Apparently I turned out to be the one that spoiled the entire election…

Now this is what I call viral marketing at it’s best

Creative content is the key to creating buzz

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of interviewing Dean Hunt from the UK. Dean is one of the leading experts in the field when it comes to buzz marketing… and he’s only 26 years old! He’s truly a marketing genius and knows how to get people talking.

For those of you who have been a subscriber of mine will probably know that I’m a BIG fan of viral marketing and I happen to agree with many of the stuff Dean said. It’s all about creating CONTENT that will turn into link baits - whether its humor, quality tips, controversy, value etc. Read the interview below:

1. What did you do before you stumbled across the internet? And how did you eventually got started with internet marketing?

I have done everything from graphic design, to being a professional golfer. I squeezed a lot into my youth. I stumbled across Internet Marketing really without knowing exactly what it was. I created a sports betting forum in 2003, and basically I wanted to make it popular, so I just experimented with lots of techniques. It was only later that I realized that what I was doing was actually called “marketing”.

2. What initial obstacles did you face and how did you overcome them?

Lack of funds were my main issue early on, so I overcame them by being creative, utilizing contacts, and learning how to get noticed.

3. What is the difference between buzz marketing and viral marketing?

For me, buzz is the action and viral is the result. For example, if I stand in Time Square New York naked and sing ‘Like a Virgin’ by Madonna, then I will create a buzz, later, if people tell their friends about it, then that is the viral stage. So really, viral marketers are actually buzz marketers who are looking to go viral, they just don’t realize that yet.

4. How did you become known as the buzz marketing expert?

Again, kinda by accident. I started my blog as simply a way to keep my thoughts and ideas, it wasn’t really something that I wanted to share with the world, but then I started getting traffic, and when I analyzed that traffic, I noticed that people responded most to anything that was creative, different, funny, or edgy. A pattern soon emerged, and I discovered that creative content is the key to creating buzz.

I also have managed to have huge success over and over again on sites like Digg.com, so that has helped cement my place as the leading buzz marketing expert on the net.

5. Could you perhaps use a case study of yours and walk us through a step-by-step process to a successful buzz marketing campaign?

I actually have done a few case studies, you can download one of them here: http://www.webtrafficorgasm.com/casestudy.zip or signup for free at www.buzzprofits.com and I will send you them all. They show EXACTLY how I did it.

6. What do you exactly do to monetize your buzz marketing efforts?

I use what I like to call “down the line monetization”. What this means is that I don’t look to profit from the traffic straight away. Most people don’t grasp this concept, and that is why they have to work a lot harder than me to go viral.

Say for example you create come killer buzz content, and you get 100,000 visitors in a one day period. The usual method is to plaster your site with loads of adverts, and if you are lucky, you can make $200 from adsense.

That is what most people do.

However, for that $200, you now have 100,000 people who think your site was annoying, spammy and crap. So you will never see them again.

What I do is don’t look to monetize instantly, in fact, I have been known to strip all ads off my site when I detect that I am about to go viral, and my personal blog has zero ads on it. Then, when people come, they read my content, they check my other stuff, they subscribe to my newsletter, they add my feed to their reader, they bookmark me, they email their friends etc… and I build a relationship/following with them.

Now, as well as dramatically increasing the popularity and value of my site and brand, these extra followers can be sold to at a later date, hence why I call it “down the line”. I sell to them later down the line.

It might even be 6 weeks later.

7. What else do you do to make money online apart from buzz marketing?

I recently started doing consultancy services to web businesses that want to dramatically increase the popularity and profits in their company. I do this with my awesome biz partner Barry Dunlop (BarryDunlop.com) and it is going well. I don’t normally plug, but if anyone is interested in our services, please contact me ASAP at my personal email: deanhunt08@gmail.com as we only have two places left on the program.

8. You have an very interesting blog with tons of personality in it - the bunnies, the $1 million dollar review, the 6 billion RSS reader etc. Tell us a bit about these and why do you do those wacky stuff. It’s certainly not things you see normally on a typical blog.

That is why I do it. Most people don’t get why I do it, but it is the same reason that people where bright clothing… to be noticed and remembered. I read hundreds of blogs per week, and I forget about 99% of them. The ability to stand out above the crowd, get noticed, and be remembered is the essence of buzz marketing and branding in today’s world.

9. Any final comments? Plans for the future?

I know there are a lot of businesses struggling out there at the moment, so I would strongly recommend that they contact us ASAP and we can discuss some exploits, techniques and strategies to improve their Internet Success (deanhunt08@gmail.com). Thanks for your questions, and I hope that this has been useful to your readers.

