Buzz By Association

Back when Will Smith was still the Fresh Prince he rapped his way into some great Word of Mouth with me and my teenage peers with the song "Nightmare on My Street." The song was a take off of the then-popular movie "Nightmare on Elm Street" and its knife-fingered villain.

The young Prince and his partner Jazzy Jeff took advantage of the existing Buzz around the movie and the association made the song all that much cooler to my friends and me.

Creating your own Buzz is one thing, riding the wave of existing Buzz is another. If you're flexible and fast, it's not that hard to catch a Buzz wave. We've even been lucky enough to do it by accident. The day Anna Nicole Smith died, we had launched a campaign that was designed to be found by media and consumers looking for information on The Bahamas. And Smith died...in The Bahamas. Our peripheral association led to our content being found many more times than it normally would have. Or a few weeks back we launched a campaign focused on US beef, just as massive beef recalls were being announced. A whole lot of people were looking for information on US beef online, and they found our story.

This week we pushed out a promotion associated with the iPhone launch. Before that it was Take Your Dog to Work Day. Before that is was...well, you get the point. There is Buzz out there that can be tied to your products and services. A quick look at today's top headlines on Google's US News shows a wealth of opportunities.

Bush Commutes Scooter Libby Sentence? If a client sold scooters, I'd launch a campaign asking for the president to "commute" on one of my scooters. I'd even send him one free. Then I would tell every media outlet I could about it.

Presidential Candidate Fund Raising? Anyone can proclaim themselves a write-in candidate and proclaim that they are dead last in fund raising, with two nickles in the war chest.

Concern Over the Governator's Green Policy? I'd tout a client's green initiatives and ask for an endorsement from Schwarzenegger. Would Arnold acknowledge us? Almost certainly not, but would the media pick it up? Probably.

Comments

[Terry Hall - The Small Business Prophet(tm)]

Hi Bill,

I love you iPhone association and promotion. I have experienced a type of writer's block when it comes to promotions and how to create buzz.

The best way that I have found to get past the block is to practice meditation regularly which develops my Business Intuition. From this intuitive place, it seems easy to see how to create buzz in my promotions.

Thank you for the reminder!

Warmly,
Terry Hall - The Small Business Prophet(tm)

[Henrietta Koffi]

Great advice! There's a video from a company that sells $400 blenders on Youtube that illustrates what you are saying - several in fact. The shorts show just how great the blenders are - and they even blend an iphone! Here is the Youtube link!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8H29jU8Wrs&mode=related&search=