I'm very impressed with the recent change at YouTube which allows people to upload HD videos. Below are HD excerpts from a talk that I gave at OCSC Sailing in Berkeley on "Galvanizing Business with Buzz.." If you've uploaded low-quality videos to YouTube but have the high-quality originals, now is a good time to reload your videos. Now, if only YouTube could boost the overall quality of its user-generated content!
On 7/8/09, three Greenpeace activities climbed on Mt. Rushmore and unfurled a giant banner with President Obama's profile and message saying “America Honors Leaders, Not Politicians. Stop Global Warming.” Immediately, news of this action spread around the world. The stunt was particularly effective at garnering media attention for three reasons:
A journalist for the Rapid City Journal (SD), who had found my post in this blog about publicity stunts, called me to ask about the efficacy of the publicity stunt and ran my comments in a story about the Greenpeace effort. The article observed:
“I’m guessing activist groups around the world are going to be looking
at this saying, ‘hmm, this might be a case study for us,’” said Patrick
Galvin of Galvin Communications in Portland, Ore. Galvin specializes
in helping businesses build buzz without expensive advertising.
Greenpeace
snapped a photo of the banner with an aerial camera, and a video camera
operator near Highway 244 at the memorial broadcast live footage of the
incident online.
Greenpeace released a well-timed statement
about the demonstration and placed it prominently on its Web site,
which included live updates posted on Twitter, an online microblogging
site.
Media organizations throughout the country quickly picked
up the video and still images supplied by Greenpeace. The video, images
and Twitter messages fleshed out news articles which initially took
much of their information from a Greenpeace statement issued moments
before the climbers unrolled the banner.
Galvin said he also was
impressed by the activists’ adept use of Twitter. Before the event,
friends and supporters of the organization and the climbers on Mount
Rushmore eagerly spoke of the event on the online site Twitter in the
hours and minutes leading up the banner drop.
Several of the climbers broadcast their location to the world via Twitter as they rappelled onto Abraham Lincoln’s stone face.
“Twitter
has become this platform that, more than anything else, people are
attracted to it for its immediacy,” Galvin said. “Having one of the
rappellers tweeting about it was brilliant.”
In a subsequent interview that I provided the same day to The Christian Science Monitor, which appeared on 7/8/09, I observed that the Greenpeace effort might not be a total success:
Galvin said in terms of communicating a message effectively, he’d give it a “nine out of ten.” But the jury is still out he says on whether the overall strategy will work. That’s because Greenpeace broke the law and if any damage to Mt. Rushmore was done, it could be a big negative for the organization.
“If there was any defacement, if that banner whipped a piece of Abraham Lincoln’s nose, then the message will get diluted very quickly,” he said. “I’d give it a qualified thumbs-up.”
Since those articles appeared, it appears as if the Greenpeace publicity stunt served its purpose. Traffic to the Greenpeace website spiked as the story was reported around the world in thousands of blog and media outlets. The global warming debate seemed to garner a surge of discussion. The apparent lack of damage to Mt. Rushmore and quick release of the Greenpeace activists who carried out the stunt did not engender any long term negative consequences for the organization.
A few years ago, I wrote about how critical first
impressions are to business success. But, a company’s last impression with a customer
carries even more weight when it comes to generating repeat and referred
business.
Recently, my wife Ellen and I spent three nights at the Trumpeter Inn, a bed & breakfast on San Juan Island in Washington State. During our stay, Geoff and Shaun, the attentive husband-and-wife owners, provided top-notch service which included answering all my inquiries about the best things to do and places to see (no easy feat when you consider that Ellen calls me “The Question Man” for my propensity to grill people for information).
On our last night, we told Shaun that we needed to catch the 6:00AM ferry to the Mainland. It pained us to leave early since breakfasts had been so delicious. Shaun promised to have brown bag breakfasts waiting for us when we left. While other hungry ferry passengers had to make do with stale vending machine food and coffee, we enjoyed a breakfast bonanza which included homemade muffins, yoghurt parfaits with fresh fruit and granola, boiled eggs and juice. We sipped gourmet coffee out of takeout cups that she had thoughtfully left for us next to the coffee machines, which were programmed to kick into action when our morning alarm sounded. The Trumpeter swans that Shaun drew on our breakfast bags made us smile as we unpacked them on the ferry with San Juan Island receding in the background.
Over the years, I’ve left stayed at enough bed & breakfast inns to know that I would have to fend for myself if I checked out before the standard breakfast hour. By doing something completely unexpected in such a classy way, the Trumpeter Inn stands above it competitors and it’s no wonder that it’s the top-rated B&B on San Juan Island according to TripAdvisor, America’s leading customer review website for travel recommendations.
