Buzz Builder

Titanic Exhibit Partners with Restaurants in Victoria, Canada to Drive Attendance

Last weekend, I was in Victoria, B.C. at the annual meeting of Mega,  Canada's largest group of independent furniture, electronics, and appliance retailers. I gave a 75-minute presentation on "Attracting News Customers with Big Ideas on a Small Budget." I came away impressed with the optimism of Canadian independent retailers, their willingness to help one another, and their creativity in taking on the Big Box stores. Based on the energy and ideas that I saw in Victoria, I'm not surprised that Mega has been voted one of Canada's best managed companies for the past six years.

In Victoria, my wife visited The Royal B.C. Museum's special exhibit commemorating the 95th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. We were both impressed with how RMS Titanic, Inc. devised a clever way to involve local businesses in promoting the event. At the  Fairmont Empress Hotel, Victoria's marquee hotel, we noticed that the hotel's main dining room was offering a special menu  featuring the foods served to first class passengers on the Titanic.

In fact, that's how we learned about the exhibit. The following night, we had a delicious meal at the Irish Times Pub which is paying tribute to the Irish who built the Titanic and the many Irish souls who were lost. The restaurant is featuring a special Titanic-inspired lunch and dinner menu selection reminiscent of the third-class dining fare offered onboard the ship allowing visitors to dine like most of the Irish aboard the Titanic. Called the Titanic 1912 to commemorate the year that the ship sank, the three-course menu special with choice of entrée is priced at $19.12. Visitors can also complement their meal with a fleet of four Irish and English sample beers served on a wooden replica of the Titanic. At both the Fairmont Empress Hotel and Irish Times Pub, we heard people buzzing about the Titanic-inspired menus which surely drove traffic to the museum.

Photographers Build Business with Word of Mouth Marketing

On April 15, Hannah Fairfield  wrote an interesting article in The New York Times about women getting into the photography business. There are some interesting tidbits in the story about how some of these women are using word of mouth marketing to grow their businesses:

• When Jodie Otte of J. Otte Photography started her full-time business two years ago, she printed business cards after every photo session, knowing that her clients would pass them along if the cards featured pictures of their own children.
• Some women have engineered portrait parties, where several families get together and the  photographer snaps portraits of the children at play. If the parents like the results, they tell their friends and playgroups, and the photographer’s phone starts ringing.
• Lauren Dawson of Lauren Dawson Photography said, “I heard the market was wide open for children’s photographers, so I really wanted to get in with moms groups. Sometimes all you need is one person, that one person who knows everyone, to help you spread the word.”

Mark Silver's Heart of Business Connects from the Start

A few weeks ago, I met with Mark Silver, author of a variety of interesting books and other instructional materials in a series called Heart of Business. Whether you are self-employed, own your business, or bring an entrepreneurial heart to your job at work, Mark's vision is that your business become a profitable, sustainable, beacon of generosity in the fabric of your community.

I have yet to study the materials that he sent. However, just opening the package, I can tell that he is well on his way to creating positive word of mouth. One of his handbooks and some instructional CDs were bound between two pieces of cardboard held together by a rubber band. Holding the rubber band on the cardboard is a black-and-white sticker that says, ""This rubber band is a relic from Mark's entrepreneurial you at age 12: his Washington Post paper route. Mark's aim has improved over the years, and we hope that this book didn't end up in the bushes in the side yard." I've ordered a lot books, and I've never received a package like this one. It's memorable, funny, and makes me feel like Mark is a regular guy with a sense of humor. Perhaps, there is a special sense of connection because I used to throw the newspaper into the bushes when I was a paper boy too. No Amazon shipment has ever given me similar warm, fuzzy feeling.

Once I've had the chance to review Mark's materials, I'll report back. But I've already learned a great first lesson about how being creative and authentic makes an excellent first impression.

