Out-of-the-Box Marketing Buzz is just that, something that gives you a BUZZ in the marketplace, enough to put your foot in the door and parlay it into a plan, using it to catapult your next ideas. If you haven’t yet read What is Marketing Buzz!? You can Find that article and (and what it IS NOT!) HERE.
Step 2—Finding GREAT Marketing Buzz-Building Ideas in the Idea Box
Year ago, when my husband, Dale, wrote his book, he didn’t know how to get it ‘out there’. A resource guide, ‘1001 Ways to Market a Book’ was shown to me. I didn’t read it. But it did inspire me to go to a conference in Chicago about book marketing ideas. (Go with your strengths!—I’m a people person, I learn much better through a conversation or with others!)
While there, listening to a panel, one of them mentioned an idea: Get corporate sponsors and have them pay for the books. Give a great deal, include their name in the front and print extras for our inventory! (This was WELL before print on demand, and we were required to buy a minimum of 2000 books!) It was a great idea because my husband was EXCITED about it. He found 3 companies and all of them wanted to be sponsors of the book. That’s great BUZZ! It set him up to create a marketing plan that ultimately sold 40,000 books (and none of them sold through book stores!)
I bet, regardless of what your Product/Service or Idea is, there ARE more than 1001 ways to create buzz for it.
There is no one ‘right way’. This is a trial and error process, or test and retest. I work with entreprenuers and together we invent and create cards decks and games from their transformational work. So when I approach ‘building Marketing Buzz’ I look at it like alpha testing a board or card game.
Alpha testing is taking your idea and throwing it ‘out there’ in it’s raw form to your biggest fans and friends and getting feedback. In this case, you will throw it out as far as you want to go, depending on the scope of the idea for building buzz. The MAIN GOAL for Buzz Building, like alpha testing is to have those people say to you, “You are BRILLIANT!” Or some other form of that.
(In the alpha testing analogy, then, your greater marketing plan would be like beta testing game!—that’s for another article.)
I have a built a big ‘Building Buzz Idea Box’ for decks and games. To help you choose one, I’ve narrowed it down to 5. Five ideas that some of my deck and game makers have used to forward their excitement and move their product into the world.
5 Marketing Buzz – Building Idea Box Prompts (Great for Decks, Games + Courses):
Read each one. Feel it in your body. Which one resonates? Makes you feel warm or excited?
- Partner with a Cause (for profit or non-profit) or Charity (non-profit) you believe in. Do a fund-raiser with them. Donate your item to silent auction or do a training with the staff.
- Run a contest or give-away. Have potential fans submit a picture or video of them interacting with your product/service. OR Create a mystery box for auctioning off or giving away in the contest, or hiding in a geo-caching style treasure hunt.
- Find a celebrity or influencer to endorse (or participate in your treasure hunt!)
- Submit to a professional review board or influencer’s YouTube channel to review. Game review, book review, industry leader review, buzz feed, etc.
- Create a press release for your local paper or morning news show. (Announce your launch, or innovative idea; offer to speak live to a kid’s group, school or library gathering; call the press!)
Pick one. Modify one. Get your creative ideas flowing! If more than one excites you (even if your mind wasn’t excited) pick one….eenie, meenie, mienie, moe. I like picking the one that sounds risky or wild or impossible!
NOW, do it.
Most ideas like this will make you say, ‘But I don’t know how to do that!’ That’s ok. Decide to play this game. It will get clearer as you go along!
The benefits on the other side are amazing! When YOU are excited, and others share your excitement, exponential outcomes start to happen. Let them happen. Allow AMAZINGNESS to show up around this project. THAT is building Marketing BUZZ!
I can’t wait to hear about the results.
Didn’t get results? Try another one. Like I said, this is trial and error, test and retest. What is exciting to both YOU and your audience. That’s the sweet spot.
Have fun! ✨
Love you! 💜
Jean 🦋
Do you Want to BUILD 🐝 BUZZ in Your BIZ?
I’m running a 5-Day Creation QUEST Challenge, You can find it here.
Want to know more about intuition? Check out my other blog posts:
Play to Open Up Intuition: https://jeanberrypresents.com/2017/10/23/play_opens_up_intuition/
I Can’t Hear My Intuition: https://jeanberrypresents.com/2017/08/10/intuition/
How Intuition and Play Can Grow Your Business: https://jeanberrypresents.com/2017/08/22/intuition-play-can-grow-business/
