by Chris Vanasdalan
Business owners (myself included) are always asking how they can generate a bigger buzz around their products or services. The answer is pretty simple. It starts with a quality product. Period.
IDENTIFY YOUR BUYER’S NEEDS
It doesn’t matter how much time and money you spend on marketing, advertising, branding or special offers; your product won’t sell if it doesn’t satisfy the needs of your customers.
The easiest way to create buzz around your business is to let your customers do it for you. You’ll be surprised at how willing they are to do it, but it starts with creating valuable and relevant content people can willingly and easily consume. Once you fill a customer’s needs with a great product, they’ll instinctively want to share with others. But it’s got to be accessible. Sometimes that means giving it away for free.
That’s not a concept most business owners are comfortable with, especially those in the advertising and PR world. They making a living charging you for special insights they treat like company secrets. There are lots of advantages to openly sharing your expertise with potential buyers, but you’ve got to be tuned into their buying personas.
Companies that identify their buyers’ needs know exactly why people will be eager to learn about their products or services.
Plus, it automatically turns your company into an authority on the subject. It establishes instant credibility and makes you a valuable reference tool. Customers will see you as a thought leader with innovative and important ideas. That creates customers for life, and they’ll be eager to come back to you and share their experience with friends.
FORGET GENERATING LEADS. START GENERATING IDEAS
Drop the barriers that keep potential customers from getting to your product. Ditch the registration requirements on your website. Stop asking for personal information before they’ve had a chance to evaluate the quality of your product. If you’re only focused on generating leads you’ll turn away potential clients before they’ve had a chance to get in the door. Spreading ideas means getting the word out to thousands or even millions of potential customers, but you’ve got to make your content easy to find and consume.
Think about how information spreads online. Trying to clamp down and exert control keeps your great ideas from spreading the way they should. Identify valuable content you can offer for free.
BE OPEN TO NEW IDEAS
You can’t be scared of trying something new. A lot of companies are locked into traditional marketing tactics because they’re scared of the unknown. Maybe you prefer using outdated methods because they offer a certain degree of measurability. That’s why so many companies still use direct mail marketing and traditional print advertising, but let’s face it, no one ever got a flyer in the mail and called their friend to tell them about it.
Word of mouth advertising is free, and it’s a tried a true way of building buzz. The key is coming up with content people are excited to share with their personal networks. You never know what’s going to take off and spread on the internet, so it’s important to try a variety of tactics. Incorporate video, blogs, contests and other forms of interactive content.
Drawing links from other sites will get more eyeballs on your content and do wonders for your search engine placement. We all want to be the top result in a Google search. These techniques can certainly help you move up the ranks.
CONNECT WITH CUSTOMERS ON A PERSONAL LEVEL
Buyer’s want to do business with real people. That means finding ways to stay connected with your community in real and tangible ways. You can’t just stay focused on traditional media to spread your message. Find and connect with local bloggers in your field. Monitor industry message boards and chat rooms. Keep your company nimble so you can capitalize on praise quickly, while addressing criticism before it spreads, doing real damage to your image.
Embrace social media sites like facebook and Twitter (if you haven’t already). It makes your content much easier to share and offers ways to track your successes. It keeps you connected to your potential customers, and lets them do your advertising for you.
Chris Vanasdalan has spent more than a decade as a professional writer in both the PR World and the news biz. He’s written, reported and produced for newspaper, radio and TV outlets in Central PA, Pittsburgh and Indianapolis. He launched his own freelance copywriting and media consulting firm, Write Now Indy, in 2010. He'd love to talk to you about generating buzz for your company of organization.
You can e-mail him at ChrisVan@writenowindy.com, find him on facebook, or follow him on Twitter.
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