Lots of people want to start a blog.  I get one question most frequently.  What do I write about?

First, pick a topic that is broader than the product you are selling or your job.

Next, don’t put your best posts first because no one will read your first few posts.  Get some definitions and such out of the way early on and then start adding some really good posts.

Now, lets assume you are going to do the following:

• A few great articles per month
• Some links and comments to important industry news frequently
• Some personal observations

What else can you write about to post good content?

• Famous Quotes
• Events
• Interviews with people your readers will find interesting
• New product or tool reviews
• Bullet lists – like this one
• Links to other bloggers information
• Images, Video, etc.
• Go to the library and find information you can add to your blog

Watch your most popular posts and ask yourself why they are so popular.  Eventually you will get a feel for what readers appreciate and you can focus more on those areas.  But be sure to keep trying new things at times.

Today I was working with someone else shooting some video, and he kindly did an endoursement of Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing.  He has a book out too, and it never crossed my mind until after I left to do a similar thing for him.  I liked his book and he was kind enough to involve me in his event and give me free buzz.

It is easy to get wrapped up in things and not be mindful of other people.  In this case, shame on me.  I know better.  I was just too involved in my own story and buzz to see how I could have helped someone else.

Always be mindful of how you can help others.

One way to do word of mouth marketing is to get heavy talkers to talk about you.  By heavy talker, I mean those people that already have an audience.  This is a good way to build buzz, and anyone can do it with consistent effort and a good product.

Another way to do Word of Mouth Marketing is to give people who are advocates for you the proper training and tools to broadcast their love of your product or service.  Like what, you ask?

1. Employee Blogs – Getting employees to blog is a great way to create more content that will generate interest in what your organization is doing.  The key is to carefully set guidelines and expectations for each blogger.  Choose employees that want an opportunity to shine and advance their career, because these people will be more committed to writing well and writing to promote the organization.
2. Testimonial Pages – Asking people for testimonials is a good way to get stories from your customers.  What would happen if you shot the testimonial on video and posted it on your website?  People would tell their friends about the video they “Stared” in and drive more people to your site.
3. Refer a Friend Tools - There are lots of tools available on the web that make it easy to “Tell a Friend“.  The simpler this tool is the better as it is easier for a casual way someone can create buzz for you.  This is helpful because people do not spend their day thinking about how to promote you, but they may let a friend know about something of value if they can do it in 30 seconds.
4. Affiliate Programs - If someone is taking the time to create valuable content, they may pay much more attention to you if you offer an affiliate opportunity.  Some people will say that financial rewards should not be put under the word of mouth strategy.  I agree that it is not for every product or service, but it can be a useful tool to spread your message.  And what if your product is in a crowded marketplace?  Maybe the buzz would be about your great affiliate program along with your good (but not remarkable) product.
5. Viral Emails – Build resources that your existing advocates can share with people they know, such as eBooks and other resources that can be easily sent to people.  If your topic is not a topic that can go viral, put together something that people will want to chare, and slip in some branding and information about you.  An example would be “The 10 Best Things for Families to do this Summer in your city.
6. Contests – Create a contest that is compelling enough that your advocates will encourage the people they know to participate.  Again, make it easy to spread.

These are just some ways you can get your existing fans to have a more focused reason and way to talk about you.

Your message could go viral and it is not always something you plan.  Viral marketing is when a message starts spreading from person to person rapidly and uncontrollably.  This could be a message you craft to be funny or extremely informative.  Or it could be something that just happens by accident and spreads quickly.

One important note about emails and viral marketing is that the viral and interesting part of the message does not have to be in the email itself.  Your email could just be a way to point someone to something of interest, and they will forward it to a friend.  Or the opposite could happen.  Your email may not go viral, but it might trigger other forms of viral messages that take off.

My Best 5 Minutes of Marketing

The latter happened to us a few weeks after we launched a new company called Buzzoodle.  I am a fan of Seth Godin’s work and just before going home from lunch I decided to send him an email letting him know about our company.  I’d never communicated with him before, and I really did not expect a reply, but I figured there was no down side.

