Let’s take a look at buzzworthiness from the perspective of the psychology of human motivation. If we can grasp the concept of what motivates us as humans, then we’ll have a better understanding of how to utilize the motivation factors to encourage the viral spread of our message through starting a buzz.

The famous psychologist Abraham Maslow presented what he called the “Hierarchy of Needs”. According to this hierarchy, if a human doesn’t have their basic needs met, then they will be motivated mostly by meeting those basic needs first, giving less importance to the other needs. Let’s take a look at this hierarchy below:

1. Physiological needs: Food, water, shelter, and sex.
2. Safety: Freedom from the threat of physical and emotional harm.
3. Social Needs: Friendship, belonging, and love.
4. Esteem Needs: Achievement, recognition, and reputation.
5. Self-Actualization: Truth, meaning, and wisdom.

After fulfilling one group of needs starting with physiological needs, then we will become more motivated to fulfill the next set of needs, which graduates us to the next set of needs, until we fulfill self-actualization at the top of the hierarchy. This can essentially be seen as a scale of motivation. The things that motivate us are the things that fulfill one or more of our needs.

So here’s an example of how to easily create a buzz: Give out free food to famine stricken people. Those peoples primary motivation would be to attain food, and if you provide it free, they will be buzzing to get it, because it fulfills their basic needs. Does this example have much relevance to modern marketing? What do you think would happen if you gave out free hamburgers to people at a festival? You’d create a buzz and people would remember you. People walking away with their free burgers would meet other people and say “They’re giving out free burgers over there”, thus propagating your message virally via word of mouth and creating a buzz.

Okay I admit, there’s another concept here that makes it buzzworthy. The concept is to have something unique about your message/product/service. People will buzz about free burgers because A) it fulfills one of their basic needs, and B) the offer is unique because it’s free. If burgers were always free, then there would be nothing to buzz about.

For people that have their physiological and safety needs met, it is easier to create a buzz through the motivation to meet their social and esteem needs. A few of the greatest examples of viral marketing such as Hotmail, MyJournal, MySpace, and Friendster are all examples of this. These companies created a buzz because they offered something unique that fulfill the social and esteem needs through social communications, and social networking.

In these cases, the word of mouth buzz gets spread even faster because by spreading the word they fulfill their social and esteem needs at the same time as fulfilling it from the service they’re spreading the word about. It works the same even with the example of free burgers. When someone walks away with a free burger, they are inclined to go tell their friends about it, because it will boost their reputation, recognition, and strengthen their friendship. Their friends will be excited and happy to get a free burger thanks to you being the one to tell them about it. This is a key point in buzzworthiness and if understood and implemented with the right ideas and the right messages, can increase your buzz exponentially.

If you have a message, product, or service that is unique and fulfills one or more of our human needs, then you are on your way to creating a buzz. If it is something that is so good that people’s reputation and recognition becomes boosted amongst those they tell about it, then it’s definitely buzzworthy! The only thing left is to tell people to spread the word about it, and make it as easy as possible for them to spread it (ie. Viral tools such as tell-a-friend scripts, hand outs, pamphlets, e-mail forwarding, articles they can freely publish, etc…).

Good luck creating a buzz!

Buzzworthiness Via Human Motivation is a post from: Marketing Blogs | Albrowmarketing.com

1)First, make sure you put up a good landing page. It should be well-designed and professional looking. If you don’t have any design skills then hire someone to do this for you.

2)Next, put a web form on your landing page and offer your customers the opportunity to opt-in to your mailing list. Give something away free to encourage them to opt in.

3)Make sure any freebies you give away are of the highest quality, because the subscribers on your list will judge the worthiness of your products and services based on the freebies they get.

4)Include a lot of professionally written content and interesting information for your visitors. Your customers will want to read interesting things and want to look for more than just a sales pitch. Content sites are a great way to build trust and loyalty. You can build a content site jam-packed with articles and helpful information, then link to your sales page from your content site.

5)Make sure you keep your customer’s information private. If you tell your customer’s you will not share his or her personal information, then don’t share it with anyone. You will ruin your reputation, and word spreads fast on the Internet.