It’s not just B&Bs that benefit from leaving customers with a strong positive impression. With the weather heating up in the Pacific Northwest, I hired a company to power wash and seal our back deck. After I was given the price for the job and the work had started, I asked the owner of the company whether he could spray off our outdoor table while he was at it. Not only did he do this, but the job took longer than expected because he took extra time to thoroughly wash the table and all the outdoor chairs so they look almost new again—at no extra charge.
Professional service providers can also find ways to leave
their customers impressed. Whenever we complete an engagement for a client in
which we’ve carried out a successful media relations campaign, there is always
the possibility that journalists will contact us about a future story. Whether
we are billing a client or not, we promptly follow up on media opportunities
and respond to queries on the client’s behalf without charging anything. We’ve
learned that the hours we work for a client without being paid after an
engagement officially ends is a wise time investment because it dramatically
increases the chances that the client will reengage our services and recommend
us to others.
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.
Today I was interviewed on Fox TV in Portland, Oregon about three things things that all businesses can do to rise above the recession. You can watch the clip here.
In preparing for the interview, I followed the advice that I always give my clients who go on television:
Special thanks to Melissa Moog, founder of Itsabelly (a unique baby concierge service) and regular guest on Fox TV in Portland, for introducing me to a news producer at the station. Melissa, a media savvy entreprenuer, has done an excellent job growing her business with buzz as you'll see from her outstanding online press room.
The April edition of my free monthly Buzz Bulletin eNewsletter is going out this afternoon. Read it below and sign up for future editions on my company's website.
“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and
a follower.”
Steve Jobs, Founder & CEO, Apple Computer
With the economy mired in a severe recession, many entrepreneurs have stopped marketing because they believe that they must conserve scarce financial resources. Yet, others are increasing their exposure to existing clients and prospects as they embrace online social networking in efforts that require moxie not money.
Today’s newsletter focuses on how you can grow your business with Twitter, a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users' updates known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length which are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have subscribed to them (known as followers). Twitter has grown from 475,000 unique visitors in February 2008 to 14 million in April 2009.
Last October, Andrea Waltz, a friend and successful professional speaker, told me that she had just created a Twitter profile and was curious to see whether it could help grow her business. Having heard few business successes stories on Twitter, I was skeptical. Six months, later Andrea has 2,700+ Twitter followers and considers the service a core part of her marketing strategy.
Andrea told me, “Twitter has allowed me to get connected to the ‘end users’ who are interested in our Go for No!® program. I don't push our books but I have had people buy them because they saw me tweeting about them. More importantly, Twitter has allowed me to connect with people that are doing similar things. For example, I make a point of following other speakers, authors and experts in direct selling, which is one of our big target markets. One of these people, a direct sales coach/trainer, just had me and my partner as experts on a call for her 10 day teleseminar series ‘Direct Sales Super Summit.’ We gained excellent exposure from being affiliated with her and she offered to share the email list she generated for the event. This is just one small example of how Twitter can be a valuable tool to get to know like-minded people and partner with them on successful projects.”
An interesting 4/13/09 article in The New York Times describes how many other businesses are benefiting from Twitter including large companies like Dell, Amazon, and Starbucks, as well as a small day spa in San Francisco.
It’s impossible to know exactly what Twitter can do for your business. But why not give it a try? Before doing so, I suggest that you check out “The Top Seven Mistakes that Twitter Users Make” on the 10,000 Words Blog.
I would love to follow what you’re doing on Twitter and learn how it’s working for you so please connect to me on Twitter.
Kudos to the folks at Travel Portland, the city's official tourism agency, for scoring attention for their innovative "Twisitor Center" in an Associated Press article that is being picked up in newspapers around the country!
The Twisitor Center allows Twitter users to "tweet" or send short questions about things to see and do in Portland, and get short answers back fast.
The Twisitor Center is a cool way to tap into the friendliness of wired Portlanders so they can easily share their knowledge of unique ways to enjoy the city that only natives possess. It's a tool that many companies will find particulalry useful. For instance, real estate and relocation companies can tell their clients the Twisitor Center since it will give them instant access to information that will make adjusting to their new city much easier. I'm sure that Twisitor Centers for other places will soon start popping up like mushrooms in an Oregon forest.
Thanks to a recommendation from Brenda Buratti, who blogs about how to minimize stress and create better relationships in her interesting Live Your Better Life Blog, I read an interesting Wall Street Journal article about how Ford has picked 100 young, Web-savvy drivers to get behind the wheel of its new Ford Fiesta subcompact for six months and post their impressions on sites such as YouTube, Flickr and Twitter.
This campaign makes a lot of sense given that it will likely reach the young drivers who will like the stylish and sporty Fiesta (now there are two adjectives I've never used to describe a Ford vehicle) that is still unavailable in the U.S. but continues to rack up impressive sales in Europe.
