Buzz Builder

Blogging for Business - Do You Agree with BusinessWeek Magazine?

In May 2005, BusinessWeek Magazine did one of the first cover stories on the blogging phenomenon. Last week, they published an interesting update of that piece in a blogging style with lots of active links. It's worth reading to see an important media outlet's take on on the future of blogging. BusinessWeek is bullish on blogging and social media as a tool for business. In fact, in the piece, they announced a BusinessWeek blog called Blogspotting which provides an interesting take on how cutting-edge technologies are changing business and society.

I've been blogging since January 2005 and my blog visitors now far exceeds my website audience since Google ranks blog posts much higher than website content. For instance, you'll find this blog in the top ten search results in Google under "publicity stunts"  while my website is invisible in this search even thought I talk about publicity stunts. 

While I've only landed one client who came to the blog first, the blog has proven to be an excellent way to show  prospects how I think. And, I know that a few clients have chosen my services over competitors since they identify with my creative word of mouth marketing approach over traditional advertising. If you're a blogger, I would be curious to know how blogging has helped grow your business. What have  you done to make blogging an effective business building tool?

Buzz Marketing Lessons from Cricketwood Bed and Breakfast in Bend, Oregon

Earlier this month, my wife and I spent four days and three nights at the Cricketwood Country Bed and Breakfast  in Bend, Oregon. We enjoyed our stay immensely and learned some excellent marketing lessons.

First, Jim and Tracy, the cordial husband-and-wife Cricketwood owners, go out of their way to deliver an experience that far exceeds the competition. Unusual amenities included a choice from a vast array of made-to-order gourmet breakfast items (try the delicious German apple pancakes); unlimited free soft drinks, water, beer, and wine; access to a large library of free DVDs which can be taken to your room to watch on a great high-definition TV; a book containing personal restaurant recommendations and menus; complimentary night time cookies and ice cream treats; massage table with free oil; and full-scale fountains in the middle of some rooms (thankfully they can be turned off when you want to go to sleep). We've paid a lot more at other places and gotten much less.

Second, Jim is so enthusiastic about his business and committed to guest services that he made a video explaining the Cricketwood story. He told me that he likes to tell the story in person but sometimes it's more convenient for folks to listen to the story on their own schedule. In each room, Jim has placed a DVD featuring his account of Cricketwood's story. I planned on watching just a few minutes but I got caught up in Jim's enthusiasm and  couldn't stop watching. I'll never forget the story and I'm sure that I'll pass it along to others.

Third, Jim and Tracy understand that it not enough to provide a differentiated and quality experience to get people buzzing. Rather, you have to ask for it. Throughout our stay, we heard them tell us and other guests that their business depends upon word of mouth for growth. We were specifically asked to put in a good word for Cricketwood on TripAdvisor, one of the largest and most reliable travel websites. In our room, we also found a small stack of business cards with instructions on how to submit TripAdvisor or Yahoo Travel reviews. I liked Cricketwood so much that I placed a review  and a three-minute video tour of Cricketwood on TripAdvisor - it's amazing to see that 80 people have watched the video in less than a week since I posted it. It's not a Coppola film but it does highlight what makes Cricketwood unique. 

Memorable amenities, excellent service, and the solicitation of reviews have earned Cricketwood the top B&B rating on TripAdvisor for Bend, Oregon and a five star rating (the highest possible) on Yahoo Travel. If you're in Bend, enjoy your stay at Cricketwood and the business inspiration you'll receive.

Why "Go for No!" Makes Sense for Businesses, Missionaries and More

If you're interested in building buzz for your product or service but don't have the luxury of a large marketing budget, it's important to tell people the "good news" about what you're selling. Sure, you will hear a lot of people say that they're not interested. Without question, hearing "no" can be so discouraging that many entrepreneurs and sales people simply stop  trying.

According to  Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz' excellent book  Go for No!, when you hear "no" from prospects, it means that you're on the right track. Rather than merely counting the number of times that you get rejected, figure out how many people that you must engage typically before you hear "yes." That way, every time you hear "no," you know that you're actually closer to success since negative feedback means you'll soon start hearing "yes."

I heard a wonderful illustration of  the "Go for No!" principle on This American Life, my favorite NPR program. Take about 10 minutes to listen to Act Three: Mission Impossible which describes the challenges of two young Mormon missionaries on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The young missionaries describe their typical 60 hour work week in which their sole objective is engaging people on the streets and inviting them to visit the Mormon temple.  Their average conversation is about 30 seconds and usually ends in a resounding "not interested" (or something much more colorful - it's NYC after all). A successful week means getting three or four people to attend a Mormon service.