6)Take some time to try the product you offer yourself. Make sure it is something you consider worthy of buying. If you are selling a book you wrote, make sure it has mass appeal and will benefit the target audience you plan to market it to.

7)Provide top-notch customer service. This is THE number one way to stay ahead of the game. If your customers are happy and you resolve their questions and complaints immediately, then you will win their loyalty and trust.

8)Reward customers that refer others to you. This is a simple way to build trust and loyalty.

9)Respond to your customer’s complaints or inquiries immediately, with the goal in mind always being to satisfy your customer.

10)Remain truthful and honest in all you do. A customer will sniff out a scam faster than a dog will a bone. Don’t lie, don’t trick and don’t steal. Be honest and be who you are, and you will do well working on the Web and building your opt-in list.

10 Quick Tips For Creating A profitable List is a post from: Marketing Blogs | Albrowmarketing.com

By knowing this type of important information you can improve your web site, products/services, advertising, and marketing. Below are nine techniques you can use to get valuable feedback from your customers.

-Use surveys and questionnaires regularly to improve your business. Publish them on your web site, e-zine, print newsletter, direct mail material, include them with product shipments or inside product packages. Post them on appropriate online message boards, e-mail discussion lists and newsgroups on the internet.

-Create an online community for your customers. Include a chat room, message board, e-mail discussion list on your site for customers to participate in. You can regularly moderator these communities to see what your customers are saying about your business.

-Give away your products to a group of your customers. Ask them to use and review the product. Ask them to fill out an evaluation form and send it back. Some customers may fill them out, some may not, but the feedback you do get will be valuable.

-Offer your web site visitors an online product or service from your web site at no cost. It could be an ebook, search engine submission, consulting via e-mail, web design, etc. In return, ask them to fill out a short survey about your web site, products or services you’re selling, customer service, or your web site.

-Create a customer focus group. Invite ten to twenty of your most loyal customers to meet regularly. They will give you ideas and input on how to improve your customer service. You could pay them, take them out to dinner or give them free products.

-Stay in contact with customers on a regular basis. Offer them a free e-zine subscription. Ask customers if they want to be updated by e-mail when you make changes to your Web site. After every sale, follow-up with the customer to see if they are satisfied with their purchase.

-Make it easy for your customers to contact you. Offer as many contact methods as possible. Allow customers to contact you by e-mail. Hyperlink your e-mail address so customers won’t have to type it. Offer toll free numbers for phone and fax contacts. This will make it easy for your customers to voice their opinions.

-You could regularly contact customers on birthdays or holidays. Send thank you gifts to lifetime customers. E-mail them online greeting cards on holidays or birthdays. Call them personally to wish them a happy holiday. You couldthem follow-up with a survey or ask them if they’re happy with your business.

-Invite your customers to company meetings, luncheons, workshops or seminars. Create special events for your customers like parties, barbecue’s, dances etc. Make a point for yourself and your employees to interact with them at these event to get valuable feedback for your business.

You could use a couple or all of the techniques listed above to get valuable customer feedback. These aren’t the only ways, be creative and come up with some of your own.

9 Secret Ways To Get Valuable Feedback From Your Customers is a post from: Marketing Blogs | Albrowmarketing.com

Or maybe you belong to that group of people who are not familiar with JV offers, which is short for joint venture offers… also known as business proposals.

Either way… you can benefit tremendously from the following 8 tips to be successful with your own JV offer. Let’s get started…

1. A JV offer doesn’t require a JV partner to buy your products or services to become a JV partner.

Asking you potential JV partner to buy the product or service would be considered a sales offer and not a JV offer. A JV partner is usually offered a free review copy of your product or service.

Doing that drastically increases your chances to gain a JV partner as this makes him or her feel obligated to return the favor by doing his part of the partnership and e.g. promoting your product or service to their lists.

Why am I mentioning this? Yes, you guessed it right… I had people contact me to do a JV with them and when I asked for a review copy to check first the value of the product… I was referred to their sales page!

2. A JV offer has to be a win/win or better a WIN/win.

A JV offer has to provide your JV partner with one or more additional benefits for becoming your partner… his WIN. Your win will e.g. be to be able to tab into your JV artners list and gaining extra sales.

A JV offer that offers a win/win could e.g. be:

“I am looking for JV partners that can promote my product or service to their list of contacts.

