Buzz Builder

Suffering Haitians Need Your Financial and Blogging Support in this Dire Time

The immense tragedy of the recent earthquake in Haiti generated hours of sad footage like the below coverage on the CBS Evening News. It was heartening to see the initial outpouring and sympathy from people around the world. However, since the media has an increasingly short attention span, it's likely that the story of Haiti's difficulties in providing sustained assistance to its suffering populace will receive very little mainstream media attention. If just one percent of the 135,000,000+ bloggers in the world, wrote a post encouraging people to donate to organizations supporting Haitians as they try to rebuild their lives, that would be 1,350,000 million influential voices of support.

I've chosen to give money to Mercy Corps, a secular non-profit international aid organization, because they have a proven track record for minimizing administrative costs while maximizing direct assistance to the needy in times of emergency. Doctors Without Borders, another well-run non-profit organization and Nobel Peace Prize recipient (1999), has teams on the grounds in Haiti that desperately need assistance to provide the long-term medical care that Haitians will require as they recover from the worst natural disaster to ever strike them.

Please do what you can to spread the buzz about donating money or blogging on behalf of the Haitians.

Why I've Been AWOL and 2010 Business & Blogging Outlook

Since I started this blog in 2005, I've never gone nearly so long (nearly two months) between posts. But, my life has taken a marvelous turn for the better which was so all-consuming that I decided to take a break from blogging to fully enjoy the moment. Now, with life settling back into a more normal pattern, I'm returning to this blog with a new perspective and enthusiasm.

In November 2009, I traveled to Shanghai, China to visit a former client (DressMonkey) as well as a great business prospect. I did not have great expectations for Shanghai. From press accounts, I imagined that I would discover a gritty industrial city with little of interest to see or do. However, I discovered a sophisticated, dynamic place with an impressive infrastructure, friendly residents, amazing restaurants, lovely parks, and interesting sights. As for pollution, it was not nearly as bad as I anticipated, and locals told me that it has improved a lot in the past decade due to tighter environmental controls.

After leaving Shanghai, I met my wife Ellen in Beijing where we went through the final training in an adoption process that has taken more than three years to complete. On 12/7/09, we flew to Changsha, the capital of China's Hunan Province, to complete our family when we picked up Anya Yuzi Galvin, a healthy, happy, and energetic 21-month-old girl. We can't believe our good fortune in having Anya. It has been a joy to discover her unique attributes over the past month such as her love of spicy food. We never thought that we would need to ask a pediatrician whether it's okay to put Tabasco sauce on a toddler's meals so she will eat them (yes, it's fine). We've also learned that our daughter has an incredible affinity for music and dances whenever she hears it (particularly ballads from female singers but today she heard Rick James' "Super Freak" on the radio and couldn't stop bobbing her head in tune to the song). We've also gained a profound appreciation for all parents as we've learned the incredible effort it takes to mind a toddler who has no sense of physical danger.

As we kick off the eighth year of Galvin Communications, our word of mouth marketing and PR firm in Portland, OR, I'm excited about the possibilities that lie ahead. Even though 2009 was a challenging year for many companies, we had one of our best years as many of our clients looked to our services as a way to retain their existing customers and attract new ones at a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising. We expect that this trend will continue in 2010.

I also remain committed to this blog for five reasons which I share now in the hopes that they might convince you to start blogging or renew a lapsed blog:

1. Blogging is "Googlelicious."

My blog is much easier to find on Google and other leading search engines than our company website. Search engines continue to rank well trafficked blogs with strong inbound links much higher than most websites.

2. Blogging helps me stand apart from my competitors.

I live in the 23rd largest metropolitan market in the United States (Portland, OR/Vancouver, WA) but I'm the only one I know of who blogs regularly about word of mouth marketing. I've attracted clients both locally and nationally because I'm perceived to be more knowledgeable than many equally or more competent colleagues who simply don't blog. Most professional categories are similar to mine in that you can quickly raise your profile through blogging because few are doing this.

