Blogs are the best networking tool I know. Better than conferences, clubs, etc. Not because of volume of business cards, but because of strength of relationship.
I do not expect my blog to help me reach a lot of CEO’s, but neither do I expect that from BNI, IRN or other networking groups.
Five of us showed up for the Akron Bloggers Community (ABC) yesterday. Here is a picture. Blogging starts on line, but spills to real life all the time. People meet you in person for the first time but already feel like they know you.
The picture above, left to right – Ron (me) McDaniel, Stephen Hopson, Chris Brown, Norma Rist and Deborah Chaddock Brown.
With no real agenda we were all shooting ideas back and forth on Blogging, Podcasting, Monitizing Blogs and tools that help enhance the audience experience. I could have stayed for hours, but I think some of them have real businesses.
Deborah is currently a member of our Virtual Buzz Assistant network where she is a freelance writer.
Blogging is hard work. The technology is not hard, but the daily commitment to creating quality content is hard work.
And it does not stop there. If you produce great content but do not get your blog linked to, talked about and visible, your excellent content will probably still go unnoticed.
Virtual Buzz Assistants are people that are certified in online buzz marketing and can help create buzz for a blog.
Virtual Buzz Assistants work just like other virtual assistants, but they have chosen to specialize in Internet Marketing. They work at building great relationships and they become experts in the tools that you can use to create more buzz and visibility.
Bloggers that want to be successful have to have a great niche, interesting content and they have to either spend a lot of time promoting the blog, or hire a Virtual Buzz Assistant to help them. The assistant could be hired to keep fresh content on the blog, and this is especially important for businesses that may get busy and let their blog effort slip. The assistant can also promote your blog by using the many tools available online to grow your audience.
Here are 5 ways a Virtual Buzz Assistant can help you on a monthly basis.
- email people about your article – By emailing people to point out an interesting article on your blog to people that run similar blogs, you can generate links and more traffic.
- Upload blog information into Blog Catalog and other blog directories, and link to people there.
- Use micro-blogging solutions like Twitter or Tumblr to highlight your blog posts each week.
- Social Bookmarks – Virtual Buzz Assistants can bookmark your blog posts to get them more inbound links and traffic.
- Interview opportunities – Your Virtual Buzz Assistant can look for opportunities for you to be interviewed on other blogs or podcasts, and they can conduct interviews to add more interesting content for your blog.
These are just some of the areas that a Virtual Buzz Assistant can help you be a more successful blogger with less of your time going towards promotion. To request a Virtual Buzz Assistant, click here.
I was reading a post by Seth Godin on the new Harry Potter book this morning and something he said about the book got me thinking about what people really buy. He said, “Holding and owning the book, remembering when and how you got it… that’s what you’re paying for.” Exactly. As any good marketer would tell you, you are not just buying a product, you may be buying buying ideals, memories, image, prestige, friendship, or more. As a fun exercise, let’s take some no-name products and associate them with motives for purchase:
- Sports Drinks: Energy, determination, commitment to fitness.
- The Latest MP3 Player: Makes me hip and cool, tech geek bragging rights, I look expensive, and therefore, important (if you buy the high end ones), people will like me more.
- Convertible Sports Cars: I look rich, I want to be young, I want to feel the wind in my hair, I’ll be a hit with the ladies.
These are just a few quick examples. What other ones can you, the reader think of?
Ron McDaniel from the Buzzoodle Blog pointed to an article yesterday on the making of an expert. To be a true expert, you must constantly learn, and always be a student. Sound strange? Not really. Times change, new things evolve, and you have to keep up. Also, you are never done learning. There are always ways to improve your knowledge and ability in something, and evolve it. As one person always told me, “The best teachers are also students.”
A true expert knows both theory from all their textbook learning, etc., and application. That is where all that practice and work in the nitty-gritty come in. Who would you trust more, a surgeon who read a bunch of books on surgery for 10 years, but never did it, or someone who has read and performed operations for the same time?
Long story short there is no shortcut to being an expert. I have seen a lot of schemes where there are “instructional videos” and such to make you a pro on something. Not going to happen. Knowledge, experience, and true dedication makes you a true professional. You have to do it for years, and people can instantly spot a true pro from someone green a mile away.
