Archive for January, 2010

• Why word-of-mouth marketing?

  Date: 2010.01.28 | Category: General BUZZ | Response: 0

  Are consumers talking about you?

  Do you know how important word-of-mouth marketing is? Did you know it can turn a business around from failure to success overnight? Well, that is if it’s positive word-of-mouth marketing, negative word-of-mouth marketing can have the exact opposite effect.

  Truth is that the trust of the consumer is diminishing quickly. Think about how many scams we see on the news and that is explanation enough of why our potential customers are very leery. This is where the power of word-of-mouth marketing comes in. As consumers we may not believe your commercials or the other venues you use to advertise with, but we will believe what someone else says about your products and services.

  Look, we hear it all the time, word-of-mouth marketing is the best marketing because it comes with credibility and it costs you nothing. When I say this I see the other party scratch their head and get that serious contemplation look and I know exactly what they are thinking: “How do I generate word-of-mouth buzz for my product or service?”

  Word-of-Mouth marketing is the most difficult to measure, but it’s also the most cost effective, because it costs you nothing. Your customers are the best vehicle for positive word-of-mouth marketing, but how can you get them to talk about you?

  Word-of-mouth marketing can be generated, but you must do a few basic things to make it happen. Let me show you five tips:

  1. Ask them to try your product.

  If you want consumers to talk about your product, ask them to try and then to tell others about it. This is an effective way to build excitement and genuine recommendations.

  2. Find ways to make your customers feel like company insiders.

  Involve them, ask their opinion and then listen. Make them feel like their feedback and opinion matters. Create a list that shares with them upcoming events, product or specials that are coming up.

  3. Provide a forum for influences to have a conversation on behalf of your brand.

  Give influencers a forum to share their opinion and feedback. This could be a company sponsored cocktail party or as simply as an online forum for selected customers only.

  4. Provide quality service and treat every customer with respect.

  Give your consumer something good to talk about. Show them quality in service and treat every customer with respect. Do you think Starbucks became popular because of their $4.00 lattes? No they became popular because they made an effort to know their customers names and remember their favorite drinks. They provide quality and experience, that’s why customers paid $4.00 for a latte. Unfortunately they’ve gotten a little lax on it lately, but in the beginning they had it down to a science. Perhaps if they were focus on it again they might see a brighter economic future in these tough times.

  5. Stay in touch, provide them with specials that they want to talk about.

  Put your consumers in the know. Inform them of specials, send them coupons and by all means stay in touch. This will not only increase their visits, but it will get them talking about you.

• Buzzing: What Is It?

  Date: 2010.01.20 | Category: General BUZZ | Response: 0

  Put simply, buzz marketing is the practice of gathering volunteers to try products, then sending them out into the world to talk up their experiences with the people they meet in their daily lives. The idea is that the more people see a product being used in public, or the more they hear about it from people they know and trust, the more likely they will be to buy it for themselves. Of course, word-of-mouth has long been the way that many people find their favorite products, or learn about a new favorite movie, book or restaurant. For years, people recognized the power of word-of-mouth in convincing, influencing, affecting consumer behavior. It has more credibility than traditional advertising. But, it’s a fairly recent development for companies to try to create a structure around the practice, to harness and direct the way that word-of-mouth spreads — and to attempt to measure its effect on sales once the ‘campaign’ is complete. “Buzzing isn’t really new. The hype about these different kinds of buzz agents is what’s new,” says Kahn.

  In practice, buzz marketing can take several different forms. Some companies identify particular types of people to do their buzzing for them. Known as ‘mavens’ (for readers of Malcolm Gladwell’s Tipping Point) or ‘influencers’ or ‘early adopters,’ these are the people who naturally set cultural trends, who define what is cool before the rest of the world even realizes it exists. “Gladwell put it in terms that everyone understood, but basically there are people out there who can tell what’s cool and what’s not. We all know them — the people who tell us about great restaurants, or who have cool clothes before we do,” Kahn says. “To make buzzing really work, I do have to believe that the person I’m listening to is discriminating, that he or she knows something I don’t. Otherwise that person is not giving me anything new.” Procter & Gamble pioneered this approach on a large scale by recruiting hundreds of thousands of ‘maven’ teenagers to create buzz about new products — some as mundane as toothpaste. “P&G started this idea of manufacturing word-of-mouth,” says Wind. “They recruited a quarter million teens to talk about their products. Now they are in the process of recruiting mothers to do the same thing because they have suddenly realize that word-of-mouth is a powerful thing.”

  Other buzz marketers rely less on natural trendsetters and more on ‘connectors.’ “If they really want something to spread — to see not just a slow diffusion but a big jump in awareness — you go to the connectors,” Kahn says. “Oprah is the king of all connectors. Basically these are people who have bigger rolodexes than the rest of us. They have lots of contacts in different circles, so word will spread. Fast.

• Welcome to readyBUZZ – your leader in BUZZ marketing.

  Date: 2010.01.19 | Category: General BUZZ | Response: 0

  Hello Fellow Small/Medium-Sized Business Owners:

  Welcome to our new revamped website – dedicated to providing you with instant information on ways to create the world of BUZZ for your company.

  readyBUZZ is excited to be a part of your BUZZ strategy – and as always we work to maximize your ROI!

  readyBUZZ marketing team