In return for you are recommending my product or service to your list, I will not only provide you with a free review copy of my product or service, but also pay you a 10% higher commission than regular affiliates.”

Another example… a JV offer for a service you provide could e.g. offer this:

“I am looking for a JV partner who needs a small to medium sized software product developed in Visual Basic. I can offer to do that for you free of charge in return of 10% of the profits you generate selling that software for the first year starting at your first sale and 5% for the time after the first year.”

Again, a win-win situation… the JV partner has a product without out of pocket expense that he can sell exclusively to his lists, his WIN. And you can earn royalties for live without your own list.

3. Don’t make the initial JV proposals too lengthy. Especially when you propose to a well know marketer, this can be the JV kill. Those people often have very limited time and will not even read your message all the way to the end if it’s pages long.

It is better to send a short teaser email first and then follow up once they reply with all details.

4. Make your potential JV partner feel like you’re a peer and not a salesperson.

Do your research before you send your first email to a potential JV partner.

Make the style of your JV offer personal, mention details about their business and how the JV offer can help them in what they want to achieve.

5. Don’t let your JV partner do all the work, participating in the JV should very as little work as possible for them.

Be prepared and offer them to provide marketing material for your JV partner. This can be solo-ad copy, banner and text ads and other materials your JV partner can use to share the word about your product or service.

The less work it is for them, the more likely they will become your JV partner. It is that simple.

6. Don’t just go only for the big player.

Overlooking smaller publishers that have a very loyal and responsive list can be another mistake. Besides, those will be much more likely interested in your JV offer as they are not flooded with them (yet).

7. Show them how you can help their clients and customers.

Give an example how your product or service compliments your potential JV partners own products or services. This way you help them to provide an even better service to their clients and customers.

This will also build trust that doing a JV with you will not only earn you and them money, but show that you are interested in helping them to look good in front of their own clients and customers.

8. Test your web copy and conversion rates and provide details.

By letting them know your conversion rate, they will know that sending traffic to your is not a bottomless pit. They can estimate how much they will be able to earn by doing a JV with you.

If you know e.g. that you will generate 1 sale out of every 70 targeted visitors your sales page gets, then let them know that you have a 1.4% conversion rate on targeted visitors.

Knowing all of the above, your next question might be… where do I find JV partners to contact?

Here is a list of resources in alphabetical order that will help you getting started:

- Anthony Blake Online – Entrepreneurial Success Forum: http://www.ablake.net/forum/

- JV-Network: Free membership site to become a JV partner of top marketing experts or to post your own JV offers for a fee: http://add2it.com/see.pl?JVnetwork

- jvAlert: Paid membership site to become a JV partner of top marketing experts, post your own JV offers and search their offers database: http://add2it.com/see.pl?jvAlert

- jvAlert Member Forums: http://www.jvalert.com/forums/

- JV Money Makers Forum: http://jvmoneymakers.com/forum/

- Mark Hendricks’s Inner Circle Marketing Forum: Free section to post and find JV offers: http://www.hunteridge.com/forum/members/

- Mark Hendricks’s JVdealmaker Players Club Forum: Free section to post and find JV offers http://www.jvdealmaker.com/members/

- Michael Green’s “How To” Internet Marketing Forum: http://www.howtocorp.com/forum/

- MikeFilsaime’s Marketing Forum: Free section to post and find JV offers http://www.1sitemanager.com/forum/

- The Warrior Forum: Free section to post and find JV offers (Note: Before posting, first post helpful feedback in other sections of the forum) http://www.warriorforum.com/forum/

- Warrior Discussion Forum: Free section to post and find JV offers (Note: Before posting, first post helpful feedback in other sections of the forum) http://www.warriordiscussion.com/forum/

8 Tips to be Successful with your own JV offer is a post from: Marketing Blogs | Albrowmarketing.com

2. A Larger Email Marketing list – Make your customers or visitors sign-up for your email newsletter before they are able to receive your coupons. That way you’ll have an opportunity to follow back up with them to resell.

3. Increased Sales and Repeat Sales – Remember, when customers visit your store, office or site to redeem a coupon, they will very likely buy more than just the item promoted thereon. Same goes for a discount. Both new, and existing customers may be motivated to try a new product or service they would not have considered otherwise.

