BLUE THING #2: TNNWC Product/Service of the Week

TNNWC™ Proudly Presents...

...BLUE THING #2 with our own Michael Phillips, Chief Innovation Officer

This week’s feature:

Buzzworks™

We respect your time…so here’s the…
Blue Bottom Line: (Why should I care? Why should I read on?)

· Because Buzz works!

· Learn about the Buzz Bizzness

· Learn how to achieve social media domination

· Ignite the buzz that leads to the creation of your brand

· Learn how you can launch your Buzz Campaign

As a member of the TNNWC Group™ and Global Interconnected Cooperative Business Community (GICBC), you have access to an entire suite of products and services to reduce costs improve efficiencies, increase sales and profits, and……generate awesome BUZZ about your brand, company and advertising campaigns.

This week’s featured solution, BUZZWORKS™, is provided by The National Networker Companies (TNNWC) Group™.


The TNNWC™ BUZZWORKS™ Philosophy
Everyone uses the term “buzz.” At one time, years ago, it simply meant “gossip.” Today the term “buzz” covers gossip, visibility in the news, a grassroots groundswell of curiosity… and an ever-increasingly vast bunch of things. Some people think that buzz equates to advertising. Well…buzz is not advertising, but buzz is a critical ingredient in making your advertising work.

For the folks at Buzzworks™, Buzz means a very specific three-part process.

• The first part is cutting through all of the media noise and getting the attention of your prospective market, and of other allies who may help promote or distribute your product or service (even if the product is You, personally);


• The second part is to get a message or an image across to that prospective market, and to use that special message or image (your “brand”) to symbolize and represent your company, product or service. It is your signature, your fingerprint, your essence – it is your identity at the conscious and subconscious levels;


• The third part is to build sufficient curiosity, eagerness and credibility in that message or image that your market is attracted to your company, product or service.

Buzzworks™ describes the ultimate buzz campaign as one where:

1. We tell the horse that he’s very, very thirsty…that his throat is parched and as dry as a sandy desert…


2. We tell him where he can find cool, clear, fresh water to satisfy that desperate thirst, and…


3. He will either begin wandering in the right direction, or we will make him follow us (at a gallop), or, if need be, we will tug him by the reins until he arrives at your watering hole.


4. At the end of the campaign, the horse will thank us (in a horse whisper), and happily offer us a ride into town.

Buzz Bizzness
Now that you’ve become an expert Buzzologist, let’s move on to what the Buzzworks™ Team describes as the buzz bizzness.

Buzzworks™ offers three different Program types, with several different Options under each of the three Programs. These Buzzworks™ Programs are, Social Media Blitz™, Social Media Branding Campaign™, and Brute Force Request™. Each of these Programs and Options are described in its own separate section below, but all have certain features and some simple (and silly-sounding) terminology in common.


A Quick Buzz Bizzness Crash Course

1. The Buzzwork’s objective is to get your name, brand, product, service, works, book or image (each of these is referred to as a “Brand Asset” in buzz-talk) buzzed (i.e., broadcasted, read and re-broadcasted and otherwise forwarded repeatedly, in waves) across the social internet media to give you recognition in your target market;


2. First Level broadcasts are of three distinct types, each one designed to fit a specific group format in accordance with that particular group’s general posting or publication guidelines. Buzzworks™ sends out blasts of magnetic, interesting information; they do not promulgate spam or advertisements. The folks at Buzzworks™ believe that every posted item must be interesting in order to jump out and seize the audience’s attention.
   
   The three types of buzzable items are:
   
   
   • Brief essays (“Mini-Articles”) which contain fascinating facts or which pose provocative questions either centered upon or sponsored by your Brand Asset and which contain hyperlinks to your website, blog, news release or other information center. The challenges are to gain their attention, arouse their curiosity, to engage them and to have them thinking, consciously and subconsciously, of your Brand Asset;
   
   
   • Single provocative paragraphs (“Hooks”) which make bold, memorable statements, or pose memorable questions entered upon or sponsored by your Brand Asset and which contain hyperlinks to your website, blog, news release or other information center
   
   
   • Quips, comments, enticements or tweets (collectively, “Comments”) which are very brief and which contain hyperlinks to your website, blog news release or other information center.


