Buzz Builder

Matt Weinstein in "What Bernie Madoff Couldn't Steal From Me" Video

Last December, my wife and I were extremely lucky to travel in Antarctica for nearly two weeks with a group that our client OCSC, a sailing and adventure travel company in Berkeley, had organized. The trip was even more spectacular that we had hoped. The scale and grandeur of Antarctica never ceased to amaze. But, we never expected to learn so much from a fellow traveller.

On our boat, we met Matt Weinstein, a successful professional speaker and all-around great guy. Midway through the journey, Matt was called up to the ship's bridge to take a satellite phone call from his wife Geneen Roth, an accomplished author and healthy eating expert. Geneen told Matt that they had lost nearly everything that they had saved for retirement since they had invested with the infamous Bernie Madoff.

Unable to rush home since there are no flights out of Antarctica, Matt still had about a week left on the journey. During this time, when we talked with him, we were amazed that he didn't demonstrate much anger or grief. Surely, we thought, he must be in a state of shock which would morph into rage as time passed. But, over the past few months, we've seen that Matt possesses an amazing ability to reflect on what's really important in life. While he and Geneen will likely only recoup a small percentage of the money that Madoff stole, he has earned something of greater value.

Below is a video of Matt presenting an insightful and entertaining speech on "What Bernie Madoff Couldn't Steal from Me." It's the best eight-minute presentation I've ever seen. If you like it, please forward it to a friend. Here's wishing that Matt gets a lot of groups to hire him to speak about what's really important in life!

Buzz Marketing Camp Launching in San Francisco Bay Area - Learn How to Get People Buzzing & Buying on a Tight Budget

Many businesses are struggling to attract customers with reduced marketing dollars. Even companies that have kept their marketing budgets intact are finding it increasingly difficult to meet their sales objectives since consumers are buying less and not responding to traditional advertising. That's why I'm launching Buzz Camp which is a results-producing, idea-generating half-day workshop designed to help businesses of all sizes break through the commercial clutter and get people buzzing and buying in spite of a challenging economic environment. The first Buzz Camp will take place on 4/23/09 in Berkeley, CA in association with the Emeryville Chamber of Commerce.

Buzz Camp will cover:

• The latest trends in buzz marketing and what they mean for your business.
• How to build a cohesive brand message that drives business growth.
• Buzz secrets from America’s most successful companies.
• How to create buzz through online newsletters, seminars, special events, blogs, networking (both face-to-face and online including Facebook and LinkedIn), consumer review websites (Angie’s List, CitySearch, Yelp, etc.), and viral videos.
• The inside scoop on what the media and bloggers want and how to generate free publicity that greatly exceeds what you could afford to purchase in advertising.
• How to obtain free and prominent media and blogger coverage using a simple three-step process that Patrick developed to land his clients in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Business Week, Forbes, Boston Globe, InStyle, Inc. Magazine, Entrepreneur Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Business Times, San Jose Mercury News, Contra Costa Times, Oakland Tribune, Santa Rosa Press Democrat, The View from the Bay (KGO TV), NBC News, Evening Magazine (KPIX TV) , KTVU News, Home & Garden Television, etc.
• Techniques to increase the loyalty and enthusiasm of your customers and prospects that drive repeat sales and referrals.
• How to get to the top of Google and other leading search engines through search engine optimization (SEO) without wasting money on pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.

Check out details and registration information for Buzz Camp here.

How to Inspire Referrals and Business Growth with a Balloon, T-Shirt, and Thank You Card

Today, I heard Anthony Miller, a friend and colleague in the Oregon Chapter of the National Speakers Association give an outstanding presentation on how business can succeed in tough economic times. Anthony, who is the president of a sales training company called Stepping Stones Solutions, told an insightful story about how one of his friends is thriving in the mortgage business when many competitors are going bankrupt in today's difficult economic environment.

Anthony said his friend attributes his success to a laser focus on customer service and building a referral based business. For instance, when a customer completes the arduous mortgage approval process and receives a loan, Anthony's friend sends a box to the customer's office containing a big helium balloon that pops out when the it is opened. Inside the box is a handwritten thank you note, a t-shirt with the name of the mortgage company, and a few business cards. Invariably, people notice the balloon and have questions. Commonly, the story of the successful mortgage process is told which oftentimes leads the person hearing the story to ask for information about the mortgage broker and a business card is passed. The mortgage broker who spends about $15 for for the contents and delivery of each balloon package has gotten many great referrals and sales from this effort and considers it his most successful marketing tactic.

What do you do to wow satisfied customers once you've made the sale? How do you still instill excitement that gets people to refer their friends and colleagues? If you have limited marketing dollars, you have to make sure that you spend them wisely in a way that will be noticed. I would be curious to hear what you do.

Word of Mouth Marketing Radio Interview

I recently posted a streaming audio  radio interview  featuring me on KUIK in Oregon speaking about the power of word mouth marketing. I talked about my first experience with buzz marketing when I broke the Guinness World Record for hammock swinging as a way to attract attention for my father's hammock stores. I succeeded in landing prominent coverage in newspapers and television stations throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and hammock sales surged. Also, you'll enjoy some of my  easy-to-implement tips and ideas that any company seeking media attention should use.

Prevent Death By PowerPoint - Join Toastmasters

Whether you're a solo entrepreneur or the executive of a Fortune 500 company, you are often called upon to be your company's spokesperson, and the responsibility of spreading positive word of mouth depends upon your ability to present well. How do you handle this challenge?

Most of us have suffered through a "Death by PowerPoint " type of presentation. You know what I'm talking about: the speaker stands sweatily before a group and goes through a one-hour presentation reading PowerPoint slides as if they were on a teleprompter . Many speakers who eschew PowerPoint fail in presentations since their nervousness gets the best of them.

People give terrible presentations for one primary reason. Inexperience. Yet, there is a effective, inexpensive solution. Since 1924, millions of professionals from around the world have polished their speaking skills through Toastmasters. Many people don't join Toastmasters because they mistakenly think it's only for beginners.

I've been a Toastmaster for over two years, and it has helped my speaking ability immensely. I'm very comfortable giving presentations and have always received good evaluations from my audiences. Yet,  Toastmasters provides me with a weekly forum to practice new material and work on areas that I seek to develop such as using humor to illustrate my points. Recently, I was selected to be the president of the Oregon Chapter of the National Speakers Association . Yet, I'll continue to go to Toastmasters to keep improving as a speaker.

So, whether you're nervous about speaking in public or are an accomplished speaker wanting to take your speaking the the next level, join Toastmasters and you'll discover how much more effective you can be in spreading positive word of mouth.