The email was 2-3 sentences long with a link to the Buzzoodle website.  When I came back from lunch, the tech group said the server was either down or there was a DNS attack on the server.  After further investigation, it turned out Seth had added a comment on his blog about the email message and thousands of people were hitting the site in the first hour.  He has one of the top rated blogs on marketing.

Within a week, we had clients in 17 countries and over a year later, I still get hits from the posts on his blog.  That one email has paid huge dividends without ever being forwarded.

It was the best 5 minutes of marketing I ever did, and it did not seem that special when I sent it out.

How to use Email for Viral Marketing

Email can be used in several different ways to create a buzz.

1. Get people to visit a website
   If you create a funny or interesting thing on the Internet, email is the most effective way to get people to tell other people where it is.  For example, you could post a video on uTube and in a few hours it could have 1000’s of visitors that all started with just a couple email messages.
2. Get people to pass on the message
   If you have a message that really interests people, they are likely to want to share it with friends.  Let people know in your email that it is not an exclusive offer and they can forward the message.  If you are sending out a crazy sale or truly remarkable offer, encourage them to send it along.  If your message is funny or information that is very valuable to people, it will also be forwarded, probably with or without permission.
3. Distribute an eBook or other media
   Notice the word mail in email.  Email is also a way to deliver something.  Consider creating an attachment in a trusted format, such as a PDF, and allowing people to deliver it to all their friends via a forward.  A health care agency or insurance company may want to create a “Annual Family Health Checklist” and send it to all of their clients.  In the email let them know they can forward the valuable worksheet to anyone they care for.  Just be sure that the PDF is properly branded and has a clear way to contact you on it.

Remember that email is often a permanent message.  Be careful you do not say something negative or critical that could also go viral and damage your reputation or the reputation of your company.  It is simply too easy to forward it on.

Email is a powerful tool for creating a buzz and getting your message out. Your message is not always going to go viral and triple your sales, but don’t let that stop you. If you are careful with your message, respect people’s privacy and keep reminding them you exist, you are going to have a better relationship with your customers and you increase the odds that one of your messages will end up generating incredible interest and be seen by millions.

We would like to all think that everyone needs our stuff all the time. The Little Mermaid has taught me differently.

You see, about eight years ago my older daughter liked watching the little mermaid. We have the video. However, she moved from cartoons to spy kids to pre-teen shows and I forgot about the mermaid. Now, our younger daughter is hitting the cartoon phase and I am once again reminded about Disney cartoons. Maybe we will buy the Little Mermaid DVD this time….

What does this have to do with you? Just like families have stages in movies they watch, so do businesses have phases in growth and maturity that may make them need or not need what you have to offer. Understanding what phase a business should be in to need your product will help you target your audience better and generate more interest in what you are doing.

For example, does a mature company need to hire a basic web designer? No, they probably need to hire an eMarketing expert.

Does a start up need to hire an ad agency? Probably not.

When our company was in its infancy, I remember hearing lots of pitches for services that I could have used but could not begin to afford. Those people did not profile or pre-qualify us very well.

To create a buzz people have to pay attention. They are more likely to pay attention if you have something that fits with their needs. Knowing not only the size of your target market, but also the ideal stage of a business, will help your message resonate better.

I have been working long hours lately and wanted to do something fun with the family on Saturday. At the last minute we decided to go to Geauga Lake Amusement Park. It is less than an hour away and with young kids, it is not necessary to drive the extra distance to Cedar Point, as it is famous for bigger roller coasters, which I could not have gone on with them anyway.

For those of you that do not know the history, Geauga Lake used to be an amusement park across the lake from Sea World. Then they bought Sea World and merged them. Then they became Six Flags. Then they closed the Sea World section and made it sort of a lame part of the park, with some minor attractions. Then Cedar Fair bought it and really changed things up. All of this happened in about a 8 year span.