4. Viral Marketing – Take advantage of word-of- mouth referrals by encouraging your customers to forward your coupons to interested friends or family members. It is the oldest and least expensive form of advertising.

5. Increased Customer Loyalty – Develop relationships with your customers by offering them added value, letting them know how much you appreciate their business. Keep their minds on you, and they’ll forget about the competition.

6. Affordability – Save your marketing dollars. Online coupons are far less expensive than traditional coupon advertising because they require no production expense or mailing costs.

7. Targeting – Reach the right customers. Companies like Loyal Email target precisely where your customers live, where they like to shop, and what they like to buy, making your coupons highly relevant and, accordingly, more effective.

8. The Better Your Coupon, The Better Your Response- Use online coupons to offer savings of money (a dollar amount or a percentage off), time (free pick- up/delivery or gift wrapping) or to promote any aspect of your business. For example: a restaurant may offer a “buy one entrée and get the 2nd at half price.” A landscaper may offer a “free crabgrass eater application” with a yearly contract, a movie rental store may offer a “2 for 1 midweek” rental, and a retail store or website may offer “$20.00 off any purchase of $100.00 or more.”

7 Strategies & Benefits Of Using Online Coupons is a post from: Marketing Blogs | Albrowmarketing.com

2. Be Ready with a “Quick Fix”…
Dissatisfaction multiplies at a rapid rate! Have you ever complained and waited…and waited…and waited for someone to get back to you? Yeah, the whole time you’re impatient and disgruntled the problem seems to grow bigger. Let your unhappy customer know that you are getting right on the problem. Even if it can’t be fixed immediately, he’ll know that it’s important and a high priority.

3. Be Professional…
One angry customer plus one angry salesman doesn’t add up to a great solution. Forget about the mannerisms of the ticked customer, and keep your cool. Often a professional and calm response will in turn calm and quiet the tirade of the unhappy customer. And that my friend, is much more likely to get the results you are looking for.

4. Be Responsible…
Go ahead…take the responsibility for the problem…even if it wasn’t your fault. Hey, an “I’m sorry,” goes a long way toward fixing the problem. Once you’ve apologized for the inconvenience your customer has experienced, you can get down to the dirty business of fixing the problem. It never pays to fix the blame or make excuses. Customers see right through it, and respect honesty rather than excuses. Keep your credibility intact with a simple apology.

5. Be Considerate…
Disgruntled customers often fear their complaints will be overlooked and overreact to get the attention they feel they deserve. Let them be surprised with the sincere consideration you give to the problem, and watch their anger dissapate. They’ll walk away from a possibly explosive situation with a pleasantly surprised attitude. They’ll remember that much longer than the problem that brought them to you in the first place.

6. Be Confirming…
It pays to double check on the satisfaction of a one-time dissatisfied customer. You may even want to reinforce a good relationship with them by offering a special discount on their next purchase! Getting them back in the habit of shopping with you can only benefit your business in the long run.

7. Be Attentive to the Cause of the Problem…
Once the customer has been pacified it’s time to get to the root of the problem. Hey, chances are pretty good that others have been unhappy about the same problem, but haven’t vocalized a complaint…at least to you. They may very well take the time to gripe to their friends! Take the time to fix the cause of the problem to avoid similar complaints in the future.

Don’t let customer complaints get you down or cause you to lose future sales opportunities. In a few minutes you can turn their frown upside down, and make loyal customers out of the most disgruntled. It just takes keeping your head on your shoulders, and implementing these 7 steps to ensure positive results.

7 Positive Ways to Turn Complaints into Assets is a post from: Marketing Blogs | Albrowmarketing.com

1. Surprise Them With a Holiday Discount
You really don’t expect to find products at their cheapest when the demand for them is the highest. Sure, after the holidays are over, the discount sales soar. That’s when you expect the “steal of a deal.” Surprise your customers with a truely discounted product right in the middle of the holiday season. That’ll get their attention!

2. Combine Products For A Special Deal
Two are better than one! At least we feel like we’re getting a deal when we buy a combination package… and we usually are getting a better buy for our buck. Find some products you can group together and sell at a better price. You’ll double your sales and spike your profits in the process.

