Buzz Builder

A Simple Recipe for Business Success in 2012

The following is from the December 2011 edition of my Buzz Bulletin eNewsletter (subscribe for free here to get monthly stories, tips and strategies for building your business with word of mouth marketing - I promise that I'll never share your email address)...

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that  the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them." - John F. Kennedy

Have you demonstrated to your customers how much you appreciate them?

This time of year, it's typical to develop plans to attract new clients to meet your growth objectives. Yet evidence suggests that focusing on those who have made you successful will have a bigger payback.

The American Society for Quality found that businesses are simply not serving their customers adequately as reflected in a survey about why individuals and companies stop purchasing from a particular provider: 

• 1% die
• 3% move away
• 9% switch to competitors
• 14% leave due to dissatisfaction with a product or service
• 68% quit because of a perceived attitude of indifference

The 68% figure jumps out due to its enormity and how easily it can be avoided. For many businesses, simply doing the job for which it was hired is enough to keep most customers satisfied. 

But why stop with providing the minimum acceptable level of service? Companies that commit to the good care of their customers and partners will not only retain their current customer base but also expand through positive word of mouth.  

In the words of football great and accomplished businessman Roger Staubach, "There are no traffic jams along the extra mile." 

November and December is a time when companies send out holiday cards thanking customers. It is equally important to demonstrate gratitude to those who support your business throughout the year.  

As I write this on a cold day, I'm keeping warm with a fleece jacket that I received from OCSC Sailing, the country's largest single-location sailing school and our client for the past five years. I love that the words "Team Member" are written underneath the OCSC Sailing logo on the front. This year we landed outstanding publicity for OCSC Sailing in both mainstream and social media, and it feels wonderful to have our efforts recognized.  

OCSC Sailing's example has inspired me to reach out to our clients with greater consistency to let them know how important they are and how much we value and appreciate their business. The feedback that I receive in return is uplifting and motivates me to provide even a higher level of service.  

With the support of your satisfied customers and those who will rave about you, may you have much success in 2012!

How to Create a Culture of Enthusiasm that Drives Repeat and Referred Business Opportunities

The following is the lead article from the September 2011 edition of my Buzz Bulletin eNewsletter (subscribe for free here to get monthly stories, tips and strategies for building your business with word of mouth marketing):

In a previous newsletter, I stated that enthusiasm is crucial for business success yet is often lacking. I must have hit a nerve since the article elicited more responses than any other I've written over the past three years. Readers agreed with my argument, and one asked an interesting question: "How do you create a 'culture of enthusiasm' in the workplace?" 

Here are some approaches that have worked for me and others:

Hire enthusiastic people. As an employer, I never succeeded in turning an employee who was just punching a clock into a great customer service provider. That's why I always checked references. When I interviewed an applicant's previous employers, I asked questions about the individual's level of enthusiasm and used this information to make my hiring decisions.

Create opportunities for employees to experience a lack of enthusiasm. In my family's furniture business, we had new hires shop our competitors as if they were furniture buyers. The unenthusiastic customer service that our trainees received left a distasteful impression. This shopping exercise motivated our staff to serve customers with enthusiasm because they knew that it made people feel good and would improve their sales.  

Catch people in the act of being enthusiastic. Many business owners don't give employees timely feedback and save their evaluations for quarterly or annual reviews. I liked catching my sales people treating customers right and rewarding their behavior with a heartfelt thank you and an offer to take them out to lunch. I discovered that such an immediate response was the best way to boost employee enthusiasm.  

Make the workplace fun. On "This American Life," host Ira Glass interviewed Cole Lindbergh of Worlds of Fun Amusement Park. Cole had a season pass to the park as a little kid and started working summers there at age 14. Today, Cole is a full-time year-round employee running the games department. Listen to the podcast to learn the innovative techniques that Cole uses for raising the levels of employee enthusiasm which can work for many types of businesses.   

Measure and reward enthusiasm. With free or low-cost online survey tools like SurveyMonkey and Zoomerang, there's no reason to be left guessing whether your employees are serving your customers with enthusiasm. For instance, in an online survey after a sale, you might ask customers "On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate the enthusiasm with which your sales person answered your questions?" By monitoring results, you'll know whether enthusiasm is rising or falling. Consider offering a monthly award like a restaurant certificate or Amazon gift certificate to the salesperson who attains the best overall score for enthusiasm.  