Dean (www.deanhunt.com)

1. Guest star on a radio talk show. Radio talk shows are hot these days and make a great platform for you to get your name out there.
2. Get yourself on television. Do a local television show as a guest. If you have the money pay for a local commercial spot. Television is an amazingly effective medium.
3. Be a guest speaker. Go to local clubs or organizations and volunteer to be a guest speaker for their next function. This works best if the group is somehow related to your product or group members are a part of your target market.
4. Make yourself into an expert. Being an expert gives you status and makes people believe in you. Start establishing yourself as an expert in your community so you can have people start vouching for your expertise.
5. Advertise in a local magazine. Local magazines are affordable and a good way to get your name to the public.
6. Get in a newsletter. Many local organizations and groups publish newsletters that go out to all their members. You need to get your name in there. Write a guest article or do an interview.
7. Put up a billboard. Billboards are attention grabbing and they send your message out to a large number of people.
8. Place newspaper ads. Newspaper ads are surprisingly effective and affordable. Use them to your advantage.
9. Hand out flyers. Flyers allow you to target customers and add that personal touch because it gives you face time with them as you are passing them out.
10. Use direct mailings. Direct mail is a proven method of advertising. You can make highly targeted mailings and reach your customers with a fairly inexpensive method of marketing.
11. Start up a telemarketing campaign. Telemarketing is a very effective. It is also something you can do on your own so it is cheap.
12. Print up business cards. Business cards are great tools that can be used in many different ways. You can hand them out, leave them at local stores and even send them with orders.
13. Sponsor a contest. Offer your products as a prize for a contest. Be sire to include your label or business card with your URL in the prize package.
14. Sponsor a sports team. Local non-school associated sports teams rely on sponsors to fund their programs. In exchange for sponsoring the team you get your business name displayed on their uniforms. It is a great trade off.
15. Give to charity. Give in the name of your business and you will help your business reputation.
16. Get in the church bulletin. Church bulletins are well read and they are a great place to get your business name published. You should contact the pastor to see how you can get in the bulletin.
17. Develop an offline affiliate program. Affiliate programs are not just for online. If you have a product that can be easily carried around and showed off then you can make an offline program.
18. Become a news story. Do something newsworthy or become part of a news story and you will get free publicity from the news.
19. Host promotional product giveaways. Giving away promotional items is a great idea because you are giving away something free and people love that. Plus you are giving away something that advertises your business, so that is good for you. It is a win-win situation.
20. Print up t-shirts. T-shirts are great advertising tools. Think about how many times you have stopped to read someone’s tee shit. Now think about how amazing that could be for your business.
21. Pass out bumper stickers. Bumper stickers are a cheap way to get your business name out there. You can give them away with orders or just hand them out to people who already have one on their car.
22. Use the old stand by of word of mouth. Word of mouth has been a great tool for building many businesses. Put it to work for you by encouraging people to tell others about you.
23. Set up shop at fairs or festivals. Fairs and festivals allow you to reach a large group of shoppers. You can set up a booth for a small fee and sell quite a bit of product.
24. Print up pamphlets. Pamphlets allow you to put all the important information is an easy to read package. People do not usually mind taking a pamphlet and looking it over. Plus it is a nice reminder of your URL and business name.
25. Send out text messages. People use text messaging as a main form of communication these days. Get into the trend and send out text messages like you would email messages. People like to forward messages so make yours catchy enough to be something they will forward and get more mileage out of your efforts.
26. Post ads on bulletin boards. Bulletin boards are underused tools. They are simple to use and free. Post a flyer on one for a boost in sales. Make sure you get permission, though, and follow the rules.
27. Be a part of the Sunday paper. The Sunday newspaper is the most popular newspaper and the prime market for advertising. You can either put an ad in the classifieds or you can add a flyer to the loose pages of the paper.
28. Team up with a local business. Find a local business that complements your business and see if the owner wouldn’t mind working with you. You can give the business an online presence and you can use them offline. You can trade business cards and even team up for package deals.
29. Create a phone book listing. The phone book is still a great place to get found. You can even buy an ad where you can put your URL. People still use the yellow pages a lot to find businesses so this makes this a natural place to advertise.
30. Think outside the box. Try off the wall ideas. See every situation you encounter as an opportunity. You might just be surprised at the results.
31. Go to an offline event. This is probably the most important and effective way. Not only can you generate traffic to your website, you are also building relationships with potential joint venture partners.

Okay, I’ve began using Twitter 2 days ago and already I’ve seen some pretty incredible results

24 Hour Update

• 370 new followers
• 60 unique visitors

Not bad, considering all those are free traffic, all from just the first day!

48 Hour Update

• 500 followers (<--estimated)
• 349 unique visitors

72 Hour Update

• 645 followers
• 647 unique visitors

So, 647 extra free traffic in three days, all from spending a few minutes each day Twittering. Not bad.