How to Respond to Sharks in the Blogosphere

In "Web Attack," an interesting article  that appears in the April 16 issue of Business Week, Michelle Conlin presents  case studies of companies that get criticized in the blogosphere and their responses or lack thereof. I agree with her five recommendations for responding to online attacks:

ENGAGE CRITICS
Create a blog so you can strike back quickly. Establish ground rules, and filter nasty, anonymous comments.

BE VIGILANT
Hire a team of media experts to troll for bad news, rumors, and trends. Know what influencers are saying about you at all times.

JUMP IN AND OPEN UP
Address anything that could turn into a bonfire immediately. Replace "no comment" with transparency, candor, and humility.

DON'T OVEREACT
Let tiny spasms of venom go. They'll disappear under the relentless pileup of new information.

STAY PROFESSIONAL
Respond to personal attacks for strategic reasons, not psychological ones. Don’t use the Web for therapy.

I would add that companies should review online critiques carefully and consider their validity. It's easy to become so obsessed with responding to critics that steps are not taken to address legitimate grounds for complaint. When it's easy for people to broadcast their opinions to the world via blogs and consumer opinion websites, no amount of spin control can keep the  a bad product or service  out of the line  of fire.

Viral Marketing Lessons from The Average American Male Book Phenomenom on YouTube

Last week, Jeffrey Trachtenberg wrote an interesting piece in The Wall Street Journal called "Steamy Book Gets Buzz from the Web." He describes how Harper Perennial , a paperback imprint of New Corp.'s HarperCollins publishing unit, spent $10,000 to produce three risque videos promoting Chad Kultgen's debut novel "The Average American Male" that were uploaded to YouTube (see examples  here).

As you can see in the above piece which aired a few days ago on CNBC's "On the Money," the campaign has been a huge success. The book's initial printing of 20,000 was quickly sold out, and there have been two more printings in the last two weeks totaling about 40,000 additional books. Many bookstores currently have the book on backorder.

There are some great viral marketing lessons from the success of this campaign:

1. If you have a book or product which has a story that can be told in a minute, put together a clever video and post it to YouTube which has the largest market share of video sharing websites.
2. Don't be afraid to use humor to highlight what makes your product unique.
3. Consider posting a new video once a week to keep people coming back for more and they'll forward new videos to friends.
4. Link to your viral videos from your book's website.
5. When you start getting many hits on your videos, notify journalists who report on marketing subjects via personalized email messages. Stories about viral marketing success are hot topics these days, and your press coverage will lead to more hits on your videos.
6. Make sure to include a call for action,  like the name of your book and where to buy it at the end of your video.
   

Allstate Insurance Needs to Use Their Good Hands to Communicate Better with Customers

A few days ago, I celebrated my birthday and opened the annual birthday card from my Allstate insurance agent, the only time that I hear from her all year long since I'm set up on automatic bill pay. The greeting was generic and the only bit of personalization was the agent's signature.

In contrast, I received a birthday card in the mail from Mark Herdering who works with a cool Internet service called Send Out Cards. With this service, it's possible to personalize everything in a card. The front of my card from Mark featured Calvin from the popular Calvin and Hobbes comic strip running in the buff across the front of the card saying "It's Patrick's Birthday...Party Naked!" Inside was a picture of Mark wearing a party hat with my name digitally written across it. The message was in Mark's handwriting even though he didn't write it himself. Send Out Cards has saved his personal font so he can use it whenever he sends out a card. Mark's card took no more effort to send my personal card than my Allstate agent yet its personalization gives me the idea that Mark really values me as a person.

But, cards are not enough to build business relationships. If my Allstate agent took the time to call me once a year (a logical occurrence would be the the anniversary of when she wrote my insurance policy), she would have the chance to connect to see what's new. In so doing, she would solidify my loyalty. And, she would discover that I have other insurance needs such as increasing my life insurance policy or buying business insurance.

Allstate pride's itself on being "the good hands people" but its agents need to use their hands to pick up the phones and call their customers to ensure  that their sales continues to grow.