3. Blogging builds my credibility.

By writing regularly about word of mouth marketing over the past four years, I've been invited to speak at conferences and meetings around the country which has enhanced my reputation leading to more speaking opportunities and the acquisition of new clients.

4. Blogging creates PR opportunities.

Some of the readers who come to this blog are journalists which has resulted in getting my quotes featured in newspapers and magazine around the country. For instance, a 7/8/09 publicity stunt that Greenpeace did on Mt. Rushmore on which I commented in this blog resulted in some great mainstream attention for me which I detailed in this post.

5. Traditional blogging is on the upswing.

An insightful post with a surprising graph appeared on TechCrunch on 11/24/09 showing how traditional blogs are growing in popularity while the microblogging phenom Twitter is waning. I've certainly noticed this trend in the analytics of this blog as my traffic picked up significantly in the second half of 2009.

Whether you decide to commit (or recommit) to blogging in 2010 or pursue other endeavors, I wish you the very best as your pursue your goals. Thanks for your continued interest in this blog despite the long hiatus without explanation.

The Story Blog Explains How Banco Provinicia in Argentina Creates Interest with an Edgy TV Ad

On The Story Blog, which the excellent team at Creative Brand Communications produces focusing on bank marketing, credit union marketing and branding, I came across an unusual TV ad that Banco Provincia ran in Argentina.

In the post, which includes a streaming version of the TV ad, Maija Klarin wrote:
"Set in Buenos Aires Province, the spot features an elderly man who is moved by his bank to change the way he thinks about the town’s transgender hairdresser. He realizes that Banco Provincia loaned money to the woman with full knowledge of her transgender status, which causes him to reconsider his past treatment of her. The summarizing statement in the commercial is, 'Your life changes when there is a bank disposed to change'...

My feeling is that it will be a while before we see marketing as 'risky' from a US bank. Like many other industries have already done, I’d like banks and credit unions to tackle social issues and taboos in our country. Purely from a branding perspective, I think it would help financial institutions connect with consumers on a personal level and differentiate themselves."

Last December, my wife and I were lucky enough to spend two weeks traveling in Argentina, a beautiful and fascinating country well worth visiting. Perhaps because of all the old buildings and run down infrastructure, the country didn't strike us as being particularly progressive. But, I agree with Maija's take that advertisement demonstrates a remarkable degree of progressive thinking - particularly for a state-owned bank.

I can't understand why so much marketing for banks and other financial institutions in our country is so staid and safe. Of the billions of dollars that these companies spend, how much is remarkable enough to be remembered and discussed? Clearly, one bank in Argentina has discovered that creative marketing can stir conversations and makes positive impressions.

Buzz Marketing Lessons from Attendees at The ASPPA 401(k) Summit 2009

On 3/23/09, I gave a general session presentation at The ASPPA 401(k) Summit on how 401(k) plan advisors and providers can galvanize their business with buzz. I was pleased to see that attendees were excited about finding innovative ways to grow their businesses outside the realm of traditional marketing. Seemingly, many of them have experienced lackluster results with conventional advertising approaches similar to those that led me to start my word of mouth marketing company in 2002.

Afterwards, Sheri Fitts from The Standard and I led a workshop which featured three plan advisors discussing how they have worked with us in building their businesses with buzz over the past five months. The panelists were David Hinderstein (Strategic Retirement Group-website coming soon), Michael McCabe (Trinity Advisors Group), and Andrew Sweeny Jr. (Horan Securities).

