Instigator Blog

The Canadian Marketing Association is holding a 1-day conference in Toronto on Word of Mouth Marketing called From Mass to Grass. The name still cracks me up, I can’t help it…

The conference is on April 12th. They’ve got a great cast of speakers lined up including Jackie Huba from Church of the Customer and Kyle MacDonald of one red paperclip fame.

Sean Moffitt (one of the organizers) introduced me to the conference. Sean is a word-of-mouth guru himself — check out Agent Wildfire and his blog Buzz Canuck.

It should be a great day - tons of great sessions and lots to do and learn. My only disappointment is the cost. They’ve got an early bird special going on right now for $595 (which ends March 12th.) Otherwise it’ll be $695. That seems just a bit too steep for a 1-day event, no matter who is involved. But that part of it is out of my hands - I’m certain the event will be a blast.

Giving good presentations is hard. Public speaking is a true skill that you can develop over time; a combination of art and science. Thinking about my upcoming presentation in May for SOBCon 07 - The Relationship Bloggers’ Conference, I can’t help but hone in on those words I know don’t belong.

• MAKE SOME NOISE!!! Unless you’re at the MTV Music Awards this isn’t much of a crowd pleaser. The key point is this: Know Thy Audience. Your audience should dictate your style, approach, the words you use, etc. If you can’t modify your pitch to your audience you’ll turn people off quicker than you can say…
• Um… The dreaded “um” is so commonplace in our speech we often overlook it. But when you’re standing in front of a crowd, selling ‘em whatever you’re selling ‘em (and don’t be mistaken: you ARE selling) too many “ums” shows a lack of preparedness and comfort.
• Did That Make Sense? Actually, it didn’t. And on top of that, because you had to ask me I’m so disengaged at this point that I’ve started playing a game on my BlackBerry. The key here: Practice. Do it in front of a mirror. Do it in the shower. Do it in front of others. Do it in public. If you present in front of friends and family who aren’t in your field of expertise and they get it, you’ve got yourself a winner.
• What Else Can I Show You? I don’t know, you tell me, that’s why you’re standing up there on the stage and I’m sitting here eagerly in the crowd. Presentations are stories - they need a beginning, middle and end. It doesn’t matter the setting, format or style of presentation/conference/meeting. If you’re standing in front of people and telling them something, you’re spinning a story. And that means it needs all the elements of a good one.
• I Guess That’s It. Well is that the end or not? You would know better than me. Blog professionals often talk about ending strongly, and the same holds true when giving a presentation. Even saying, “That’s the end” is kind of lame - your final point (and the entire presentation arc) should make it obvious enough, and you should be able to transition instantly into the next step - be it questions, slinking off the stage, hours of clapping…

So, I guess that’s it.

Kidding.

Public speaking is the sort of thing that makes grown men cry, and buckles people to their knees. We all know it’s daunting, which is all the more reason to master the 4 Ps of Presentations:

1. Prepare. You might not need a word-for-word script, but prepare something. Make sure your story is compelling, entertaining and worth listening to.
2. Practice. You need to practice. Even veteran presenters practice. Make sure you at least read it out loud a few times to develop a good rhythm.
3. Pronunciate. You need to speak clearly. There’s no room for mumbling in a presentation. Let me toss another P in there - Project. Speak clearly and firmly to get your point across.
4. Participate. You should always try to engage your audience. The sooner they feel like they’re part of what you’re doing, the better.

Buzz marketing works. Creating buzz works. Providing people with a reason to spread your gospel and your story works.

My 3-Week Buzz Marketing Challenge hammered home a few important points; lessons learned and steps you can take to master the art and science of buzz marketing.

The Science

1. Start Simple. Pick 3 or 4 of the simpler buzz marketing techniques and focus on those. The most effective will be contacting old friends and acquaintances and contacting stale connections.
2. Keep Trying. Buzz marketing isn’t a 3-week crash course. It’s something you should always be doing. 15 minutes of fame are nice, but oh-so-fleeting…you want to build upon each success. Each buzz trail that goes out should feed the next. Think: sonic boom.
3. Develop a Routine. I’m all for setting up personal systems to manage things. Buzz marketing is the same. Even if you do it regularly, without a system to manage and control what you’re doing, it won’t be as effective. Keep track of your initiatives, record them, review what worked and what didn’t, and get into the routine of creating buzz.

   Routines can be regimented and managed. Eventually, the routine becomes a habit and you’re buzzing all the time without even realizing it. Jackpot.

The Art

1. Get Comfortable. Not everyone is comfortable tooting their own horn. You’ll have to be if you want to master buzz marketing. It’s not about idiotic self-promotion, but if you’re not comfortable or confident in your own successes and telling others about them, no one else will be either.
2. It’s About People. Some people have a flair for communicating with people. They make you feel at ease, they open up quickly, suddenly you’re telling them every little secret…nevermind. Point is, buzz marketing is about people. Techniques and systems help you reach those people but once you’ve connected, art takes over.

   Master the art of re-connecting with people. It will help you get comfortable with the idea of buzz marketing, without going over the top. And you’ll learn to craft your message better over time when you take on bigger, more complex challenges.