The article points how leading executives at Ford were reluctant to give away cars for six months when they have no control over what the young testers will say about the car or where they will say it:
From the article:
When Ford first tossed around the idea of loaning 100 cars without the ability to control what the drivers might say, Ford's sales chief emerged as the leading internal skeptic.
"I was like, 'Nah, go to Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica [Calif.], go to Royal Oak [Mich.] on a hot night with the kids out for ice cream,'" said Jim Farley, Ford's global vice president for sales and marketing. "Pull up with 10 vehicles, give away free T-shirts, have people do test drives, broadcast the whole thing on the Web."
Mr. Farley said his reluctance softened when a group of sons and daughters recruited from Ford's largest dealers endorsed the six-month online effort.
"The interest in the Web [campaign] had far exceeded my expectations," he says. "My hunch was pretty traditional."
Today's consumers, particularly savvy young ones, are looking for authentic information about the products that they might buy - particularly big ticket items.Ford's campaign for the Fiesta provides this authenticity. Although some test drivers might make negative observations, their comments will only reinforce the authenticity of the campaign which should be overwhelmingly positive given that the Fiesta provides benefits that are likely to appeal to the young testers.
If American car manufacturers adopt more creative word of mouth marketing campaign likes this one rather than dumping billions into boring car commercials that people skip with their DVRs, they might just survive without government-funded bailouts.
A couple of days ago, I heard a great interview on NPR's Talk of the Nation with Emily Yellin, author of Your Call Is (Not That) Important to Us. Emily spoke about the history and future of customer service and discussed some fascinating research that she did at customer service centers around the world. One comment that I found particularly striking and true: "Customer service is the future of marketing."
Too many companies are preoccupied with trying to stir up interest in their products and services with word of mouth marketing. Yet, once they get a prospect to call them, visit their websitie, or come into their showroom, poor service prevents them from making the sale. Or, even worse, the customer makes a purchase and then has a problem that the company fails to resolve in a quick and satsifactory manner.
Positive word of mouth will grow when a company delivers upon its promises with stellar customer service. Many businesses would be much better served getting their customer service practices in order so that purchases create happy customers willing to come back and refer their friends.
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:
Al Ries: The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR
Credibility is the crucial ingredient in brand building. This book explains why PR should be used to launch a brand while advertising should be used only once major PR opportunities have been realized.
Malcolm Gladwell: The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
Why do major changes in our society so often happen suddenly and unexpectedly? Ideas, behaviour, messages, and products often spread like outbreaks of infectious disease. This book will help you understand how social epidemics take off and reach critical mass.
EMANUEL ROSEN: The Anatomy of Buzz : How to Create Word of Mouth Marketing
Rosen pinpoints the products and services that benefit the most from buzz and offers strategies for creating and sustaining effective word-of-marketing campaigns.
Mark Hughes: Buzzmarketing
This book contains some great stories from an experienced buzz marketer that illustrate the importance of finding angles that make you stand apart from the competition. I loved the story of how getting the town of Halfway, Oregon to change its name to Half.com generated a flood of publicity. You'll learn some great practical tips from this book.
Ben McConnell: Creating Customer Evangelists: How Loyal Customers Become a Volunteer Sales Force
An interesting look at how to develop evangelism marketing strategies and programs that will create communities of influencers who will drive sales for your company.
Fred Reichheld: The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth
Too many companies are addicted to bad profits. These corporate steroids boost short-term earnings but burn out employees and alienate customers. Learn why the answer to one simple question can determine your company's future: Would you recommend us to a friend?
Andy Sernovitz: Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking
This is the perfect book for an entrepreneur looking for a "how-to" on word of mouth marketing rather than a theoretical or academic overview. Andy Sernovitz built the Word of Mouth Marketing Association using many of the intriguing word of mouth marketing tactics he describes. His strategies are practical for both small and large businesses as his interesting case studies demonstrate. You may put this book down a few times while reading it so you can start implementing some of its excellent ideas.
T. J. Walker: Media Training A-Z
Walker, an accomplished media trainer, provides great practical insight into maximizing the value of the media spotlight. By following his simple suggestions, you'll go into interviews much more confident and come out of them with much better results for your business.
Chip Heath: Made to Stick
This is the best business book that I've read since The Tipping Point since it provides a new way at looking at how you try to tell people about your products or services. You'll have lots of new ideas for promoting your business when you've finished reading this book. And, you'll discover that the best way to promote yourself doesn't involve spending money on marketing rather its all about learning how to tell your business stories better.
Richard Fenton & Andrea Waltz: Go for No!
A great parable about a salesman who learns that every "no" brings him closer to "yes" - an important lesson for anybody who wants to create buzz.