Such a low number of conversations resulting in church attendance sounds like an abysmal number. But, consider the success of the Mormon Church in growing. Today, the Mormon Church has more than 12 million members, more than doubling its numbers in the past quarter-century. In large part, the growth of the Mormon Church can be attributed to young missionaries who haven't been afraid to "go for no."

It's no wonder that one of the missionaries in the radio story says that he is considering a career in life insurance sales. If he decides upon that course, I'm sure that he'll be successful because he has learned firsthand that "no"  is a word full of encouraging possibilities.

Barack's Video Buzz from Black Eyed Peas Singer Trumps Hillary's Hallmark Moment

After the Iowa caucuses, I predicted  that word of mouth not advertising would tip the balance in favor of one of the Democratic candidates for president. Recently released data is proving this prediction true.

Before the Iowa Caucus, Hillary Clinton spent approximately  $7.2 million on advertising in Iowa yet she came in third place. The day before Super Tuesday Clinton likely spent millions to buy a block of prime time on the Hallmark Channel, which reaches about 84 million households, for the "nation's first televised town hall" which gave voters in the 22 primary states an opportunity to ask her questions. The scripted questions and answers produced dull television. Although ratings aren't available, it's doubtful that the show had much impact on Super Tuesday's results in which Clinton and Barack Obama finished in a virtual tie.

In contrast to Clinton's reliance on advertising, Obama has been racking up primary and caucus victories based largely on the enthusiasm of his supporters lobbying friends and family on his behalf. Over the last week, a new video by the Black-Eyed Peas singer will.i.am featuring Scarlett Johansson, Kareem Abdul Jabbar and others has become the most popular YouTube video.  The Obama campaign had nothing to do with the creation of the video nor with its dissemination. According to The USA Today , more than 3.7 million watched the video online its first week which far surpassed the size of Clinton's Hallmark audience. It's a certainty that people will continue forwarding the video to friends. As word of mouth spreads, more members of the media and blogosphere will report on the video which in turn will create more buzz. 

 

Super Bowl Ads Can Build Buzz

Today my wife and I joined 90 million other Americans in watching the Super Bowl on television. I was most interested in seeing the game but my wife, who never watches football, always makes a point of catching the Super Bowl to see the ads. It's the only time a year we actually use TiVo to rewind our favorite commercials.

Fox charged almost $3 million for some 30-second spots although most advertisers paid far less than that depending on when they bought the time, how much they bought and at what point in the game it's placed.

For such a princely sum of money, it's easy to be skeptical that a Super Bowl ad is a good marketing investment. While I'm usually very suspicious of the claim that television advertising is a good way to create buzz, the Super Bowl is an exception.

In an interesting Dow Jones article a couple of days ago, there are some interesting cases of companies that generated tremendous buzz from Super Bowl ads.

For instance, Nationwide Financial Services had one of last year's biggest buzz building commercials with a spot  featuring Kevin Federline, best-known as the estranged husband of Britney Spears, fantasizing about doing a music video while cooking up fries at a fast-food restaurant. That ad has passed into Super Bowl legend, largely because of the enormous publicity it generated, with free media exposure estimated at $23 million in value.

In addition, the company said the ad generated more than 600,000 visits to nationwide.com featured advertising page, with over 500,000 new visitors, and was viewed 832,579 times on its Website alone.

One of the few commercials from this year's Super Bowl which seems to be generating buzz in the blogosphere is the racy Danica Patrick ad for Go Daddy, an website registration company. The company has long been known for pushing the envelope when it comes to good taste. In fact, that seems to be strategy. This year, GoDaddy generated free media attention for having 10 spots rejected by Fox before the network finally accepted one to air. In fact, the company even created a website that features some of the rejected commercials.

Although the Go Daddy ads aren't very creative, I salute them for creating a web page that leverages their Super Bowl buzz. It's amazing that many other companies spent millions of dollars on Super Bowl ads and didn't attempt to drive consumers to their websites to watch the ad again or learn more about the company.

 

Heartfelt Referral Rewards Work Wonders

Today, I was thrilled and surprised to receive a box of delicious chocolates and a lovely decorative plate as a thank you from my friend Christine Richards, an outstanding sales training guru and professional speaker.  Inside was a nice card thanking me for recommending her services. Honestly, I had forgotten that I had done this. I can't remember the last time I received a referral reward as nice as Christine's.

