors in the success of the transformation to a new Kodak.

3) Question: Can you give me one or two examples of non-sales staff that have been successful ambassadors? What impact did they have on the organization?

Jeffrey Hayzlett: We have recently implemented a program called FAST here at Kodak. FAST is set of operational guidelines designed to drive sustainable, profitable growth.

FAST stands for Focus, Accountability, Simplicity and Trust.

In short, the FAST behaviors require us to treat everyone — internal and external — as a customer.

If we treat everyone as a customer — by delivering as promised and making no excuses — the company prospers.

Another initiative is our new BOOYAH Recognition Certificate. It’s a fresh way to recognize individuals at Kodak for exceptional on-the-job performance, dedication, and commitment. Too often we forget to recognize and thank an individual’s contributions – this certificate provides the opportunity to signal our appreciation in a very visible, upbeat way.

The term “booyah” is a spontaneous expression of passion and joy, usually brought on by victory, success, or some other significant accomplishment. For us, it represents the acknowledgement of a job well done – a great idea, an outstanding attitude, or an obvious effort above and beyond the call of duty.

4) Question: How do your encourage active ambassadorship? Is it required or optional?

Jeffrey Hayzlett: I believe Gandhi said it best. “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” People tend to model the behavior of those around them. As the Kodak leadership team models the behavior of an ambassador, it fosters that behavior in the Kodak community. Conversely, the leadership team learns from employee ambassadors as well. It is vitally important to the company as it keeps all levels of the organization in true communication.

5) Question: Overall, how has this program of actively cultivating a culture of employee ambassadors helped Kodak?

Jeffrey Hayzlett: The Kodak brand continues to grow stronger, both internally and externally as our employees hold themselves personally accountable for achieving the corporate goals. My overall observation is we have happier employees. As we continue to develop an environment that fosters a personal sense of ownership and commitment, we build company based on pride. The result is a company with a brand that each employee can call their own, a company of employee ambassadors.

Who is Jeffrey Hayzlett?

Chief Business Development Officer and Vice President,

Eastman Kodak Company

Jeffrey Hayzlett serves as Chief Business Officer and Vice President, Eastman Kodak Company. He has responsibility for Corporate and Product Public Relations, Communications and Public Affairs, Brand Management, Corporate Sponsorships, Market Development and Corporate Relationships and Partnerships. Mr. Hayzlett reports to both the CEO and COO of the company.

Mr. Hayzlett joined Eastman Kodak Company in April 2006 as Chief Marketing Officer and Vice President, Kodak’s Graphic Communications Group (GCG), leading all marketing activities for GCG. Mr. Hayzlett has nearly 25 years of international marketing, sales and customer relations management experience.

Mr. Hayzlett is currently a member of the board of directors of the Business Marketing Association (BMA), the Electronic Document Systems Foundation (EDSF) and is on the advisory board of the CMO Council. He is chairman of the Sales and Marketing Executives International (SMEI) Foundation for Marketing Education, and is a permanent trustee to the SMEI Academy of Achievement Hall of Fame. He is also a two term past chairman of SMEI. Mr. Hayzlett remains a trustee of Pi Sigma Epsilon National Education Foundation.

Mr. Hayzlett has received numerous honors and awards, including the 2007 Lifetime Achievement Award from Frost & Sullivan, a global business research and consulting firm. He was recently named one of BtoB Magazine’s Best Marketers of 2007. He was awarded the International Business Person of the Year Award by the International Printers’ Network (IPN), received The British Association for Print and Communication (BAPC) Honorary Life Member award in 2004, and the National Association of Quick Printing (NAQP) Industry Award of Distinction in 1997.

Mr. Hayzlett speaks frequently around the world on graphic communications and marketing, including presentations in 2007 at the Canadian Marketing Association’s National Convention and Trade Show, “THE Conference on Marketing,” the Direct Marketing Association Leadership Forum, Print Oasis, and the National Postal Forum.

To find out more about Kodak, visit www.Kodak.com and don’t forget to check out that Print Ambassador program to see some examples of Ambassadorship in action.

Excellent and Interesting podcast of Jeff Sheard of Cisco by Stan Reliham.  They discuss how companies like Cisco and others are using Facebook and Second Life to increase productivity.

Later they discuss some new technologies Cisco are developing on Telepresence.  Be sure to listen to the whole thing.

Are you in an industry where your target market is not tech savvy?

If so, this blog post is important for your future success.  Many companies know that a small percentage of their potential clients are going out to the web and purchasing.  You may decide to put up a basic webpage, which of course does nothing, and leave it at that.

Here I am going to highlight three situations where people have thought that they did not need a web presence and why developing one is important.

Excuse #1:  Our industry is In-Home Health Care.  Very few of our clients use the Internet.