At the workshop, we asked the advisors and providers in attendance to join a LinkedIn group called Advisors’ Buzzstorm which is open to any 401(k) professional interested in sharing creative ways to create buzz for their businesses without traditional advertising. In a workshop exercise, plan advisors and providers shared some of the most successful “buzzstorming” practices that they’ve used to grow their sales. Their comments included:

• Establishing myself as a resource for attorneys and accountants
• Using newsletters and seminars
• Sending out oversized postcards, blast emails and videos (like YouTube)
• Distributing email newsletters with Constant Contact
• Leveraging LinkedIn to build a larger professional network
• Working on visual brand
• Tracking clients and competitors via Google Alerts
• Calling clients four times a year to check in and ask for referrals at the end of every call
• Sending out a client survey
• Teaching CPE to CPA's 3 times a year along with an estate attorney
• Creating a marketing plan for referrals from 100+ brokers and CPAs at my broker/dealer
• Blogging on our website (each of our advisors contributes)
• Issuing targeted press releases about new initiatives or ideas that might be provocative, innovative or insightful regarding current events in the news
• Obtaining a certificate in retirement planning from Wharton School of Business and subsequently promoting this accomplishment via e-mail, snail mail and website
• Sending out financial newsletters by e-mail to corporate & individual clients
• Speaking at industry events where I share some of my findings
• Sending targeted e-mail campaigns to qualified prospects
• Meeting with prospects in person (road trips)
• Positioning myself as a subject matter expert available to reporters looking for commentary on industry events
• Growing through word of mouth referrals from the investment advisors we work with on various projects

An Antidote to Negative Economic Buzz: Humble School Bus Driver in Queens Feeds the Needy

All the buzz about climbing unemployment rates and economic distress is enough to depress even the most optimistic person. This recent post on the Pink Slips Are The New Black Blog about how one regular guy has made a difference in improving the lives of thousands should lift your spirits:

CNN recently featured a truly inspiring story about a 44-year-old Jorge Munoz who emigrated to the United States from Colombia in the 1980s.

A school bus driver by day, he spends the majority of his free time feeding hungry people out of his mobile soup kitchen in Queens, NY. He started the program in 2004 and he estimates he’s served 70,000 meals to date. Now it has evolved into a non-profit organization called An Angel in Queens.

From CNN:
Muñoz estimates that food and gas cost approximately $400 to 450 a week; he and his family are funding the operation through their savings and his weekly $700 paycheck.

Asked why he spends so much time to help people he doesn’t know, he answers, “I have a stable job, my mom, my family, a house… everything I want, I have. And these guys [don't]. So I just think, ‘OK, I have the food.’ At least for today they’re going to have a meal to eat.”

SEO Secrets for Increasing Website Traffic

Below is the copy from our free February 2009 monthly Buzz Bulletin e-newsletter. To sign up for the newsletter and get a complimentary PR Handbook, please go here.

"If a tree falls in the forest, and there's nobody there to hear it, does it make sound?"
Anonymous

In the movie Field of Dreams, Ray Kinsella hears a voice whisper, "If you build it, he will come," and envisions a baseball field. His wife Annie is skeptical but supportive and tells him to follow his vision. To the amazement of his neighbors, Ray plows under his corn crop and builds the field as requested. He waits all year, but nothing happens. Finally, Shoeless Joe Jackson and the ghosts of famous baseball players appear out of the cornstalks and vindicate Ray's dream.

Many people have Field of Dreams-like hopes when it comes to their websites. They believe that well-planned, attractive websites will automatically get high search engine rankings and attract visitors. Sadly, thousands of websites are created every day which are essentially invisible. Making matters worse, many entrepreneurs think they can buy their way out of poor search engine rankings with pay-per-click (PPC) advertising; however, only 30% of all Internet users will sometimes click on ads which are becoming increasingly expensive.

While the topic of search engine optimization (SEO) is complicated, there are five relatively easy things that you or your webmaster can do to help maximize your website's ranking at the top of Google, which is used for 64% of all Internet searches in the U.S., and other leading search engines:

1. Create your keyword bank

Research the keywords that people are using to find your site and use them to optimize your site. Use consumer-focused terms which are not necessarily the same as those that you would use. Working with one of our financial clients, for example, we discovered that few consumers ever type "401(k)" into a search engine. They use "401k" instead. There are free online tools, such as Google's excellent Keyword Tool, that can help you find the right terms for your keyword bank based on overall popularity.