3. The social media utilized for broadcasting at the First Level are a combination of specially-selected common-interest groups and discussion forums featured on such platforms as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and many others. Each of these media (okay… substitute “mediums” if you prefer) will be blasted (i.e., peppered, pelted and prompted) with Mini-Articles, Hooks or Comments as appropriate and optimal.


4. Your First Level broadcasts are initially seen by a prospective audience of hundreds of thousands to millions of readers. We continually re-post First Level blasts in reverberating waves (“Waves”) in order to build curiosity, anticipation and impression. Additionally, repetition breeds credibility and clears the path for market acceptance. Using the Proper message, the proper repetition at the proper frequency, a relatively new Brand Asset can look like a contender for a well-established brand in very short order.


5. First Wave broadcasts are the first set of First Level broadcasts which go out to the social media. Second Wave broadcasts are re-broadcasts of the First Level broadcasts. Theoretically, each Level may go out in a series of Waves, producing a repetition and reverberation effect. Depending upon the circumstances, there may be up to Five Waves of a First Level broadcast.


6. Second Level broadcasts are comprised of new material (Mini-Articles, Hooks and Comments) which supersedes, adds to and enhances (exponentially) the power of the multiple Waves of First Level material. Depending upon the circumstances, there may be multiple Waves of Second Level broadcasts.


7. Generally speaking, any Level of broadcast may go “out” in up to five Waves. More than one Wave per day of any single Level of broadcast is excessive, and will tend to devaluate the utility of the approach.
   
   The Buzzworks™ Team is sensitive to the Law of Diminishing Returns? They take caution not to litter the media with any particular blast – it erodes Brand Asset credibility and creates a perception of merely promoting instead of teasing the audience with magnetic content. One of the keys to any intelligently-conceived buzz campaign is the utilization of “education” instead of “forced-feeding.” Buzzworks™ might speak of a Blitz or a Blast, but they are in the business of building curiosity, anticipation and hunger. An audience inundated with self-serving information feels abused and becomes unresponsive.


8. The usual pattern of broadcasts is one Level, five Waves, with one Wave per day. This is a week’s worth of buzz. This process repeats with new material week after week.


9. In any well-conducted buzz campaign, an “echo” effect is produced when third parties start to quote or reframe your buzzed materials in the form of postings, questions, comments and re-publication. You’ll know that you have hit with a good buzz item when you see it quoted in a third-party newsletter, blog, article or comment in the social media universe. When strangers start to quote your slogan as wisdom, you are being very effective. You’ve truly arrived when an entire crowd of hypnotized heads nods in recognition.


10. TNNW BUZZWORKS will create the image-building, branding buzz content for your emerging enterprise. This is the most challenging, cerebrally-intensive part --- but the Buzzworks™ Team seems to thrive on it. The content of your buzz is what will truly make you stand out. Done right it just might make you famous!

Buzzworks™ utilizes unearthly writing talent, a practical knowledge of behavioral psychology, some computer wizardry, a tasteful dash of the dark art of subliminal/ hypnotic persuasion and, of course, the Buzzworks™ Crew: a collective of brilliantly creative and fanatically dedicated nonconformists and egomaniacs. And that’s putting it mildly.

To sum it all up, buzz is the perfect foundation and enhancement to your advertising and public relations efforts and activities.

So, my students, by now your head must surely be buzzing (….sorry…..) with all things Buzzworks™! If at this point you feel you still need to learn more on this subject please click the blue button and someone from the Buzzworks™ intelligential will be happy to continue your education.



If you are a quick study you may feel you are ready to get your Buzzworks™ campaign started now. You can click on the three Programs below to review their details and then select the specific Buzzworks™ Program that is right for you.


Buzzworks™ Programs
BUZZWORKS™ - Social Media Blitz™ is ideal for initiating the Buzz process if you are a neophyte, or if your budget is tight.



BUZZWORKS™ - Social Media Branding Campaign™ is intensive. It requires a slightly greater investment of your time and resources, but the results are well worth it.



BUZZWORKS™ - Brute Force Request™ is The Ultimate. It is like no other. It is “the Bomb.” It is audacious. It is deadly effective.