There is Buzz Marketing relevance coming, stay with me….

The constant changes have left the park without a vision or a soul. The coasters are still fun, and they have invested heavily in turning the old Sea World side into a water world theme park, but there is a real lack of identify. There are lots of places that once used to be cool restaurants on the lake and great little shops. Now many of them are boarded up or employee only areas. It was fun in the past to listen to live music and have a drink in the late afternoons.

Riverboats still sit on the lake and I have not seen them move in years. The whole park seems like a carnival in a parking lot. Here today, vacant tomorrow.

Amusement parks usually thrive on the buzz they create by adding the next “world’s largest rollercoaster” – replace largest with fastest, highest, etc.

Sometimes you do not need buzz. In fact, you are better off without it. In the case of Geauga Lake, it is fine but I hope the current owners stay in place for a few years and care enough to make it seem special. To give it an identity it has clearly lost. Maybe next year it will be the Aurora metro park zoo and video arcade.

Tim Raines pointed me to his post that points to what agency.com is doing to win subway business. If you have not seen the video yet, it is interesting.

Thanks Tim.

This post is my personal opinion on the differences between Buzz Marketing, WOM – Word of Mouth Marketing and Viral Marketing.

There is so much overlap, that some people think that it is all just word of mouth marketing. Some people think Viral Marketing takes place only on the internet. Some people think Buzz Marketing is when you go out and pay people to fake buzz.

WOM – Word of Mouth – Word of mouth is really people recommending something to someone they know or writing about something in a public place, like the internet. Referrals from a friend are very likely to trigger a purchase, and this is the goal.

Viral Marketing – Making something viral does not necessarily mean someone is willfully recommending the product or service, as in word of mouth marketing. It could be that the message attaches itself to something that someone does, such as an email footer for hotmail, and spreads. Or it could be something that is easy to spread and people enjoy spreading it. Viral marketing spreads very quickly and with little effort once the marketing virus is released.

Buzz Marketing – Buzz Marketing I refer to as word of mouth marketing with the volume turned up. It is the art of getting more people to talk about you more often. Word of Mouth Marketing experts are often trying to do the same thing, but buzz has a stronger focus on increasing volume and passion about the topic.

Good Internet Marketers will use all of these to be successful on the web. Their Internet Marketing Strategy will include:

• Word of Mouth Internet Strategies such as a Refer a Friend website feature
• Viral Marketing Internet Strategies such as a video that is funny or options to easily Digg a page.
• Buzz Marketing Internet Strategies such as creating more content and connections that get people to link to them, write about them, reference them and email about them. One way is to be controversial or exciting, another way to achieve this is with volume of smaller buzz efforts.

With Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing, we prefer a disciplined approach to creating consistently more buzz over the long term with your existing advocates. My upcoming book will address how to do this on a limited budget.

First my confession. I’d heard of this Rocketboom before but had never taken the time to check it out. I’d never heard of Amanda Congdon.

This post is for people just like me. You see, I started seeing so much news about it that I had to check it out. If you are unfamiliar with this, check out the CNN article.

The article mentions blogs, Craigs list, video blogging and how to become well known on a shoe string. If you go to Technorati, Rocketboom and Amanda Congdon are top searches. I have seen mention on several big name blogs, which is what first brought them to my attention.

I frequently talk about making every employee into an expert or celebrity. Here is a great example of someone who has done it. Just be sure to have a back up plan.

First my confession. I’d heard of this Rocketboom before but had never taken the time to check it out. I’d never heard of Amanda Congdon.

This post is for people just like me. You see, I started seeing so much news about it that I had to check it out. If you are unfamiliar with this, check out the CNN article.

The article mentions blogs, Craigs list, video blogging and how to become well known on a shoe string. If you go to Technorati, Rocketboom and Amanda Congdon are top searches. I have seen mention on several big name blogs, which is what first brought them to my attention.

I frequently talk about making every employee into an expert or celebrity. Here is a great example of someone who has done it. Just be sure to have a back up plan.