By creating a culture of enthusiasm, you will enjoy greater prosperity and a happier workplace while giving customers a reason to come back and refer their friends. 

How are you creating a "culture of enthusiasm" in your business? I'd love to share your approach with others!

How Brewer Dan Del Grande Is Using Social Media to Build Bison Brewing Company's Brand and Sales

I’m very grateful to Dan Del Grande, the owner and brewer of Bison Brewing Company in Berkeley, CA, since he took a leap of faith and became my company’s first client in 2002. Over the past few years, I’ve admired the creative ways that Dan has used social media to promote his company and products. Recently, I chatted with Dan about his social media usage and his answers provide valuable insight for any business owner looking to grow brand awareness and sales without advertising. Here’s the transcript of my conversation with Dan:

Patrick Galvin (PG): How long has Bison been on Twitter and Facebook?

Dan Del Grande (DDG): I've been on Twitter and Facebook since June 2009 and only got started because "I should" do it for my business (maybe like many of your readers).  I didn't really understand it.  Boy, was I impressed at the power of social media.  After three or four months, I was able to use the tools easily, and hopefully with focused business purpose, to engage people and build my brand.  I see social media is an accelerant for my brand and one of the main ways I generate word of mouth marketing. 

PG: I hear that Bison gained a lot of traction promoting #IPADay on Twitter. Please tell us about #IPADay and how it helped Bison.

DDG: Last month, Bison Brewing started a movement. We partnered with a few select craft breweries and social media sites around the world to launch the 1st annual International #IPADay. Our goal was to create a grassroots movement uniting the voices of craft beer enthusiasts, bloggers, and brewers worldwide, using social media as the common arena for connecting the conversation. It worked.

On August 4, craft beer drinkers from a dozen countries across the globe raised pints in a collective toast.  On August 4 alone, over 15,000 discreet tweets were recorded, and several hundred blog posts and online tasting notes were posted. We can't count the hundreds of craft beer bars, breweries and beer fans who organized and hosted “real life” #IPADay events, parties and tastings all over the world. Bison Brewing hosted two extremely successful events. At BoPGy G’s Pizza in Berkeley, CA, IPAs from five local breweries took over the taps and patrons enjoyed pint specials and camaraderie celebrating IPA. At the Napa Marriott, over 200 people enjoyed a sunny patio sipping IPAs from eight different local craft breweries, and raising over $1500 donated to V.O.I.C.E.S. Napa, a local non-profit committed to empowering under-served youth.

PG: Is the success of #IPADay inspiring any new social media efforts?

DDG: #STOUTDay is November 3 to build on a solid franchise for social media events and word of mouth marketing.

We are also planning fun, live beer-tasting events on a Big Red Bus where we invite good customers and supporters from Twitter and Facebook for a real world brand experience. Hopefully, the real world experience will live on in cyberspace as people tweet and reminisce about it in social media circles.

PG: What are other business benefits has Bison derived from being on Twitter and Facebook?

DDG: If "business benefits" is defined as "increased sales," the jury is still out on the absolute return on investment, but we are breaking even at least. I can say with certainty that we’ve gained several new points of distribution and tens of thousands of dollars of "new" top line sales, mostly with two new beer distributors, but also a couple dozen grocery stores and restaurants. We are looking more and more at Twitter as a consumer pull strategy. If you consider "business benefits" to be defined as "increased brand impressions," this is well underway but I'm uncertain how to measure it.

PG: Are the audiences and your intentions for Twitter and Facebook different?

DDG: Yes. My social media strategy is creating and sharing dynamic content. My Twitter audience seems to be 50% consumer and 50% opinion makers.  Facebook seems to be 100% consumer. You need to adjust the content accordingly.

My Facebook personal profile (Daniel Del Grande) and my Facebook Fan Page (Bison Organic Beer) are only about two things: (1) Bison news, recipes, events, and (2) sustainable lifestyle advocacy. I avoid personal things on Facebook, unless somebody posts a picture of me with family, which I usually delete or untag.

I try not to narrowcast my tweets. Anything goes. My tweets are about craft beer events, my beers, sustainability, and the fun "slice of life" of being a brewmaster, or my observations about life. I probably do about 1/3 consumer tweets, 1/3 sustainability tweets, and 1/3 "Dan is having too much fun" tweeting. I think I have finally found the balance between not sharing enough and sharing too much.