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The National Networker Companies™ and TNNWC Group, LLC

“Empowering Emerging Enterprises”

Membership in TNNWC’s Global Interactive Cooperative Business Community is free of charge and entitles you to receive both The National Networker Newsletter and The BLUE TUESDAY Report, as well as access to our unparalleled Suite of Business Services.

Join Us! Simply click on http://bit.ly/JoinTNNWC

Visit our website at http://www.TheNationalNetworker.com
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BLUE THING #2: TNNWC Product/Service of the Week

OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: Information Overload Controversy and Antidote

Optimizing Your Impact with Jeff Schomay

A few months ago I posted an article about eliminating clutter in the presentation of your material. This article received many responses discussing the nature of what is too much, or if there are any exceptions.

On a similar vein, I recently saw a news segment about a new form of branding and advertising: companies turn your personal car into a driving advertisement. Those for the idea argue that this is an effective way to increase your brand awareness and inspire word of mouth advertising, especially since the driver of said car is matched to a company that they commend. On the other side of the argument, people claim that this type of advertising is too close to home, too intrusive, and being so, gives the brand a negative connotation.

So is branding every car on your block going to lead to too much clutter and be ineffective, or is it a great marketing and branding idea? Obviously, this kind of advertising can lead to an overload very quickly and backfire as some people point out. But this is not the core issue to consider.

Even on the roads today, as we are surrounded by too many advertisements, we ignore many of the ads, but we notice specific ones. What is it that makes us notice one over the other? If it is all just clutter, one would think we would filter it all out, but that is not the case. Something about an individual ad can make it jump out through the clutter. What is it?

I maintain that the necessary ingredient for being noticed is and has always been the design of the marketing material itself, with note of its intended format. As I’ve written about before, humans are hard-wired to resonate with certain principles of presentation, and capturing these will make the difference. Whether TV ads, print media, or cars on the freeway, getting your message in front of eyeballs is not enough. It’s the creative content that makes it through to your target audiences’ consciousness. It’s not the format that is the question here, it’s how the material is designed to match the format and human psychology, and a properly designed ad can always be effective, even in the middle of an advertising traffic jam.

For more information, please visit Jeff's TNNW Bio.





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The National Networker Companies
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OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: Information Overload Controversy and Antidote

OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: Movies and Rollercoasters

Optimizing Your Impact with Jeff Schomay

Hollywood lost it. They used to have it, but they lost it. What did they lose? Impact. Where did it go? First lets define what it is. “Impact” is the opposite of “forgettable.” Impact causes you to be unable to forget the experience because it leaves an almost tangible impression in your heart and mind. It leaves a lasting effect. It changes the way you think and feel. So where did Hollywood go wrong?

Do you like rollercoasters? Have you felt the thrill of each twist, turn, and drop, the exhilaration of 0-60 miles per hour in three seconds? Have you gotten off the ride with your heart pounding and your legs shaking? And then did you go back for more? Some people live for that. Thrill seekers can’t get enough of it. But would you call it impactful?

For the last few years Hollywood has been building rollercoasters, not movies. There is a difference between “thrill” and “impact,” but in this age of “anything is possible with CG,” Hollywood has forgotten that. What’s the last movie you saw? Did it blow you away and keep you up at night thinking about it? Or did you walk out of the theater, heart pounding and maybe legs shaking, but for the most part leaving the movie behind? Thrill is the easy way out. Impact is tough.

So what makes a strong impact? In the movies, as with life, it’s all about a human story. It’s about the journey, what the characters went though, the active – not passive – decisions they made and how different things were at the end of the journey from the beginning for their choices.

When you walk out of a movie, after the adrenalin subsides, what are you left with? In most cases these days, you feel empty, because there really was no story, no journey, no true changes that mean anything. Thrill is just one tool used to tell a story. Story is everything. Rollercoasters can’t offer story. Hollywood can. And people will love the movies more when they get back to it.

So in your own interactions with your own audiences, remember that your market will love you and your products the most when there’s more than just a “thrill” to get their attention, but a story that they can resonate with, a value that means something to them.

There’s always a story behind everything. Find yours.