2. Rewrite the page copy for every page in your site

Page copy should not only be optimized for search, but also for user experience. In the past, search engine optimizers tried to include as many keywords as possible, making sites difficult for users to navigate. Thus, it is important to find the balance between "search friendly" and "user friendly" copy text. Some general strategies include:

• Place keywords near the top of the page; it is best to start the first paragraph with your primary keywords.
• Bold or italicize your keywords so they carry more weight than regular text.
• Use keywords in headings and subheadings throughout the page.
• Include your keywords a few times in bulleted lists.
• Don't focus on one core keyword over and over again. Mix in many variations.

The primary focus of any page is readability. If a page doesn't make sense to human eyes, it's not good for a search engine because it won't generate sales. Use keywords often, but not to the point where you are writing for the search engine and not the user. When in doubt, write your content and then come back to it to see if you need to sprinkle in more keywords.

3. Change navigation into HTML text

Stay away from Javascript and Flash technology, particularly on home pages. Although Google can now read parts of Javascript and Flash, search engines still have difficulty indexing this content. Many web designers prefer to use images for navigation to improve the visual design, but for SEO they still offer little value. The best option for SEO is text-based navigation.

4. Optimize titles, descriptions and keyword tags for all pages

Page descriptions and headlines should include appropriate keyword terms for that particular page. Each page in your site has the ability under the right circumstances to reach the top 10 results for a specific range and scope of keywords. Each time you utilize the same title or description across multiple pages in your site, you diffuse the effectiveness of that page in terms of uniqueness. Moreover, it might trip a duplicate content filter causing your website to end up on page four of search engine results instead of page one.

5. Create external and internal linking strategies

External and inbound linking (also called link popularity) is one of the most important aspects of SEO. When others link to your site, it shows search engines that people think your website has important content which will boost its ranking. To see how many links your website has, on Google, type in "links:" followed by a space and your URL.

Some simple ways to start quality linking building:

• Build conceptually unique, link worthy content.
• Reach out to existing partners and clients and ask them to link to your website.
• Get links to multiple pages on your website not just the homepage.
• Ask journalists to include an active link to your website.
• Ask bloggers to link back to your website on their blogs.
• Comment on blog posts and include links to relevant pages on your website.

If you are interested in learning more about improving the visibility of your website on search engines, I would be glad to talk with you about our SEO services.

Embrace Buzz & Refuse to Participate in a Recession

Thanks to an idea that I got from my friend Andy Sernovitz, word of mouth marketing guru and the author of the aptly named Damn! I Wish I'd Thought of That! blog, I'll now be posting my monthly buzz marketing newsletter to this blog.

Here's the January 2009 newsletter content:

In December, my wife Ellen and I enjoyed an amazing trip to Argentina & Antarctica. Listening to Argentinean taxi drivers, restaurateurs and hoteliers complain about a dramatic drop in business from the previous year and reading the dire economic headlines on the Web finally convinced me, the eternal optimist, that the world is mired in a severe recession. In fact, the penguins in Antarctica, fat and happy due to abundant quantities of krill, were the only ones who seemed satisfied with their material abundance.

Business owners concerned about the future are cutting employees, closing locations, shrinking inventory, and reducing marketing. This behavior is understandable and, in some cases, essential for survival. However, when it comes to marketing, there are ways to increase buzz that cost little or no money. In fact, building buzz and improving sales in this challenging economy will be my newsletter focus throughout 2009 so you can say “I refuse to participate in a recession” and have the tools to make that statement a reality. So, let’s get started…

Pick up the phone. Call the customers you haven’t seen in awhile and ask how they are doing.  Now is a great time to chat with the folks who you have been too busy to call. Chances are the people you’re calling will have more time to talk. Ask what sort of business they’re seeking and when you run across someone who might be a good business connection, take the time to provide a testimonial and an introduction.

Become an information source. Notice the stories that you see on TV, hear on the radio, or read in newspapers and magazines that might provide a good lead or useful information for other business owners. Take a minute or two to email them a link to the story along with your good wishes for business success. These small acts will build goodwill and generate referrals. To track stories about your friends or your own business, set up free Google Alerts in the “comprehensive” mode so you receive media stories, blog posts, online videos and message board comments as they appear.