Christine's generosity made me reflect on what I do for the people who refer business to me. Sometimes, I'll thank them in person. Other times, I'll email them or drop  a thank you card in the mail. But I'm sure that nothing I do has the impact that I felt when I opened the package today.

As a small business owner, I don't have a huge marketing budget. But, as I consider where to invest marketing dollars, I learned a valuable lesson from Christine. If there are people enthusiastically spreading buzz about my business, rewarding them is not only the right thing to do but it's an excellent to gain future referrals.

Do gifts you receive for referring business make an impact on you? How do you reward people who recommend your services?

Zagat Survey's New Owner Will Have Much Catching Up to Do Online

In The New York Times Deal Book Blog on 1/14/08, there's a post  that Zagat is trying to sell its travel guide book and website business. They might be disappointed with the price that they fetch since online only travel and restaurant websites seem to be growing rapidly as this article indicates. In contrast, the Zagat website has a relative sparse number of reviews and appears to get relatively little traffic. It seemed like Zagat had a lot of buzz about five years ago before the importance of online reviews soared. The company should have jumped aboard the Internet bandwagon earlier since it had such a prestigious name.  The new owner of Zagat will have a lot of catching up to do online.

Brilliant Johnnie Moore Podcast on the New Social Media, the Death of Advertising, Bananas, and The Grateful Dead

While working out at the gym this morning, I enjoyed listening to Johnnie Moore's brilliant 47-minute podcast  with Hugh Macleod and Mark Earls (author of Welcome to the Creative Age and Herd). If you're interested in learning why the new social media is so promising for businesses with quality products and services, don't miss this wide ranging conversation. I almost fell off the treadmill when I heard Mark's hilarious tale about buying a real banana in a convenience store that had been shrunk-wrapped and labeled with an eye-catching sticker. The "branding" of a banana encompasses all that's wrong with traditional marketing. In contrast, the panelists expound upon how smart companies and The Grateful Dead have found that letting their authentic voices ring loud is the best way to break through commercial clutter. 

Why I'm Willing to Pay for Angie's List & Reliable Word of Mouth Recommendations

I'm willing to pay for quality word of mouth recommendations. I just received a note from Angie's List, one of the country's leading customer review websites of service providers with approximately 600,000 members across 124 U.S. cities, informing me that the free subscription that I've enjoyed for more than a year is ending. If I want to continue using the service, it'll cost me $27/year if I use the promo code LTRPROMO when I signup online or by phone.

I blogged positively about Angie's List last year while I had a free subscription. However, I'm  frugal when it comes for paying for online subscriptions since there is so much free information available. Yet, I have been unable to find a free or paid service like Angie's List with such comprehensive listings. More importantly, I've used Angie's List to find a variety of service providers such as electricians, handymen, painters, chimney sweeps, HVAC experts, plumbers, etc. Every single highly-rated service provider that I discovered on Angie's List provided quality service at a fair price. This leads me to believe that Angie's List invests a lot effort in making sure that reviewers are non-biased "real people." I would be curious to know how they do this since I imagine that is tempting for service providers to "stuff the ballot box."

Angie's List has also given me the means to obtain an informed second opinion when friends recommend service providers. It's not like I don't trust people but I enjoy getting an opinion beyond a sample size of one.

What customer review websites with paid or unpaid access do you like? I'm always open to new services and curious to see what else is out there. 

Why You Should Place a Welcome Video Link on Your Company's Home Page in 2008

According to a recent article in the excellent online newsletter of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, Horowitz Associates released a report on "Broadband Content and Services 2007"  stating that six out of ten internet users download or watch video content on a weekly basis, and 86% say they view video at least once per month. News and user-generated videos top the lists of what internet users are watching.

In 2007, we helped three of our clients (Barbara Llewellyn Catering & Event Planning, STORViNO, and Bavarian Professionals) create welcome videos to meeting the growing demand for online video. The video portion of their websites have become quite popular and confirm the popularity of video that the Horowitz Associates report found.

Here are six keys for a successful welcome video:

1. Highlight the video prominently on the home page.
2. Tell a compelling story.
3. Focus on the entrepreneur and his or her values since people like buying from people they like.
4. Use interesting footage of the business in action while the business owner speaks.
5. Include customers talking about why they buy.
6. Be brief  (effective welcome videos are usually one to three minutes long).

If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, you're lucky to have a great company that specializes in online video. For all the aforementioned videos we created for our clients in 2007, we partnered with Max Fancher of Maximize Video Productions. Max is one of the most creative and conscientious professionals with whom I've worked and enjoys my highest recommendation. His other customers are equally enthusiastic.