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.