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Jeff Schomay
Screenwriter, Marketing/Branding ExpertWant to tell your story best? Let’s talk.

jeff@inspire-your-buyer.com

http://jeff-schomays-portfolio.com/Branding-and-Marketing.html

For more information, please visit Jeff's TNNW Bio.

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The National Networker Companies
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OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: Movies and Rollercoasters

OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: Only Say What Needs to be Said and Nothing More

Optimizing Your Impact with Jeff Schomay

You have a great, clever, intricate, and well-devised business/ invention/ product/ story/ message/ etc. and naturally you want to tell the world all about it. You try hard to figure out how to explain to people so they will understand it, and also take interest. Unfortunately, most people in this situation just end up shooting themselves in the foot by saying too much!

Only say what you have to say. But how do you know what you have to say and what you don’t? Obviously you need to give enough information so that people understand what “it” is and how they would interact with “it.” And most importantly, what they have to get “it.” But how much is too much? How much is enough?

The biggest key here when talking about what you do is to understand the role and goal of your current communication, whether it’s a carefully developed advertisement, a presentation, or just a face-to-face conversation. Think of each instance of communication as a tool you are using for a certain task. In the end, all the tasks will build up into a full goal (likely making the sale), but you have to take it step by step, based on where your audience is at. What is the objective of each specific task? To get people to visit your website? To get someone to ask questions and become more interested? To take out their wallet? For each objective, focus your communication on just what’s need to accomplish it, and don’t get into anything else. Then repeat with the next step.

Here are some tips that will help:

Sell the idea, not the thing:
All great salesmen know this, they are not selling a thing, they are selling an idea about the thing. “I’ll look and feel really cool in that new convertible” rather than “What a unique mechanical engineering solution to improving airflow during transportation.” Or, “ I’m a reliable guy, I need a reliable watch” rather than “This watch is precision made with a special kind of quartz crystal and tons of little tiny gears to make it keep time well.”

Talk in emotional response terms:
All decisions are ultimately emotional based, so work on that level. Either tap into emotions that are there already, or plant an emotion that resonates. “Don’t you hate wasting time waiting for the bus? Sure, a personal driver is more expensive, but isn’t your time more valuable than money?”

Give them something to picture:
A picture is worth a thousand words. Conserve words, use pictures. Either show or give them something physical to see, or paint a picture in their mind. They’ll understand much better and much quicker. “Picture yourself laying under a palm tree in the warm sun on the beach, hearing the surf and the gulls. Tickets to Florida are now only $299.”

Talk in terms of what benefits they experience:
People understand things more naturally when they are put into their own perspective. They might not know anything about 3G networks, but they know very well how helpful it is to be able to check their emails from their phone on the go.


Having this strategy in play will increase the effectiveness of your communications and generating interest. And there’s nothing more to be said about that.

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Written by Jeff Schomay
Inspire Your Buyer - Branding and Marketing
Optimize Your Impact. Get Better Results.
www.Inspire-Your-Buyer.com
(c) 2009
Jeff Schomay is an expert brander and marketer and a professional film writer and director.

For more information, please visit Jeff's TNNW Bio.

Published by THE NATIONAL NETWORKER Newsletter. All rights reserved. Subscribe Free - Click HERE.

The National Networker Companies
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OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: Only Say What Needs to be Said and Nothing More

IT ALL STARTS WITH US!: An Introduction

It All Starts with Us! with John A. Lee

Welcome to my first column for The National Networker! I would like to thank Adam for inviting here to share my personal observations on the Power of Networking. The distinguished company of other columnists who publish here humbles me. They have some very impactful messages that we can all learn from and I hope to enhance this site with my own strategies and experiences as well.

Networking for me is a thrill. Discovering new contacts, understanding their needs, and introducing them to a potential problem-solver. During the months to follow, I will put my spin on networking as I discuss such topics as recovery solutions, personal accountability and branding, strategic partnerships, and alliances, “paying forward” when an immediate return or benefit can’t be seen, and dozens of other related issues.

It used to be all about “who do you know.” Today, it’s all about “who does ‘who-you-know’ know.” When you start to do the addition -- No! make that multiplication -- you suddenly have access to thousands of potential contacts with just a couple of generations of friends of friends. In spite of the uncertain times, my discovery is. . . people genuinely are eager to help make a connection for you. I will help you capitalize on this phenomenon as long as you are willing to do the same for others – quid pro quo.

So, offer a leg up. Lend a hand. Refer a connection. Listen with an open mind. Think of how you can help. Just do it!

Because, like the name of this column. . . It All Starts With Us!


For more information, please visit John's TNNW Bio.

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IT ALL STARTS WITH US!: An Introduction

OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: The Most Important Question to Answer to Impact Your Market

Optimizing Your Impact with Jeff Schomay

You have a project, vision, message, endeavor, idea, or business that is incredibly important to you, but it can’t go anywhere unless you can get others interested and engaged. Whether you realize it or not, on any given level, there is a single job that you must constantly and continually do successfully: design your interactions to cause people to want to “engage further” instead of “pass.” But how do you do that? It all comes down to one question: “Who Cares?”

I know it sounds over-simplified, but truly, you ability to fully answer that question will directly affect the impact you make on your market. Let’s look at it closer.

“WHO cares?” The first half of the question is all about your target market, and as with any kind of presentation, if you want a positive response, you must know your audience! Note that “who” does not focus on who you are or what you do. “You” don’t even come into the picture. It’s all about “them” and understanding their perspective. Beyond a profile of demographics gathered from your market research, you’ll want to really get a feeling of what it’s like to be them, so that you’ll be able to speak their language. Here are some points to consider:

• What is their situation?
• What are their passions, desires, needs, fears, frustrations?
• How do they communicate, how do they learn?
• What do they surround themselves with? Where do they hang out?

“Who CARES?” The second half of the question looks at why they would be interested and how they would engage you. It’s all about getting in their shoes! Your material is only worth the extent to which it resonates with “them.” What is your presentation sounding like from their perspective? Here are some more considerations:

• How does this benefit them?
• What resonates and why?
• What is on their mind on in their life right now?
• Do they have similar interests?

Once you really understand who you are speaking to and how to present to their perspective, you will not only be able to design your presentations better, but you may find new insights about your material that could be optimized for an even better market response.

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Written by Jeff Schomay

As a professional juggler and a practiced film writer and director, Jeff Schomay has a very unique perspective on making an impact on your market. He does branding and advertising for individuals and businesses to great results.
www.Inspire-Your-Buyer.com
jeff@inspire-your-buyer.com
(c) 2009

For more, please see Jeff's TNNW Bio.

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Posted to THE NATIONAL NETWORKER (TNNW). All rights reserved.

To subscribe for your free TNNW Newsletter, go to http://www.thenationalnetworker.com/ For the complete National Networker (TNNW) Relationship Capital Toolkit and a free continuous RSS feed (available either by traditional RSS or by direct email), go to: http://thenationalnetworkerweblog.blogspot.com/

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OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: The Most Important Question to Answer to Impact Your Market

NETWORKING SUCCESS: Why Getting Published Can Help You Network

Networking Success with Dr. Ivan Misner

Focus on branding your company and yourself in the marketplace to enhance your networking efforts.

Recently, an associate of mine who read one of my books and attended some of my training sessions called me and said, “I really love your material, but why don’t you put more emphasis on your ideas about ‘creating your identity as a brand’ and how it affects your networking efforts? These ideas have made a huge impact on my business, but I don’t hear you talking about it very often.”

I admitted that this associate of mine was right. I haven’t talked a lot about identity in my material, and I agree that I should say more.

When I started my first business decades ago, I had no idea how important it was to focus on branding my company and myself in the marketplace as a way of enhancing my networking efforts. I understood the concept from an advertising and marketing perspective, but with a small business I didn’t have the advertising budget to mold myself or my company into any kind of brand—at least, that’s what I thought at the time. So I ignored it. I realized later that I’d made a big mistake in not pursuing any strategies to brand my identity. It wasn’t until the early ’90s that I started to think about branding and how it would help in my networking efforts.

Networking is all about relationships. Relationships are about establishing credibility. Credibility takes time. What I needed to do was expedite that process as much as possible while still creating genuine credibility in the marketplace at large. Not having much of a budget, I had to get creative about how I would make this happen.

I saw that if I wanted to increase my visibility and enhance my credibility in the community, I needed to be viewed as the local expert. The way I decided to start creating that brand was to begin writing articles. Now, you may say, “What’s so special about that idea? I’ve heard people suggest it before.” Well, here’s the bottom line: hearing it and doing it tend to be very different things.

You can derive the same identity-building, brand-boosting benefit from writing articles as I did. It may surprise you, but editors and reporters need good story ideas and will use them wherever they can find them. Think about the things you know and understand best. What elements of that knowledge might be of interest to the general public, a specific industry, or some targeted demographic? Review the types of media outlets that write for your chosen audience. Consider newspapers, magazines, and industry journals, but also take a good look at online opportunities such as e-zines, online newsletters, and information sites.

Either by phone or letter, tell the editor why readers will be interested in the feature idea you have or why it is newsworthy. What are you doing in your business that strikes a chord in the community? What can you share that will educate the editor’s readers? A word of caution, though: too many people who seek to be featured in newspapers or magazines send the equivalent of a company brochure. They fail to realize that editors and reporters need hooks, angles, ways to relate to a distracted, overworked, frenzied readership.

Guided by the Certified Networker training I developed for the Referral Institute, the associate of mine that I mentioned earlier chose a topic he knew about and worked with it for some time. He is in the travel industry, so he wrote a series of articles about travel and sent them to various outlets each month for several months. He received some responses—all “No, thank you”—until, finally, one local newspaper called him and said they’d like to use his piece in the next day’s edition. After it came out, they contacted him again and asked if he’d like to do a monthly piece. Before long, another media outlet saw his work and asked him if he’d like to write for them.

Today he writes regular articles for several media outlets. More importantly, it has totally changed his business. Although many travel companies are going out of business due to vast changes in the industry, he is actually growing and thriving, because his articles have created an identity or brand for him and the company he owns. Moreover, he is still an active networker, and he notes that the articles he writes put him way above his competition by enhancing his credibility with the people he meets. He capitalizes on this regularly by bringing his recent articles to networking meetings.

This businessman’s experience serves as a great example of what’s possible for your own networking efforts. When you get some of your pieces published, promote them. They won’t necessarily increase your sales overnight, but they will greatly enhance your credibility throughout the networking process, which absolutely increases your sales over time. My friend also told me that he now includes links on his website to some of the online articles he produces as a way of enhancing his credibility with existing and potential clients.

So, if this is such a great idea, why haven’t I said more about it in the past? Well, in my book Masters of Success, I talk about success being the “uncommon application of common knowledge.” If you ask a successful person the secret of his success, you will almost never hear a secret! Writing articles regularly and continually to increase your credibility and enhance your networking opportunities is not a secret. It’s simply an idea that most people are just too lazy to implement.

The bottom line is, 98 percent of people won’t actually do it. Or, they’ll do it for a little while and give up. The associate that encouraged me to talk more about this strategy agreed, but he said, “Do it for the 2 percent of people like me who will apply the idea. It will make a difference for them, as it did for me.”

If you believe you can stick with this strategy over time, sit down and jot out topics of four articles you could write that fit with your business and networking goals—and that you believe would serve the readers of a particular publication. Then, draft a letter addressed to the editor of that publication, and pitch your ideas. If he says yes, it’s time to start writing! If the answer is no, consider following up with him to determine what kinds of articles would better fit his needs.

Here’s a professional tip for ascertaining in advance what kinds of articles that publication might want: visit its website and check out the section devoted to prospective advertisers. Look for the publication’s editorial calendar. It tells advertisers what themes will be covered each month or in each issue. Review that editorial calendar for topics that you could credibly write about.

If you are not an experienced writer, you may want to practice a bit before sending out your work. Make sure to have someone proofread at least your first few articles (the publications do have editors but you will look more credible if you submit your articles free of major spelling and/or punctuation errors). You might also want to make sure your library includes such reference materials as a dictionary, a thesaurus, and at least one style manual (many publications use AP style).

