April 2, 2007

WOMM: If You Hate Self Promotion, Get People to Talk about You!

ME Liz Strauss wrote this at 1:06 pm

Get People Talking

Business Rules Logo

Remember in Jr. High, the worst that could happen was to know that people were talking about you. Even if what you heard might be good, you couldn’t be sure. It was creepy.

Life is different now. Talk is how people share the news about interesting, fascinating, dangerous, marvelous, outrageous, remarkable, unique, and outstanding events, people, businesses — anything that isn’t BORING OR INVISIBLE.

If folks AREN’T TALKING about you and me, we virtually DON’T EXIST.

Don’t exist as in we are invisible. How does a business thrive if no one knows it’s there?

Some folks seem to have a knack for getting folks to talk about them. I’d name, but that would be redundant. The fact that they’re good at it means you already know who they are.

So what do they do that gets them talked about? Andy Sernovitz says they do four things. In his book, Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking, Andy names four rules to follow if you want t6 be talked about.

  1. Be interesting. No one talks about boring. Give people a reason — an unexpected detail, a moment of something, a visual surprise, a unique feeling. People tell othere people about interesting things.
  2. Make people happy. Inspire your readers. Get them jazzed or move them to action. Energize them with positivity. Tim Sanders wrote a whole book in the Likeability Factor. Put it to work for you. We love to talk about people we like.
  3. Earn respect and trust. Know your truth and live your values. Keep your promises and make people proud to say they know you. Who doesn’t like to talk about their friends and family?
  4. Make it easy. Have a simple message and help folks share it. Put your message everywhere people look. Keep it in motion. Say it yourself whenever you talk.

Makes total sense doesn’t it? Four ways to spread the word gets people talking about you, me and our ideas.

Thanks Andy. Tomrrow, we’ll check out what folks talk about.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Check out the SOBCon 07 blog

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Andy Sernovitz Is Speaking at SOBCon! Pass It On!

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20 Comments to “WOMM: If You Hate Self Promotion, Get People to Talk about You!”

  1. April 2nd, 2007 at 5:44 pm
    Deb Bixler said

    All of Andy Sernovitz ’s four are definitely good. I could add one more and that is be different or to stand out. I really can relate to being talked about. I recently had a women right a letter to the editor about me. It was a little controversial, yet definitely good publicity. You know that you are making an impression when you are getting that kind of talk.

  2. April 2nd, 2007 at 6:36 pm
    Brett McKay said

    I really want to work on number 2- make people happy. I feel like I’m pretty good at getting people jazzed up in person, but I don’t think I have acquired this skill in blogging. Instead of focusing on just giving information to my readers I should focus more on motivating them.

  3. April 2nd, 2007 at 11:08 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Deb!
    Welcome! Sorry I was off on a meeting. You’re right that letter was a great shot. I think Andy includes it under Be Interesting. :) Great publicity. Great talk!

  4. April 2nd, 2007 at 11:09 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Brett!
    That should work out really well for your new endeavor. Let me know what I can do to help you get the ball rolling. :)

  5. April 2nd, 2007 at 11:52 pm
    Carma Dutra said

    I can vouch for WOMM from being in the plumbing business for 28 years. Many times when a customer would call for service, they would say “Mr. so and so” recommended you.

    Oh, there’s more. WOMM got me a new client today for my writing business. It is really a matter of being available and visible.

  6. April 3rd, 2007 at 12:44 am
    Helen said

    You’re right about being interesting. Movies stars are some of the poeple that we talk about. Their beauty and telent are the main reason why we are interested with them.

  7. April 3rd, 2007 at 12:44 am
    daveolson.ca - the developing blog! » 47 reasons to pay attention in blogging class (actually 48) said

    [...] So in gratitude for his generosity, and because getting someone else to talk about you beats self-promotion any day, here is my legitimate contribution. [...]

  8. April 3rd, 2007 at 4:52 am
    Sanne Roemen said

    Carma, that’s a great point: being available, or approachable. The four points are huge truths, they have worked for me. It became hard to keep myself available and approachable, because answering e-mails, the phone and blog comments took a lot of time and attention. I was forced to come up with an effective strategy and I think I found it. I host monthly get-togethers where anyone can just show up, meet each other, interact and be inspired.

  9. April 3rd, 2007 at 6:38 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Sanne and Carma,
    Don’t you think those come into play under Andy’s rule “Make it easy.” If you’re approach and hosting events that are regular. I think it sounds awfully easy to be your friend and get to know what’s so interesting and remarkable about you. :P

    Sanne, It sounds like you’re ready Andy’s book. Is that the case? Just wondering. :P

  10. April 3rd, 2007 at 6:42 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Helen,
    Movie starts sure are interesting. They’re fodder for all kinds of conversation. We talk them when love them, hate them, find they do ridiculous or endearing. Yep they aure are interesint. :)

  11. April 3rd, 2007 at 1:18 pm
    Sanne Roemen said

    Hi Liz, No I didn’t read it yet but it sounds like a collection of wisdom I’ve read in several others combined. (Purple cow, naked conversations, made to stick, tipping point, long tail). And he probably added some.. so I will read it. I have found there are people who are remarkable, they blog, so it’s easy to talk about them, but they never show up on any event people get together, they don’t answer the phone and they rarely respond to e-mail. Sometimes that happens when people get very busy. Wich is a good thing because it means the word of mouth worked. But I think it’s important to be approachable at all times, because you can’t only be visible in your network when you need something from them. That doesn’t come off as very authentic. So I think thats what I meant by approachable.