PG: What “secrets for success” do you have for a small business just getting started with social media?

DDG: We advertise by hand, like we brew by hand. I find that if you are genuine, there is a lot of camaraderie in the social media community. About 100 people I talk to on twitter I have also found interesting enough to meet when I’ve visted their hometowns.

There are lots of self-proclaimed experts out there and that can be intimidating. If you need some guidance, read the informative articles on www.mashable.com. You can do it! To get started, don't hire somebody to do it. Do it yourself. If you hire somebody, you will spend more time instructing the hired gun, checking the hired gun, and wishing the hired gun said it a different way. It’s pretty easy once you get started.

Get started with 1/2 hour a day and explore a little each day. Whatever voice you find, it has to be genuine and interesting--you don't need a pre-thought out strategy. Spend time reading commenting on other people's blogs that you find interesting and relevant to your business or brand, and tweet or share the blog on Facebook. Follow people that you think are interesting. They will probably follow you back unless they are a rock star.

Once you have a firm understanding and direction, and have established a voice (and this might take 6 or more months), you can give the daily responsibility to somebody in your organization that you trust to carry the torch. But stay involved, read what is going on, and tweet and post on Facebook at least one 1/2 hour session per week.

PG: What should a small business avoid doing in social media?

DDG: 1. Controversy. It is hard to win an argument in 140 characters. 2. Religion/Sex/Politics. You will surely offend somebody.

PG: What should the balance be between product promotion and other activities in social media?

DDG: I like the 33% promotion, 33% dialog with your consumers or potential consumers, and 33% about why you are compelling and interesting to your customers.

PG: Do websites still matter in our era of social media?

DDG: YES. Websites are still a requirement, but mostly as a catalog. It is an important place to archive your business achievement, product information, and act as a landing page to people interested in your business. It should be your primary SEO tool.  But most of my time online is centered on a blog, twitter, and facebook. 

PG: If websites do matter, how should they integrate with social media activities?

DDG: If put some really interesting links, commentary, or information out on Facebook or Twitter, I capture it in a blog post on the website for future reference.  Your website is also the place where you refer people back to when you comment on blog posts.

PG: Any other advice for social media newbies?

DDG: Get a smart phone with a data package. Period. Use the Facebook and Twitter applications daily.  It will allow you to respond to your customers within an hour. I do it while waiting at the bank, finishing my coffee, finishing lunch. Customers want to hear from you soon. Don't just do it once per week because you will fail.

Video of "Galvanizing Your Business with Word of Mouth Marketing" Keynote Presentation at the Hillsboro (OR) Chamber of Commerce

Last week, I was invited to give a keynote presentation on "Galvanizing Your Business with Word of Mouth Marketing" at the Hillsboro (OR) Chamber of Commerce's monthly Forum Luncheon. I enjoyed the enthusiasm and energy of the audience of business leaders looking for creative ways to build buzz for their companies.

I hope this video provides you with ideas for growing your business. Please keep in mind that audio quality improves after I'm introduced since the microphone is on my lapel. Also, I suggest that you learn from a mistake that I made. If you're ever filmed as speaker, don't forget to take off your nametag.

If you know a company, chamber of commerce, or association looking to educate people about word of mouth marketing, please consider referring me as a speaker.

Special thanks to Karyn Reohr of Black Label Films for shooting this video in challenging lighting conditions and editing it.

A Critic Speaks "To Do in 2011: Shoot All the Social Media Experts"

Happy New Year! Since I know that many of your are still planning your social media campaigns for 2011, I check out this thought-provoking post from Rich Meyer's New Media and Marketing Blog on why you should take what social media gurus have to say with a huge grain of salt. I appreciate Rich's no-BS stand when it comes to evaluating the advice that you receive. At the end of the day, social media is only as useful as it gets your clients and prospects to take action that helps your business meet specific objectives that you can track. How do you evaluate the quality of advice you get from social media experts?

Guinness Records and PR: What Works and What Doesn't

My father Barry Galvin was way ahead of his time. In 1978, he broke the Guinness World Record for hammock swinging to garner publicity for his two hammock stores in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1984, my friend Mark Ungar and I eclipsed my father's record of eight days by a couple hours. The 1984 record got additional exposure because Mark and I said that we wanted to draw attention to the sport of hammock swinging so it would be made an official Olympic sport (a particularly good angle since the '84 Summer Olympics was about to take place in Los Angeles).Both record-breaking efforts garnered excellent exposure for the family stores including TV, newspaper, and radio coverage and hammock sales spiked. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a photo of our record breaking endeavor so I'm using a photo of the world's largest portable hammock.