Some home health care companies I have met know just how wrong this thinking is already.  The decision maker for the person getting in home services is usually a son or daughter.  The decision is difficult and they are usually going to spend considerable time researching what company they can afford and can provide the highest level of care for their parent.

Lesson:  Just because your end user is not tech savvy does not mean the decision maker isn’t.

I just spoke to a group of vendors that sell to country clubs and this is one of the concerns they have.  In this case, what does runs on DOS mean?

All this means is that the main member database and maybe the accounting is an older system that runs on DOS (a very old Microsoft operating system.)  This does not mean that when they buy a new computer for the club, they make a special request to get DOS.  Many companies still run their back end databases on older systems because they work and because they cannot justify upgrading just because there is a new operating system. 

So to say this means that they do not surf the Internet or do research on your products and services before they buy is a fallacy. 

Even if the country club does not have modern computers, consider that the board members are people that have some expendable income and probably have a very nice machine at home.

Lesson:  Even if the company does not seem tech savvy, do not assume that the people in the organization cannot research you.

About six years ago I started working with a big publisher of Automotive Aftermarket magazines.  When we started, they wanted to do some web stuff but it was not a high priority because they knew many of the small automotive shops did not have internet access in them.

Some of their magazines put up content management systems and started producing great online magazines, and others just posted static html pages that were hard to find and navigate.

Six years later, they tell me nearly all their clients have Internet access and it is obvious that the group that invested in the web early has a huge advantage over those that did not make the investment.  They are turning a profit on the web and are able to offer all kinds of new products and advertising opportunities that the other group of magazines can only dream about.

Why doesn’t the other group catch up?  The web takes time and effort, and now it is a daunting task and some of them keep putting it off because they do not have the resources now to catch up. (The excuse has changed)

In this case, it is good to think of a website like a rental property you just bought.  You can try to flip it and you may get lucky, but more realistically you invest in it, keep it fixed up and maybe make improvements, promote it and hope you can attract tenants that will stay, and you may turn a modest profit on it each month, but you are also building equity for the future.

Lesson:  Don’t wait until last call.  Even if you think your industry is not going to see your online effort in wide numbers soon, build for the long haul and in time you will be very happy you did.

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I am lucky to be included in a great marketing book called 49 Marketing Secrets (That Work) to Grow Sales. It has a whole host of marketing material for businesses. Authors include some big names, such as Tony Alessandra, and also has normal business owners talking about what marketing tactics work best for them.

If you have a business and want to learn more about all the issues surrounding marketing your business and helping it grow, buy this book.

Ron Finklestein has spent a huge amount of time and effort in assembling this great book. I got 100 copies to sell when I am out speaking, and he has also made the Marketing Secrets eBook available for any of the authors to sell from their website.

You can purchase the 49 Marketing Secrets eBook here.

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If there is one apparent flaw in the Buzzoodle marketing strategy, it is the seeming lack of focus.  Buzzoodle’s approach to creating a buzz seems like a shot gun fired in the dark when you first look at it.

If every person in an organization starts buzzing a few minutes per day in their own way, how does that help you reach your target audience?

This of course depends on the business and the product.  If you are a local restaurant and all the employees start telling more local people about it, there is a huge upside right away.  It is a no-brainer.

If you are not sure if this approach will help you, ask yourself some of these questions.

• Would I benefit from stronger brand awareness? – Word of mouth will add strength to a brand.
• Would I benefit from employees becoming more involved in representing the company? – This could lead to some people being experts in their field or feeling a stronger sense of pride and ownership in the organization.
• Is there any possibility of discovering an untapped market?  – Getting your message out to new people in new ways may help you discover a whole marketplace you did not know existed.
• Would people be more likely to make a purchase from us if they heard about us from several sources? – The likelihood of a purchase being made goes up each time someone hears about you from a new credible source. 
• Would we benefit from more website traffic? – If your website generates leads for you, it can probably generate a lot more by getting employees involved in the buzz.

Many word of mouth marketing consultants talk about the death of advertising and other such nonsense.  If something is working for you, don’t listen to them.  Instead, continue with your current successful efforts and add word of mouth and online buzz to the mix.  They will play well with each other.

I got an email from Aaron Joslow, Editor of RainToday.com (http://www.raintoday.com), an online content site focused on marketing and selling for professional services.

Here is what he wrote:

We recently surveyed over 700 professional services firms and asked them, among other things, what has worked to generate leads for them in the past, what has not worked, and what they are planning on doing to generate leads in the future.

We released the results and analysis in the report, The “Future of Lead Generation” Benchmark Report (http://www.raintoday.com/leadgenreport.cfm). Some results I thought you might find of particular interest include: