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

This 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.

As many of you know, we are putting on our first big Employee Evangelism Event in Las Vegas in January, 2008.  You want your boss to send you because it will be fun and warm and informative.  But how do you convince your organization to send you?

1. You will be like a rebel PR agent, creating buzz with the masses.
2. You could win big at a casino and later invest some of that money in the place you work.
3. You have a better chance of landing Paris Hilton as a client for the firm in Vegas.
4. It is a quiet place to relax after the Christmas rush.
5. This is the first step on your road to fame, and your boss will be able to say she used to know you.
6. Phil Gerbyshak is a presenter – How hot is that!
7. Vegas is in need of water – and you are mostly made of water.
8. Company needs to recruit an Elvis impersonator.
9. Outside escalators
10. 2008 can be your best year ever if you put buzz to work for you!

Visit http://www.buzzoodle.com/vegas-2008/

I joined a program a while back called Teaching Sells.  It has helped me start putting together an online learning community around employee evangelism and buzz.

If you are interested in how to create a reoccuring income via teaching on the web, go check them out.  I find the message boards and the community especially helpful – after I take the courses.

Note: http://teachingsells.com?ref=c2e46f76 is an affiliate link: I do recieve compensation if you sign up.  However, I do pay for this course myself and would never recommend something that I would not (or do not) use myself.

When it comes to Internet Buzz, are your careful, fearful or full throttle?

If you make the argument that the Internet does not matter to your organization, then you are just in denial.  The three options above are your only real choices with how you approach your online image.

Careful:  Careful companies control internally who can say things and what they can say.  They plan for worst case situations and they do not enter into the wild world of social media without a lot of preparation and a solid game plan.

Fearful:  Fearful companies are afraid of what customers and employees will say, so they have a basic website and avoid attracting attention.

Full Throttle:  Full Throttle companies fully expect some negative comments and reactions.  They try lots of things and see what works.

You might think that I favor Full Throttle, and I do for my own business.  But my business is the type that people expect to have that attitude.

What businesses should be careful businesses and why do they still need employee evangelism?

Careful businesses are usually businesses that have a long and established brand identified.  They need to first do no damage, and if they get a little buzz, great.  These organizations should have a core team of employees that act as evangelists online.  They should be trained to carefully represent the core message and brand of the company while still putting a personal touch to what they do.  This will help companies create a more personal connection with the public.

Fearful Companies - These companies are probably afraid to get publicity because they know that their product, services or support are not as good as advertised.  Another type of fearful company could be one that would easily attract negative comments and publicity.  Maybe a heavy polluter or a controversial service.

Limited employee evangelism is still critical to these companies.  If there is going to be negative publicity at some point, you can proactively (yet quietly) be publishing the good things associated with your name.  The more good things that are out there, the less damage a bad story can do.

Full Throttle companies are going to be your start up companies or trendy companies.  They can make a mistake or get some bad publicity and will laugh it off, because it is a small part of who they are.  People will forgive a full throttle company faster because they feel like they know them, are connected to them and they are the little guy taking on the big (careful) guns.

- Not that I am saying anything goes – You still have to be smart about it.

These companies can get every employee involved with evangelism.  You should be everywhere you can and stirring the pot.

There is no right answer here.  The question you have to ask yourself is: Do the negative risks to the company and brand outweigh the positive benefits of big time Buzz?

For those of you that are thinking about going to Buzzoodle Employee Evangelism in January in Las Vegas, please use the PDF Brochure to help convince your boss.

The best choice of people to send to this are enthusiastic employees that would create buzz but do not know where to start or are intimidated by the 1000s of options out there.

Tumblr is a blog-like system with a big difference.  It does not do 90% of what a blog can do.  It is like a one way instant message.

It is cool because it has some other elements that make it useful.  While I would not post quick thank you’s on this blog because then I would be posting 10 times a day, the Tumblr is perfect for that.

So, that is where I am putting the thank you every time I see someone mention our Employee Evangelism Event on a blog or someplace else on the web.

To get your own Tumblr, go to www.tumblr.com

To see the Buzzoodle Tumblr, click here.

