Successful Blog

WOMMA: What Gets People To Talk About You?

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What People Talk About

Word of Mouth Marketing Book

Andy Sernovitz knows what people talk about. He knows how to get people like me talking the way I’m talking to you about him right now. In fact, he wrote the book Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking.

If you want to get people tarking, Andy says in his book. You need to know what people talk about. People talk about three kinds of things.

  1. We talk about other people and their stuff. If you are interesting, we talk about you or the stuff you are selling. We talk about how the service you offer is grander or more remarkable than we expected or how you have done something that captured out imagination. We want a reason to talk about you. Good conversation makes our life more interesting too.
  2. We talk because it makes us feel smart, important, and helpful. We remember how you treat us and pass that along to our friends. Treat us exceptionally nice, and we become die-hard fans. Give us a product or service that amazes us, and we’ll become the experts on where to find you — making sure everyone knows you are the best in your field. Everyone likes to feel that they have the key to something special. We like to help our friends by showing them how to find a great deal. Keep your attention fresh and exciting, and you will keep us interested and talking about you.
  3. We want to feel part of a bigger group. When we share how we feel about a product or a service we have enjoyed, we feel connected to the experience and connected to the people we tell about it. The more times we tell the story, the more we identify with it as a part of us and our life. Offer something people want to be a part of and they’ll tell others about it.

Talking to each other is what we do — on the phone, at our desks, in the comment box, in the grocery, over the kitchen table. We fill up our life with stories about our experiences. Talking is how we share the experiences that we find interesting and defining.

People like to talk to people. What can you do to get people talking about what you do? What stories come to your mind when you read this? Are they all BIG and heroic or are some stories of regular size?

Thanks Andy. I can’t wait to hear you speak at SOBCon.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Hurry! The special rate rooms in the SOBCon Block at the OHare SOBCon 07 will be released back to the hotel on April 13th.

Related
WOMM: If You Hate Self Promotion, Get People to Talk about You!
Andy Sernovitz Is Speaking at SOBCon! Pass It On!

Great Writers Read Great Writers

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Once Upon a Time

Power Writing Series Logo

If I asked you to name a great writer, who might it be? And if I asked you to name more than one, would all of them, any of them, have gone to a university?

Abraham Lincoln, a self-educated man, wrote the Gettysburg Address.

Ayn Rand left the USSR in 1926 — her formal education was over. She came to the U.S., took odd jobs in Hollywood to support herself. Ayn Rand wrote The Fountain Head and Atlas Shrugged.

Truman Capote ended his formal education at age 17. He wrote In Cold Blood and Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

All of these great writers learned to write by reading.

That’s how writers learned through history. Writers learned to write before there were oficial writing teachers. What did they get?

  • They got the music and the structure of the language.
  • They got a sense of story.
  • They learned to put words together to make meaning.

Oh sure, they got much more. Every word they read taught them something about their writing.

Do you read like a writer? What would a writer of your sort be reading? How might a writer read in a different manner? Is reading blogs enough?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
If you think Liz can help with a problem you’re having with your writing, check out the Work with Liz!! page in the sidebar.

We Talked About. . . Food, Food, Food

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Food Crazy

Hi Everyone! Every week Sandy and I try to think how to sum all that we talked about but you know it’s impossible to capture the joy, humor, and comaradarie of 4 hours in one simple blog post. And as much as I like taking a clever comment and sharing it here, it sure takes time and once in a while it embarrasses folks.

So we’re going to stop trying to do the impossible, trying to retell a fabulous memory, and instead let you enjoy the comments as they were said whole.

It was a busy night. We were talking about how to foods and food memories. Oh my! What a relationship we have with food!

Wow!

You can read all about it in the comments sectiona>

Here are some cool links we shared.

Thanks to everyone for the cool links and for being part of the conversation.

See you next Tuesday? I sure hope so.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

What is Tuesday Open Comment Night?

WANT TO GUEST HOST AN OPEN COMMENT NIGHT WITH ME? PICK A THEME AND TELL ME ABOUT IT. C’MON IT’LL BE FUN!

Dave Olson’s Post Is Going to SOBCon

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Dave’s a Relationship Blogger

SOBCon 07

I read this post last night just before midnight. Only one thought crossed my mind. Call a guy an SOB and he’ll show you just how much he knows about Successful and Outstanding Blogging.

Dave Olson gets what it means to be a relationship blogger. This post has to be a classic definition for anyone who wants to know what the term means. Click the title and have a read.

Break all the social taboos for better relationships

So, if you won’t mind, Dave, I’d like to bring your post to SOBCon.

Boy, if I had the juice I’d bring you, Dave, right along with your post. You belong in that audience. You’re a genuine relationship blogger. Bet you can apply that to design, branding, and marketing your blog.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
SOBCon -07 The hotel is filling up! Register Now!

A Sense of Urgency

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I’ve been thinking . . .

about my sense of urgency.

When I was a publisher, I placed a high value on my sense of urgency. Everyone in my book of “those who are good at this” had a sense of urgency about the work we did. We tried to trim any schedule while still delivering top-notch quality.

Urgency is a highly personal relationship between a person and the work. It is a decision on how quickly something needs to be done in order to be done well.

Urgency means meeting the schedule with outstanding work.
Urgency means coming in early so that the next guy has more time to do what he needs to do.
Urgency means focusing on the task at hand, focusing to do it well on the first and only try.

When you work on unrealistic schedules that drive revenues that support your paycheck, urgency is value that is worth cultivating.

I taught my team in publishing that urgency is a merit skill.

Then I came online. I found it unfortunate and frustrating that folks didn’t seem to have a sense of urgency. I heard my urgent voice saying why don’t folks care that things slip and take longer than they need to?

Then I looked again at my sense of urgency. I started to realize that I had learned to be urgent about everything. Everything must get done. There were musts and shoulds, where I needed none. When I unpacked the word urgency I found the words responsibility, control, and oh no! . . . oh yes! stress.

Over time, I’ve adjusted my steps to walk when I don’t need to run.

I’m urgent only when time makes a real difference to the outcome.

I wish I had been a blogger before I was a publisher. Having known this would have made me a better manager.

Sometimes I truly do need a sense of urgency Sometimes I truly am better off without one.

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SOBCon News: Dr. Rob Wolcott Is Attending!

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In the Audience

Dr. Rob Wolcott, Ph.D

We lift the ideas out of the comment box and give them voices to speak, hands to shake and faces to put with names.

The best thinkers will be adding to the conversation as we discuss as SOBCon 07 ways to bring readers and customers into the interactive experience that is our blogs. To that end we have focused not only on the presenters, but also on building an audience of attendee who can take the conversation to a new level of innovation. We’re pleased to announce that

Dr. Rob Wolcott, PhD, the Director of the Innovation Initiative for the Kellogg School of Business is jazzed about blogging. Rob will be attending SOBCon 07 with another member of his team from the Clareo Partners. His firm has also extended an invitation to all professors, corporations, and students at the school.

Some of the most resonant names of the blogosphere will enrich this unique event. The magnitude of the event goes beyond that of a traditional bloggers conference through that that will have in the public representatives of the Kellogg School of Business of the Northwestern University and other prominent business figures. –A. Garber Clareo Parners

The audience of attendees is a critical part of SOBCon 07 conference.

Relationships are everyone’s business and every business is relationships.

Are you going to be there?

We sure hope to see you.

Would you post this and pass the world on to everyone? Thanks!