Looks like Twitter is the new Facebook? Is this the future of Internet marketing?

What’s your opinion? Leave your comments

Stanley Tang

P.S. - Remember, if you have not yet done so, follow me at:
http://www.twitter.com/stanleytang

Technorati Tags: social media, social marketing, twitter, web 2.0, web traffic

Just a few days ago, I made a post regarding the use of multi-touch screen technology in our near future.

I made the prediction that within a few years time, multi-touch will become the way we communicate with machines and computers, and will change the way we do Internet marketing.

Thinking that Apple will release a product like this first, it looks like Microsoft have once again taken a big lead:

Technorati Tags: multi-touch, microsoft surface

Is your business a trend setter? Or, do you follow the trend?

If you are not sure, consider how this plays a role in your future.

As a trend setter, you are always one step ahead of the game. What you do, others look up to, but not just this one time. If you can manage to do this often, setting the trend that is, you can even create the fact that you will have others looking to you to set the next trend.

On the other hand, if you are following the trend, things are not so great. You will have to make up time for the other product or business that is doing well. You have lost precious sales time in the process. In addition, you will always need to watch the other guy for what is going to happen next, instead of being in charge of what that is. This can be a challenging place to be, actually.

Take a minute now to think about where you are in this equation.

Do you tend to follow the lead of someone else, hoping that there will be enough in the pot for you too? Or, do you seek out something new and exciting and try to incorporate that into your business?

Depending on where you stand currently should help you to see just how this affects your long term goals and ability to reach the success that you want.

This is a mind-blowing demo of a new technology called Multi-Touch.

I truly believe this is going to be the future in the way we are going to communicate with computers and machines - no more mouses. Definitely something I’ll be looking into much more deeper in the future.

In fact, Apple has already began incorporating this technology into some of their products like the iPhone and the Macbooks.

One thing that we do need to mention is hat the market that you face is likely to be much different than the market that someone else faces. The goals that you have in comparison to the goals of someone else are much different. In fact, you are sure to see yourself striving for benefits that are not on target for your business.

First off, take a step back, out of the picture and look at your market.

If you are selling on the internet, look at the other sellers.
If you are a small local business owner, step back and look at your local market.

Whatever you are doing, step back.

To Consider Now

The market that you work in is very dependant on who your customers are. If you are looking for immediate success, just opening your doors can help you to get started. But, in looking at your market, you can better see several things.

Ask yourself and answer these questions before moving forward.

• Who is my customer? The seniors or the children, the business women or the business owner…determine who your customer is.
• How do they find you? Do they find you online, through a simple web search? Do they need to find you through an affiliate link? Do they find you in their local area, in one of the most popular areas in the city?
• Who else is out there? Who is your competition? Where are they located? What do they offer that allows you to better them? How do they better you in your marketplace? Why are they open, pulling business away from you?
• What do you offer that is better, in some way, then the other guy? What do they offer that is better in some way than you?
• Where is your market going? Is the economy growing, stalling out, or is it holding steady? What amount of money do your customers have to spend on your product?

You can go on and on with things that you should be considering about your own specific business. Understanding your market is crucial to understanding what your future is.

If you do not know who your consumer is, then how do you know how they are changing?

In addition, you need to know what to expect to get from the market around you. If you find that the economy is slipping, it may be quite necessary to pull back and to instead look to the future in a different way.

If you look at your market and see that your competition has taken your product in a different way and is having success with that, you need to make a move. How do you compete? What will you offer that is better? In addition, how will you take the next step into success? How will you better them?

Paying Attention Counts

By paying attention to your market, you will make better decisions. When you look towards the long term goals that you have in place to keep your business up and running, you need to make sure that your market is one of the top priorities that you have.

If you do not invest time in keeping yourself in that marketplace, or even expanding out of it, you can not and will not make things work. The business can not grow or stay green without a constant watchful eye on the market around you.

There is no doubt that some of these things are essential to do but some may be hard to do as well. Yet, if you do not invest the time that it takes to analyze and understand the customer that you have, how in the world will you make it work?

Again, you have the ability to hire someone to do this work for you. But, you can and you should consider not only doing this but also helping yourself with your own research and know how.

Being a physical presence in your marketplace (even on the web) helps you to make sure that people can come to you. It allows you to see your market first hand and therefore make good decisions.

Here are 12 strategies to create buzz for your internet marketing campaigns and make money online:

1. New

2. Inspirational

3. Edgy

4. Engaging

5. Innovative

6. Controversial

7. Funny (Humorous)

8. Heart Warming

9. Taboo

10. Secretive

11. Anticipation

12. Suspence

For more viral marketing strategies, visit http://www.viralmarketingblackbook.com or the viral marketing posts

Technorati Tags: internet marketing strategies, viral marketing, buzz marketing, make money online