Latest from buzzoodle Tumble

Andy Sernovitz - The former head of WOMMA and a great advocate for word of mouth, has a post about Employee Evangelism that you will want to check out.  It is a little simple in treating everyone the same – something I used to think as well.  However, it is a good an interesting post.

Instead of treating everyone equally, identify which people are the most enthusiastic – regardless of title – and work to make them super advocates.

Are you tired of hearing about Web 2.0, Blogging and new media?

 When we started doing Buzz Marketing a few years ago, it was fresh and new.  Now every web developer says they offer innovative Buzz Marketing and social media services.  This is because it is easy to do.  The hard part of Buzz Marketing is that it takes time and passion.  That is why I only work with a few clients at a time – I cannot shift passion every hour.  There is a better solution than hiring me to do it.

Employee Evangelism is a better bet for most companies.  Sure, you can hire someone to go out and get links and create relationships for you, but you cannot buy the passion that SHOULD BE within your organization. 

Employee Evangelism Training
Las Vegas – January 24th and 25th – 2008

Employee Evangelism Event >>

Buzzoodle builds resources and conduct workshops that help you improve the Buzz you are getting from your exceptional team members.  The return on investment when you create employee evangelists is huge.  They generate interest, generate website traffic, generate visibility and stronger brand awareness, and they develop a broader network of people they know and influence.  One exceptional evangelist can change the face of your organization.

Click here to read the details of the event.  If you want to get the ball rolling, send a great employee or two and we will help then see the benefits to them and the organization – as well as introduce them to the how.  Basic computer skills and communication skills are all that are needed. AND ENTHUSIASM – Can’t forget that!

Expect those people you send to come back charged up and infecting the people around them with enthusiasm for creating buzz on a regular basis.

Hurry – There is a DEEP discount if you register in November!

In a perfect world, employee evangelism strengthens your brand and spreads its message.  But unless you have a strong brand that clearly stands for something and can be easily passed from person to person, your brand can never grow legs and take off running.

Scott White, the Big Kahuna of BIG – Brand Identity Guru – agreed to give us a few tips on making the brand more Buzz friendly.  For more information read his blog: http://www.brandidentityguru.com/wordpress and use his research services  if you want to pump up your brand.

Ron: Scott, What are 3 simple ways to improve a brand that most people can do themselves?

 Scott:

1. Social Media- get on Facebook, LinkedIn, Myspace etc. It’s easy and free and you can pick up some great business.

2. Blog- on a regular basis, tell your story, be compelling and honest.

3. e-Newsletter – sending out an e-newsletter is simple and very inexpensive to do. Staying in front of your prospects is really important.

Ron:  What does a brand expert like you do that is different?  What could someone expect if they hired a professional brander?

Scott:  They would expect us to develop a brand identity and positioning that are different and unique. I’ve been out to see Fortune 500 company’s that can’t tell me their own positioning. Why are you better? What makes you different? Are you ready to live that brand?

Ron: If someone wants to create a buzz, what does their brand need to have to make success easier?

Scott: A definitive brand identity. If Volvo the auto maker stands for safety what do you stand for. It’s the toughest question a company can answer.

Ron: Who should contact you and how do they reach you?

Scott: Anyone responsible for their company brand should contact us. And we’re a small boutique branding agency of only 15 so call me directly at 508-238-4347 or email me at swhite@brandidentityguru.com. Ask for the BIG Kahuna!

Thanks Scott.  Remember, if your Brand is weak, employee evangelism will be much harder.  Check out there excellent website and blog.

For a long time, I have not been happy with my blog format.  I knew it was not great but it was too much work to revamp it.

Then my friend Phil Gerbyshak posted a link to a new blog theme he’d bought called Revolution Theme.

I really liked it and I spend the last couple of nights customizing the templates.  There is still more to do on this, but let me know what you think.  Our brand and focus (Employee Evangelism) is getting clearer and the new blog look I hope is very friendly to employees and business owners alike.

The only downside to this format is that you need to drill into individual articles more. 

As always, post comments and point out the typos to me.