This week, The Wall Street Journal ran an interesting piece entitled "Fastest-Growing PR Stunt: Get Into Guinness Records" noting that Guinness has seen the number of record-breaking requests increase 250% over the past three years, with the majority coming from corporations. Apparently, as event marketing has become more widespread as a promotional tool—ranging from from rock concerts to walk-a-thons—marketers have been casting around for new ways to help their events get noticed, and they've discovered that a Guinness record attempt is a great way to build buzz on the cheap (it only costs about $4,700 to have Guinness register a record). 

Based on my experience and what I've seen from other companies that have turned Guinness records into valuable publicity, the key is to ensure that the record being broken is closely related to the product or service that a company offers so the buzz around a record truly promotes what a business does. I was surprised to read that some companies are breaking records in areas that are completely unrelated to their core activities. For instance, recently cosmetics giant Estée Lauder set a record for having the "most landmarks illuminated for a cause in 24 hours." And, what does that have to do with cosmetic products? I'll keep on the lookout for articles about the tangible benefits that Estée Lauder feels it got from its record.

Why Isn't ReputationDefender Defending Its Reputation and Faceboook App on Facebook?

Yesterday, I heard a sponsorship plug on NPR for a company called ReputationDefender which claims on its website to be "the world's first comprehensive online reputation management and privacy company." I visited the company's website and was intrigued with its offerings. I found this statement on the company's product page particularly enticing: "You can’t manage your online identity unless you know what others can see about you online. Looking on the first page of Google is not enough. Our Reputation Advisors perform a custom search of the far corners of the Deep Web for every reference to you, including over 40 of the biggest social networks. We then monitor the Web every month for additional references to you and deliver them in an easy-to-read update."

I proceeded to download a free ReputationDefender app on Facebook that individuals can use to monitor their Facebook privacy settings. After repeated attempts to get the app to work, I gave up in frustration. Then I visited the app's review page on Facebook and discovered that others have also struggled to make it work. While I realize that Facebook might have changed its site in a way that causes problems for ReputationDefender's app, I was floored that a company that prides itself on defending online reputations has not used its Facebook page to let people who downloaded the app know how to get it to work correctly - especially since the first complaint surfaced on its Facebook page on June 2.

I'll be curious to see whether ReputationDefender notices this blog post in its own online reputation monitoring efforts and swings into action to address the complaints of people frustrated with its Facebook app.

BBQ Buzz Lessons

This article is from the June 2 edition of The Buzz Bulletin. Sign up here for the free monthly Buzz Bulletin with tips, strategies, and ideas to get people so excited about your business that they'll recommend it to friends.

With summer fast approaching, I decided to turn my backyard barbecuing fantasies into reality. On Memorial Day Weekend, I ignored the rain and fired up my new Weber Q 320 Gas Grill. While savoring a perfectly cooked burger, I reflected on how the purchase of my BBQ illustrates three important word of mouth marketing lessons applicable to most businesses.

1. Quality + Influential Buzz = Purchasing Interest

I heard a cookbook author on The Splendid Table, a fun weekly radio show and podcast for foodies, extolling the virtues of Weber gas grills over cheaper competitors. She was so convincing that I decided to upgrade from my fast decaying three-year-old BBQ, the third cheap gas grill I’ve owned in the last decade, to something that would last longer and cook better.

Lesson: Create a quality product or service and get influential people buzzing about it in mainstream and social media and you’ll pique purchasing interest. Whether you hire a PR firm or carry out your own campaign to get influential people extolling the virtues of what you are selling, exhaust PR opportunities before purchasing expensive advertising which most people tune out.

2. Positive Reviews Instill Confidence

As a typical consumer, I went online in search of pricing and reviews for Weber gas grills.  I was happy to discover that Home Depot offered free shipping. I was even more pleased to read positive product reviews. To get a wider consumer perspective, I visited Amazon and was impressed with many five star reviews and only a few negative comments for the unit I wanted.