This 4th of July exceeded my expectations. My family and I watched a spectacular fireworks show. It had all the great things you would expect to see, and it outdid the city’s fireworks from years before, and lasted longer, to boot. Here’s the thing, though: they weren’t the city’s fireworks. These were from a guy two houses down from my parents. The man has a license for creating and shooting off his own fireworks, and has done so professionally for years. A display of this caliber was definitely beyond the expected. If someone were to tell you to watch the fireworks of some random guy in the neighborhood or the city’s, you would probably choose the city’s, assuming it would be the best. This man proved me wrong.
This got me thinking about small businesses as well. How many small businesses release great products that are never tried because the assumption is that the bigger company’s version is better? Sometimes it is really worth looking into the small companies. You may just find a gem.
The New York Times recently posted an article on the latest, second highest paid guest teacher. Paris Hilton. The Learning Annex has reportedly offered her a cool $1,000,000 to speak on “Building Your Brand” to businessmen. Yes, you read right, and no, the world is not ending, the moon is not being filled with blood, nor are fish turning up dead in oceans around the world. I am still trying to wrap my head around this one. Obviously, this makes for great publicity for both sides.
What she will say during the seminar are beyond me. It is true, she has built a phenomenal brand around herself (for better or worse, you decide), but how is she as a speaker and mentor? After hearing her in interviews, I shudder to think about what comes out (no offense, perhaps I have just not heard the “real Paris”). My best guess is that she will have highly paid advisors coaching her and preparing the workshop for her. Or, perhaps I am not giving enough credit where credit is do? Time will tell. Either way, this is buzz for her that is a step in a more positive direction, and not about skin or alcohol.
Well, not quite my car, but Kent Floral’s is. While eating my lunch earlier I noticed their van pass by, and their colors and design really caught my eye. It passed by so quickly I didn’t have time to snap a picture, and Google search isn’t giving me results, so the most I can do is describe it to you. It was a very clean, white van with large flowers all over its side (I only got to see one side of it). Just picture Scooby Doo’s Mystery Mobile but white. Notice I mentioned clean, just read Ron McDaniel’s post on company imagery and you’ll see why. It stood out very well, and stayed with me long enough to want to post about it.
It had me thinking about other great advertising I’ve seen on automobiles. Sure, you see semi-trucks with products plastered on their side, but I mean something that becomes instantly recognizable and synonymous with the company. The best examples I can think of now are the Best Buy Geek Squad and Oscar Mayer car/truck/moving food product… whatever it is. Both are unique and recognized instantly. There is no mistaking who their for. Alright, so you don’t go around seeing the Oscar Mayer weiner-mobile driving around the road, but the Geek Squad cars are everywhere, and the fact that they are makes a great advertisement for them while they are out on house calls.
Having the Geek Squad bug and uniforms really established an identity for them that separates them from normal customer service. It goes beyond the expected. The question is, then, what do you do to stand out?
How many times have you seen this? A company gets ready to roll out a new product or service that starts out as one great idea, and slowy evolves into a multi-featured giant nightmare by adding new components over and over through the course of time. This is the “that’s good, but wouldn’t it be great if we added this?” syndrome better known as feature creep. A few things added to improve on the main goal may be okay, but it is best to stay on target and keep things simple. Unless your product is supposed to be an all-in-one swiss army knife of products, take a step back and go to the basics. This means making sure your product delivers on its original promise and goals, and retains its definition.
After a nice, week long vacation I return to my pc. It’s strange how much I rely on using a pc in my life yet I went on for one week without missing it much. I did sneak in a few peaks at my email, but otherwise my vacation was computer free.
Coming back, I see there is a lot of work ahead of me. I will be writing more now that I am back again. In the mean time, take a look at this neat piece of innovation from Microsoft, called Microsoft Surface. It looks like something from the future right in your home. How practical, affordable, and the likelihood of it catching on remains to be seen, but the nerdy side of me drools over the possibilities.
I always love a neat marketing office. There is something about a creative environment that is different from the normal white-wall cubicle stereotype. Guy Kawasaki points us to Threadless, who has one of the coolest offices I’ve seen to date. Take a look at both. You won’t regret it.
Blogs are the best networking tool I know. Better than conferences, clubs, etc. Not because of volume of business cards, but because of strength of relationship.