3. Be Creative. The basics will work. Even if you stick to connecting with old acquaintances, customer follow-ups and a few of the other simpler buzz marketing techniques you can be successful. But now is your chance to do something off-the-wall zany. Buzz marketing is a great combination of basic communication efforts and total creativity. Take the essence of the challenges - reaching out to people and getting your success stories talked about - and find new ways of doing it. Be bold. Be entertaining. Have fun.

The real key to buzz marketing is getting others to buzz for you.

If you’re the only one standing on the rooftop shouting your name…it will eventually fall on deaf ears. When you marshal an army of buzz agents - people openly and truthfully willing to talk about you - you’ve won the game big time.

My 3-Week Buzz Marketing Challenge is over. I completed a good number of the challenges but certainly not all of them. Getting on a board of directors isn’t easy! (But I did try!)

I didn’t post about every buzz marketing challenge I took on. Some of them I was doing beforehand as well. These last few challenges are summarized below, so you can get a clear picture of what was accomplished in the 3-week time period.

For those of you that are new to Instigator Blog, my goal was to complete as many of Ron McDaniel’s 57 buzz challenges as possible, from his book Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing in 3 weeks. At least 2 or 3 others followed up after me and also started their own 3-week challenges.

Generally speaking I was very pleased with what I was able to accomplish. More than anything I learned a number of important lessons, which I’ll be sharing soon.

1. Call Someone You’ve Never Talked To. I tried (but left a message.) This is a tough challenge because many people are shy about calling strangers. I absolutely believe this can work though. Ron McDaniel recommends calling someone that you’ve read about in the newspaper, congratulate them about their success and go from there. That’s precisely what I did when I called Mohammed Hassan, who is involved with a microloan/microcredit organization in Montreal (which I had read about in the Montreal Gazette.) Mohammed did call me back, now we’re playing phone tag.
2. Online Directory. The challenge here is to use online directories to put your name and profile out there. An example used in Ron’s book is LinkedIn. I’ve used LinkedIn for quite awhile but not actively. Very soon I’ll be updating my LinkedIn profile, so stay tuned!
3. Instant Messaging. I use instant messaging constantly to communicate with people. Often it’s to share industry news as well as updates on what I’m doing. As Ron points out in his book, instant messaging can be disruptive, so use it cautiously and don’t get frustrated if you don’t get an immediate response. A powerful use of instant messaging is to spread news quickly. If you’ve got a big enough contact list you can ping people fast, and spread some serious buzz.
4. Write a Blog. Well, obviously I’ve got this one covered. Writing a blog is the single most effective way of growing your personal brand and generating buzz. End of story. Once you start blogging, tons of opportunities will come. You may be able to republish your content on reputable websites. Connect with like-minded guys doing interesting things for the blogosphere. It’s incredible what blogging can do.
5. Produce an e-book. This is not something I’ve finished doing, but I’ve been talking to a couple of people about the possibility. E-books and audio books remain quite popular, and even if you give them away for free, they can generate a lot of buzz. Ron points out that e-books can be great sales tools. It’s important to brand them properly so people know where the e-book came from.
6. Send a Press Release. I undertook this task for my friend, Jimmy Moore, from The Livin’ La Vida Low Carb Show which is a great, in-your-face and inspirational podcast. We sent out an initial press release to a variety of health magazines and websites hoping to seed the turf a little bit and get him some recognition. Recently, Jimmy’s been asked to speak on two radio shows, so the PR might be working!
7. Give a Speech. I didn’t do this within the 3-week period, but I’ve been invited to speak at 2 events coming up in the near future - one in May and one in June.

Buzz marketing does work. Take a look at the 57 buzz marketing challenges and get started.

Handwriting is fast becoming a lost art. Between email and instant messaging do any of us really need to communicate through the use of handwriting anymore?

Well, it can still be a good idea. One of Ron McDaniel’s 57 buzz challenges is to send a surprise letter.

The idea is to surprise someone with a handwritten letter and express interest in what they’re doing. I particularly like his idea of sending a letter with a testimonial. Everyone loves receiving testimonials and you might find it being used on a company’s website or in the person’s next book.

People love recognition for the work they’ve done. Who wouldn’t! And a surprise letter is a great way of accomplishing that.

With that in mind and applying my own twist to the idea to generate some buzz, I’ve sent out 6 Montreal postcards to people. Four postcards are going to people I know, two are going to people I don’t know but admire and want to meet.

The postcards have a brief, personal note written on them. Each one also has a unique number written on it in big, bold lettering, and a call to action. Those numbers will hopefully help me generate some buzz. I won’t go into the details just yet — but if you receive a postcard from me please email me and let me know.

This is a fairly small experiment. Six postcards isn’t a lot. But once people start emailing me I’ll share the experience further. And if it works it’s easily replicated on a much wider scale.

This post is part of my 3-Week Buzz Marketing Challenge which ends on Sunday, February 11th. My goal is to accomplish as many buzz marketing efforts as possible! Feel free to join the fun and try them yourself!