3. Give A Freebie
Let’s face it… nothing in life is free, unless there’s a reason behind it. Yeah, customers scoop up freebies like ice cream and cake, but you’re setting yourself up for future business when they walk out your doors with a smile on their face.

4. Speedy Delivery
Impatience is par for the course these days. Hey, we can get online and find anything we want in a few minutes… whey wait forever to get it? The quicker you can get your product to your customer, the happier they will be. It’s as plain and simple as that.

5. Put Off The Payment
Procrastination is highly appealling to customers who are short on cash around the holidays. Give them the option of using a credit card, or making delayed payments on your product… and you’ve invited an entirely new class of people into your realm.

6. Advertise
What good does it do to have the best buy in town if nobody knows about it? Get the word out! Send out postcards, advertise it across the top of your Web page… do whatever it takes to let the world know that you’re making an offer too good to pass up.

Everybody loves a special deal. A special deal around the holidays, is like an extra goody in their stocking. Treat ‘em, and they’ll love you for it!

6 Ways To Guarantee Record Breaking Holiday Sales! is a post from: Marketing Blogs | Albrowmarketing.com

Sound familiar? Have you too been caught in the vicious cycle of high and low sales volumes? Why? Most of us tend to advertise heavily while things are slow – in a desperate attempt to get customers through the door, but back off when things are hopping.

If you’re looking for an even-keeled market, develop a steady marketing plan. Steady advertising produces steady growth…and steadily climbing profits!

2. Single Shot Advertising
One shot ads, rarely get results. Most customers are just like you, they don’t jump on the band wagon the first time it passes by. They often need to see your sales material several times before they actually make the move to walk through the doors.

Follow-ups are necessary for success. We’re not just talking about prospective customers now…even your loyal customers need to be cultivated for sales. How many times have you thought about making a purchase, but just never followed through with it? Sure, we all do it. Sometimes it takes a little pressure to get us to part with our hard-earned money. Make it a point to spend time building relationships with both new customers and your faithful following.

3. MonkeySee, Monkey Do Advertising
How many times have you seen the same advertisement ideas written with just a little different twist? If you’re surfing the Web you’ve come across plenty of the aped ads! Yeah, you can predict what the next paragraph will cover, because you’ve seen it so many other places.

Sure, copy cat ads can be effective for a little while, but the results will quickly die down as others join in the copy mania. If you’re looking for REAL and LASTING results, be original. Do what only you can do, forget about what everyone else is doing. Be you. When a competitor does have a good idea, improve on it. Don’t follow in his footsteps…step out and lead the way to more effective advertisements.

4. Wild Shot Advertising
Ready, aim…yeah aim before you advertise! Don’t be caught up in wild advertising that gets your message in front of a lot of people who have absolutely no interest in your product or service.

Target your market…and get better results for your investment. Finding the target market that has a specific need you can fulfill takes a little time and research, but you’ll feel the effects when you hit the bullseye!

Think about this…there are advertising venues that your competition is overlooking. What about postcards? These high impact marketing tools are often overlooked. Yet, they’re the perfect low-cost way to generate prospective customer interest. Keep an eye open for overlooked marketing gems, and get one up on your competition!

5. Me, Me Advertising
What is it that consumers are looking for? …Exactly, something that is going to benefit them. They really aren’t interested in the facts about your product…they want to know how it will impact their life or lifestyle.

Take a look at your ad copy, and ask yourself what are you portraying…facts or benefits. Multi Level Marketers have this all figured out. Rather than tell you they have a business to offer, they spend a lot of time promising you freedom to work your own hours, countless vacations, summer homes and a host of other things you’ve probably already dreamed about at some point. Hey, don’t knock it…the MLM industry is a steadily growing element in our economy.

Don’t bore your readers with the facts…attract them with exciting elements that will fulfill their needs or desires.

Are you getting the results you’ve been looking for? Take another look at your marketing strategy…are you making the same mistakes many marketers unknowingly make. Hey, real success may only be one change away!