  12. April 3rd, 2007 at 1:34 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Sanne!
    What a good point you make. I was just having that conversation with Lisa Gates about how so many who spoke of corporations not listening to their markets have now become big enough that they are too busy to listen to their “markets” (readers) anymore by answering comments and talking with them.

    I understand how important it is to stay approachable and yet how being approachable has made people think they have a right to my time. It’s an interesting problem. I’m in the middle of trying to solve it.

    How do I let people know that I love to help them, but that I have a family and have to work to make a living — that I can’t give away all of my time to anyone who asks, particularly those who start their request with a sentence such as “Hi! I don’t read your blog, but . . . ”

    I’d love your insight on this.

  13. April 3rd, 2007 at 2:23 pm
    Sanne Roemen said

    Ahhh been there. That’s one of the reasons I started those monthly gatherings. They are in three different cities in Holland now, so I have a fairly big scope. People know that when they want to ask me something or meet me, that’s the first place to be. If a question or request takes up a bit more time, I make an appointment for them to come to my ‘brainjamming days’. Those are days, around twice a month, that I sit myself down in a bar or restaurant where there is free WiFi and the whole day people are scheduled for one hour chats with me. It’s up to them to get everything out of it that they need. I don’t ask money because for me the value lies in connecting people, meeting interesting new people, getting a feel of what kinds of questions they are dealing with and if I make them happy I’m happy. Also, the people meet each other on those days and I get to connect people who can work on projects together. So for me this works as a buffer, I focus the small but intense bits of my time these people need from me around those days in the month so I can use the rest of my time to focus on ‘big’ projects, my blog, the book I’m writing and well… all other important stuff. And since my first and foremost goal is to do fun stuff with fun people, all these ways of spending my time contribute to my life-goal. I realize that this way of working / living might not fit everyone’s tastes / preferences. Hope it kind of inspires you or triggers a creative way of dealing with people who want your time and attention.

  14. April 3rd, 2007 at 2:26 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Sanne!
    What a wonderful idea. I think I’ll try that on around Chicago as soon as SOBCon is over. It has to be such fun meeting folks and talking blogging — everyone together. Thanks for sharing what works for you. :)

  15. April 3rd, 2007 at 5:17 pm
    Sanne Roemen said

    Oh that sounds great! Now I’m sorry I don’t live in Chicago. Maybe you would blog about how it works out for you. If you find that on topic.

  16. April 3rd, 2007 at 6:23 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Sanne!
    If I do it, you betcha I’ll blog about it. It would be too much fun not to. I would have to give you credit for thinking up the idea! :)

  17. April 3rd, 2007 at 10:18 pm
    Pamela said

    I think that the most easy way among the four is to earn respect and trust considering those things were not given to us naturally.

    Trust can be easily harnessed from friends and family. It’s only a matter of having many friends to increase the people who trusts us.

  18. April 3rd, 2007 at 10:22 pm
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Pamela,
    We need to turn strangers into friends as often as we can. Friends support and promote us better than we can ourselves.

  19. April 5th, 2007 at 4:15 am
    Jodee Bock said

    Great comments here - and thanks, Liz, for reminding me that if people don’t know about your products and services, they can’t spread the word about them! I’m becoming a bigger fish in my local pond, and WOMM is pretty good here; but I want to play BIGGER and have decided to poke a toe in the ocean. I love Sanne’s idea about setting up shop in a coffeeshop and scheduling time with people. I do that now, but it’s more hit and miss. I like the idea of scheduling a day to do it so others can connect, too. For me, that’s what it’s all about: connections. One of these days I’m going to skip my other Tuesday night meeting and head over to open mic night for just that reason - CONNECTION!

    Thanks for all you do to support BIGGER SMALL TALK, Liz. You make a huge ripple in the ocean of blogging and I, for one, am grateful!

  20. April 5th, 2007 at 9:05 am
    ME Strauss said

    Hi Jodee!
    To start from the bottom of your comment, I want to do more to see how FAR we can GO with BIGGER SMALL TALK. I’m starting to get ideas. Maybe you and I should set up a time so that I can download them to you.

    What fun it would be, if you were closer, just to walk into one of your informal coffee get-togethers. After the first half-hour of laughing. I’m sure we’d get some outstanding things done. :)

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