Lesson: Go to Google and enter the word “reviews” or “opinions” next to your product, service or company name to see what customers are saying. Take consistent negative comments to heart and improve what you’re doing. Also, reach out to people who appreciate what you do and tell them how grateful you would be for an online review. Then, direct them to the websites where their testimonials would have the biggest impact.

3. Deliver on the Promise & Build Connections

I opened the box containing the BBQ with dread, expecting missing hardware, damaged pieces, and indecipherable assembly directions since this had been my experience with previous grills. To my delight, the box was complete and the excellent packaging kept all pieces looking factory-new.  The instructions with clear illustrations were easy to follow – even for a guy like me who certainly wouldn’t be confused with Bob the Builder. Prominently displayed on the packaging was a suggestion to register the product online. On the Weber website, there was folksy and fun copy stating that any information submitted would never be shared or used for junk mail. There was also an invitation to sign up for a “recipe of the week” and “special offers” delivered via email.

Lesson: The only way to translate buzz into lasting success is to ensure that your product or service not only meets but exceeds expectations. Also, find creative ways to engage your customers right after they’ve received what you sell when their enthusiasm is high. By getting opt-in permission for email, for instance, you can translate a one-time transaction into a long term relationship aimed at building loyalty, repeat business, and referrals.

If buzz played a role in getting you to buy a particular product or service and gave you ideas that you have applied or plan to implement in your business, please share them in the comments section below so others may learn from your experience.

Hyundai Canada Leverages Buzz from the "World's Worst Parking Job Ever"

Thanks to a tip from Janet Clesse Hager at Tinfish Initiatives, a marketing firm in Portland, Oregon, I just watched a savvy YouTube video (see below) that Hyundai in Canada posted in response to a one-minute video about a Hyundai car that was crushed in "the world's worst parking job ever." The original video featuring the parking accident in Canada went viral and has been seen by 2.4 million times in its first two weeks online.

Kudos to the marketers at Hyundai Canada for seizing a great opportunity to to generate positive goodwill for the their brand by offering the owner of the trashed Hyundai a sweet replacement ride. Hyundai of Canada's video, which  has been watched 193,000 times in just the week since it has been posted, is a great example of the value of monitoring social media as it relates to one's brand and reacting quickly to an opportunity for creating positive buzz (or doing damage control for widespread negative word of mouth).

Wall Street Journal Story about the Demise of Email Misses the Mark

In a fascinating Wall Street Journal article titled "Why Email No Longer Rules... And what that means for the way we commmunicate," Reporter Jessica Vascellaro writes, "Email has had a good run as king of communications. But its reign is over. In its place, a new generation of services is starting to take hold—services like Twitter and Facebook and countless others vying for a piece of the new world. And just as email did more than a decade ago, this shift promises to profoundly rewrite the way we communicate—in ways we can only begin to imagine.

In August 2009, 276.9 million people used email across the U.S., several European countries, Australia and Brazil, according to Nielsen Co., up 21% from 229.2 million in August 2008. But the number of users on social-networking and other community sites jumped 31% to 301.5 million people.

Without question, social media website like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn have received a lot of press coverage this year and have demonstrated phenomenal growth rates. However, the article, which implies that email has lost much of its relevancy, clearly misses the mark. Here are just a few of my reasons why email will continue to thrive:

1) Many people prefer email to social media.

I've tried to discontinue my monthly ezine twice over the last four years figuring my readers would find it easier and more timely to get information via this blog. I heard comments like "I like getting your stuff via email because it's more convenient" and "Sure I could subscribe to your blog via an RSS feed but I don't have the time to do this or don't want to set up an RSS reader."

2) Many check their email more than their social media platforms.

Ok, be honest... how often do you check your Facebook account? In contrast, if you have a corporate email address,you most likely look at it various times throughout the day. The frequency in which people check their email means that it is still a highly-effective way to get in front of them with your messages.

3) Email is easier to screen than social media.

A couple of years ago, I was getting increasingly frustrated with email since so much junk was cluttering my inbox. Then, I downloaded Cloudmark, a robust spam blocking system, and nearly all my junk email was directed to spam folder. More recently, my ISP added an excellent spam blocking filter that works even better than Cloudmark. In contrast, I find that Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn have become so popular that I'm constantly being invited to connect with people and events which don't interest me.

Other compelling reasons for the continued importance of email were aptly pointed out in the Vertical Response blog. What do you think about the future of email as social media usage increases?