5 Proven Ways to Waste Advertising Money is a post from: Marketing Blogs | Albrowmarketing.com

Be sure that your claims sound believable, no matter how unbelievable they are. People are skeptical of “too good to be true” claims. It’s better to tone it down, and let them be surprised when it exceeds their expectation.

2. Keep It Short and Sweet
Long paragraphs and complex sentences look too much like work to read. Yeah, readers get bored quickly and easily. Chop it up, and break it up. Don’t use paragraphs of more than 7 lines or sentences longer that 18 words. Find ways to shorten it up, and you’ll keep the readers attention.

How many long words are in your copy? Replace them with short common words to create a reader-friendly appeal. Let your copy speak to them in the language they are used to hearing. Well, if your readers don’t like to spend a lot of time reading… it pays to choose your words carefully.

3. Keep it Active
Eliminate dull passive phrases. They do little, except bore the heck out of your readers. Dig them out and replace them highly active words that will motivate the reader to get up out of his easy chair and DO something.

The call to action is the most important part of any advertisment. Call, subscribe, join, order, buy… make them hear the call loud enough that they do something – NOW.

4. Skip the Humor
In the right place, and at the right time, humor is an effective tool. Written sales copy just isn’t it. Ads are short, concise and to the point. Humor tends to get in the way and distract.

Real life stories captivate readers. They relate to them. The human interest of these stories draws the reader into the message, whereas humor distracts them for the point.

5. Us A Powerful P.S.
A P.S. can be a powerful way to emphasize your product, highlight the points of benefit, or dramatize effects of the purchase. It’s the perfect way to summarize your page.

The P.S. is most powerful on Web pages. Surfers often read the headlines and skim to the P.S. where they look to get an idea of what’s on the page, and if it’s worth their time to read it. Put some effort into making your P.S. captivating.

5 Must-Have Techniques For Creating Unbelievably Productive Copy is a post from: Marketing Blogs | Albrowmarketing.com

Yeah, the products and marketing methods are changing constantly, but the driving force that motivates sales remains unchanged… so do the 4 things that steal sales right out from under your nose.

1. The “I don’t need it” attitude.
Let’s face it… need has little to do with what people buy or don’t buy in the American culture. Want has everything to do with whether they do or don’t buy. The most crucial aspect of getting a high number of sales is targeting the right market. It does little good to advertise to people who really aren’t interested.

What are you advertising? Where are you advertising? These two questions go hand in hand. If you’re trying to sell hunting gear, it would make little sense to target mothers with small children. Sure a FEW of them hunt, but your return for the cost of advertising is going to be pretty low. Pay attention to what your target audience reads, and invest your advertising bucks wisely.

2. The “I can’t afford it” attitude.
In a few rare cases, that may be true, but usually “I can’t afford it” can be interpreted as, It’s not high on my list of priorities.” We can usually find the money for the things we really want.

Go ahead and MAKE your product or service a priority. Dramatize the benefits they’ll experience, sweeten the deal until it’s irresistible, and put a deadline on it. Make it “too good to pass up!”

3. The “I’m in no hurry” attitude.
Procrastination is criminal in the marketing world. Yeah, procrastination steals money right out of our pockets! The customer comes… he sees… he wants… but when he puts it off, he never does get around to buying!

What happens in the short time after he walks out without the purchase? Time quietly fades the emotions that were driving the sale, and the desire to shell out the dinero for your product soon fades away entirely.

Don’t let them leave without making the purchase. Now you can’t put a gun to their head and force them to buy, but you can make a deadline on the special. A “take it or leave it” offer just might inspire the procrastinator to act now.

4. The “I don’t trust you” attitude.
Buying is risky business, and most people fear making a foolish investment more than they fear never getting the product. You can allay those fears simply by implementing a few tactics that evoke trust and confidence for the buyer.

Offer an unconditional money back guarantee. You’ll effectively eliminated the risk factor that holds many consumers back.

Use testimonials to let prospective customers know that you do deliver, and a satisfied customer can say it way better than you ever could.

Be open to communication. Hey, when they know someone is willing to answer any question they have, the uncertainty evaporates.

Don’t let these four thieves steal any more of your profits. Deal with them effectively… get them out of the way!

4 “Sale Thieves” You Need To Be On The Lookout For is a post from: Marketing Blogs | Albrowmarketing.com