Well, there you go. That’s a lot of advice and my associate should be happy that I took his good suggestion to talk more about branding for the 2 percent of people that will follow through. So, the question now is: Are you part of the 2 percent or the 98 percent? It’s your choice.

Editor's note: The above article is based on material from the bestselling book The 29% Solution: 52 Weekly Networking Success Strategies by Dr. Ivan Misner and Michelle R. Donovan.

Called the “father of modern networking” by CNN, Dr. Ivan Misner is a New York Times bestselling author. He is the Founder and Chairman of BNI (www.bni.com), the world’s largest business networking organization. His latest #1 bestseller, The 29% Solution can be viewed at www.29PercentSolution.com. Dr. Misner is also the Sr. Partner for the Referral Institute, an international referral training company (www.referralinstitute.com). He can be reached at misner@bni.com .

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Posted to THE NATIONAL NETWORKER (TNNW). All rights reserved.

To subscribe for your free TNNW Newsletter, go to http://www.thenationalnetworker.com/ For the complete National Networker (TNNW) Relationship Capital Toolkit and a free continuous RSS feed (available either by traditional RSS or by direct email), go to: http://thenationalnetworkerweblog.blogspot.com/

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NETWORKING SUCCESS: Why Getting Published Can Help You Network

OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: Newton’s Third Law of Motion Applied to Marketing

Optimizing Your Impact with Jeff Schomay

“Interaction makes all the ____________.”

Did you fill in the blank? Did you say difference? If so, we’ve created an action/ reaction event, the theory being you now have a “vested interest” to read more to see what you got yourself into, right? Or does it really make any difference?

Action <-> Reaction. You can’t argue with Newton’s third law. Anything you do (including doing nothing) is an action. Anyone who comes in contact with that action (or lack thereof) will have a reaction (again, possible to do nothing). It’s just physics, and it happens constantly. The key is to use this universal law to achieve the reactions you desire. And the only way to do that is to create the proper initiating actions. But how?

As with everything in the “Consumer Persuasion Industry,” it all comes down human psychology. In the example above, we almost can’t help completing the sentence. The human mind craves completion, balance, and closure, and is wired to attempt to provide those qualities anywhere they are missing. While a simple fill-in-the-blank trick may not seem to have much sway over your potential customers, consider the same principle with a most sophisticated approach. I’ll explain with an example:

A friend of mine recently fell victim to a well-planned burglary. The robbers had observed his daily schedule, picked a time when he was out, cracked the code to the front security doors of the apartment complex, broken into the control room and stolen the security tapes and turned off the power to his unit, and then entered his apartment. He returned to find his door splintered and kicked in, and his belongings fully trashed.

Ok, I’ll stop there. The point is, due to our natural sense of empathy and our desire for closure, you may be asking “What happened next?” which is exactly the reaction I was hoping to achieve. Imagine creating a similar story all about the troubles your product or service solves that your potential customers could empathize with. You don’t have to get them to buy from you right away, you just need to get them to ask “What happens next?” That’s when you know they’ve got a “vested interest,” aka they are a qualified lead. Action reaction.

Another instance of getting the most out of Newton’s law is our human sense of burning curiosity. If there’s something I can push, pull, slide, etc, I’ll probably do it. That’s why museums need to put up so many “Please Do Not Touch” signs. That’s why people “kick the tires” of a new car they are considering buying – seriously, how much useful information does kicking the tires give you? It’s just an expression of our need to interact with something as a part of our decision making process.

So, now that you know that, create the opportunities for your potential customers to react to, and you’ll pull them closer to your intended results by using the laws of nature to your benefit. You don’t even have to try to convince anyone anything, they’ll complete the reaction side of the equation all on their ____.


Good luck and Good Marketing.

Jeff Schomay

--------------------------------------------------------
Written by Jeff Schomay
Inspire Your Buyer - Branding and Marketing
Maximize Your Impact. Get Better Results.
www.Inspire-Your-Buyer.com
jeff@inspire-your-buyer.com
(c) 2009
Jeff Schomay is an expert brander/ marketer, and a professional film writer/ director.

*******

Posted to THE NATIONAL NETWORKER (TNNW). All rights reserved.