Provide something extra. I’ve noticed restaurants scaling back their food portions and companies cutting back on basic services like the speed at which they reply to online queries or customer phone calls. I assume that some of these changes are intended to reduce costs. But, what is the cost in lost goodwill? One way to separate your business from others and get people buzzing is to offer something that isn’t expected even though it might cost nothing or little to do. I keep going back to the same neighborhood coffee house because I always get warm welcome and heartfelt smile.

Believe in yourself. This inspiring seventy-five second video will show that those who keep trying can achieve amazing results even when things look grim: click here to watch.

Why You Need to Market Rather Than Hunker Down During a Recession

Over the last couple of months, I've been enjoying Rex Hammock's blog. He writes about "media community, and technology for people who aren't geeks." His recent post on how the financial media is reporting the economic crisis as if it were a Category 5 hurricane is both humorous and insightful. It also contains some great recommendations for businesses that are evaluating their marketing spending in a tough economic environment.The following paragraph really jumped out at me as being particularly important for all marketers as they consider what steps to take during this recession:

"If you’re a company or organization that wants to elevate its awareness — and brand — in the market you serve, the worst thing you can do — in good times or bad — is “hunker down” — as in, hide. The evidence is overwhelming that companies who market wisely and aggressively while others are hunkering down are the winners during — and after — a recession. For example, according to research conducted at Penn State’s Smeal College of Business during the last recession, “firms entering a recession with a pre-established strategic emphasis on marketing; an entrepreneurial culture; and a sufficient reserve of under-utilized workers, cash, and spare production capacity are best positioned to approach recessions as opportunities to strengthen their competitive advantage.”

Our Boxer Bella Creates Buzz in The New York Times for Our Word of Mouth Marketing & PR Firm

Thanks to our boxer Bella, this has been a banner week of buzz for Galvin Communications, our word of mouth marketing and PR firm. Marci Alboher, who writes the Shifting Careers Blog for The New York Times, blogged on 4/30/08 about how Bella is earning her keep as our Director of Goodwill  (D.O.G.). Marci's post has already generated  over a thousand visits to Bella's Boxer Shorts Blog and our company website.

Since February 2006, Bella has been a diligent blogger. She has built a loyal audience with her great sense of humor and joie de vivre. Bella and I often compete to see whose blog generates more traffic and she beats me many days.

Read the brilliant comments of my wife and business partner Ellen in The New York Times explaining how Bella's blog has made us smarter marketers.

Simple is Good Marketing Lessons from Twitter, Common Craft, and the Portland Baroque Orchestra

"Perfection is not when there is no more to add, but no more to take away."
Antione de Saint Exupery, author of The Little Prince and a pioneer in aviation

In a world in which the typical urbanite is exposed to 5,000 marketing messages daily, simple is good. Too many companies get lost in the commercial clutter communicating in a confused way. Today I noticed a public bus with a a sign on the back for the Portland Baroque Orchestra. There was a picture of a violinist, the orchestra's name, and three words: fresh, intimate, and alive.

It seems that more companies are entranced with stating their core values using three words. There is nothing inherently wrong about this. In fact, if you could tell folks what makes your organization, service or product different and interesting in three words, I'm all for it. However, if there is cognitive dissonance between the words you choose and what you offer, you're not helping your brand. Rather, you're merely confusing your possible customers. I can't imagine that there are many people in the world who are drawn to seeing an orchestra that is fresh, intimate and alive. Those words just don't evoke a quality orchestra rather they sound more appropriate for one of those newfangled automatic air fresheners.

But, simple words can be used very effectively. I recently stumbled across a small company in Seattle called Common Craft that does clever videos utilizing paper cutouts to illustrate complex products and services. Make sure to check out the below video that they did for Twitter since it provides an excellent explanation of rapidly growing social media and shows how much can be communicated using simple words and graphics.