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OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: Newton’s Third Law of Motion Applied to Marketing

OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: Inspire vs Motivate: Because “Because I Said So” Won’t Sell It

Optimizing Your Impact with Jeff Schomay

This title is kind of like Jeopardy, can you guess the question that the title is an answer to? If you said “Why aren’t my customers taking action?” you’re right. That’s what we’ll be talking about.

I was recently blamed for not being “compelling.” I was supposed to get 10 people to get 10 people to get 10 people to get—you see where it’s going. I told 10 people what I was up to and what I wanted them to do. That was about as far as it went, and I got blamed for not having 10 friends who would do what ever I say. Now granted, it was for a good cause, and if everyone got their 10 people we could have had a million people working towards one common goal and that would have been pretty slick, but it wasn’t enough to inspire people to action. What was missing?

It is my humble opinion that we had the motivation in place, but not the inspiration. What’s the difference? Good question. What do you think the difference is? Is there a difference? We say, “I was motivated to do such and such” just as often as we say “He really inspired me to do such and such.” Are they interchangeable? Consider this: Every New Years millions of people are motivated to eat less, exercise more, and stop watching so much junk TV. Only the “inspired few” stick with it. Need I say more?

Motivation is an external force. Inspiration is an internal force. The motivated people on New Years saw themselves as fat and lazy and hated it. The inspired people on New Years probably saw the beautiful person hiding inside their temporarily not-so-beautiful body and wanted to let them out. Humans usually don’t act when our conscious brain says to do something, we usually only act when our emotions compel us. And if our emotions compel us we usually can’t be stopped. That’s inspiration.

How does this apply to branding and marketing? If you want to get people to act (ie. buy my stuff; sign up now; get 10 people…) then you’ve got to design a message that translates into an internal force. How do you do that? It’s hard. That’s why it often doesn’t happen and people often don’t act. Here’s some thoughts on accomplishing the task:

• Always, always, always approach your proposition from your customer’s point of view. Put it in their terms. What’s in it for them? What’s the incentive? How does your offer make their life great or solve the things that keep them up at night?
• Create recognition. Humans always respond better to something they recognize. That’s why word of mouth is the most effective advertising, and why people will buy things from the store they’ve shopped at for years when the same stuff is on sale at the competition. Recognition is hard-wired and linked to emotion. After all, half of branding is creating recognition.
• Be part of something larger. Make buying your product a part of a larger story, so people participating feel like they are playing out the themes of your campaign (themes stir emotion usually). Sound complicated? Watch a perfume ad and see how they do it. Or a car ad. Or Verizon’s commercials.
• Copy Hollywood and Disney. Have you ever noticed that everything is Las Vegas is “The ______ Experience?” Experiences play to all your senses and cause emotion. The more you can turn your offer into an experience for your customer, the more it speaks to their subconscious mind.

That should get you started. Look around and notice when people take action and what causes them to take that action. Is there an emotional decision involved? Look at yourself and ask the same questions. Now start crafting your messages to speak to those emotions, and be sure you back it up with a transaction point that upholds the inspiration you’ve created, otherwise it will dead end or backfire. But if you keep the inspiring message solid from start to finish, you’ll get people to act… maybe even one million of them.

Now go try it yourself. Why? Because I said so. Just kidding.


Good luck and good marketing,

Jeff Schomay

--------------------------------------------------------
Written by Jeff Schomay
Inspire Your Buyer - Branding and Marketing
Optimize Your Impact. Get Better Results.
www.Inspire-Your-Buyer.com
jeff@inspire-your-buyer.com
(c) 2009
Jeff Schomay is an expert brander and marketer and a professional film writer and director.

####

Posted to THE NATIONAL NETWORKER. All rights reserved.
####
To subscribe for your free TNNW Newsletter, go to www.TheNationalNetworker.com. For the complete National Networker Relationship Capital Toolkit and a free continuous RSS feed (available either by traditional RSS or by direct email), go to: http://thenationalnetworkerweblog.blogspot.com.

You are also invited to click our buttons:




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Forward/Share This Article With Colleagues And Social Media:

OPTIMIZING YOUR IMPACT: Inspire vs Motivate: Because “Because I Said So” Won’t Sell It