What an exciting holiday gift — a nice write-up about RareShare on TechCrunch. Feel free to check it out here.

Dave Balter, one of the leading specialists on “Word-of-Mouth” marketing and the founder and CEO of BzzAgent, has published a free e-book (approx. 119 pages) on the how to successfully use word-of-mouth marketing to build buzz around a company, product or service. This is a great resource and best of all, thanks to Dave, it’s free!

Click here to download the book. (approx. 2.4MB pdf)

For those that require a hardback copy, click here to buy it online at Amazon.com.

In anticipation of this interview, I wanted to share with you an interesting and innovative business concept that I read about in Monday’s USA Today.

The Lobsterman Cometh

Have you ever wanted to be a lobsterman? Well, now you can…Two brothers in Maine are selling the rights to entire lobster traps. That means, for $2,995, you can own the rights to whatever lobsters are caught in your designated trap for the entire season. They will then ship your lobsters overnight wherever you want and will include mussels, clams, Maine-made gourmet desserts, and bibs. Customers are guaranteed at least 40 lobsters for the season.

Brothers John and Brendan Ready own the Company, Catch A Piece of Maine, which launched in October 2007 with eight other fishermen. They are offering 400 traps for sale, which according to the article, 30 have already been sold. What’s even cooler – those who purchase traps can track their catches online.

Why is this concept so cool?

First, it shows how the Internet is helping small (wholesale) businesses connect directly with consumers. Not only can these lobstermen go around the traditional middlemen, but they can increase their profits while offering products and packages at less than retail prices.

Secondly, the article reported that in recent years, the lobster catches have doubled and tripled and that fisherman are working to find new channels in which to sell their lobsters. This new strategy could be the solution.

Whether it’s Frito-Lay’s carbon neutral potato chip manufacturing plant, Tesla Motors’s electric car that can travel 200 to 250 miles on charged Lithium-Ion batteries, or NBC’s Green Week, we’ve all heard about companies embracing the “green” phenomena.

So what is behind this greenness? It’s simple. While going green not only helps the environment, it also gives companies the opportunity (when done correctly) to gain additional media exposure, increase its brand awareness, and build goodwill among consumers and consumer groups. All of which can lead to more business and a better bottom-line for companies.

Let’s take for example the construction company, Alberici Enterprises. For those who have driven down I-170 in St. Louis past Alberici, you might know the green story behind its new headquarters, but for those who don’t, let me tell you….

Alberici wanted to become one of the premier “green” builders in America. In an effort to show what it could do, it built its new headquarters to be a model for sustainable design and construction. Besides using innovative building materials, such as a soybean polymer, the Company also created 2 water retention ponds that allow for zero reliance on city water for sewage conveyance. Additionally, the Company went above and beyond and installed a 3-blade wind turbine that sits atop a 124-foot monopole. This is expected to provide close to 20 percent of its annual energy needs. But what’s even more interesting is that Alberici claims that its building costs are equivalent to those of Class-A office space…meaning that it is no more expensive to become environmentally friendly.

So the next time you’re considering building a new office, why not consider going green with those that have proven that the concept works…Alberici? This is exactly what Alberici wants you to think. And that’s how going green means more bu$ine$$.

Links:

• Alberici Enterprises
• Alberici Headquarters Rated Greenest Building In The World
• Frito-Lay plans environmentally neutral potato chip (International Herald Tribune)
• NBC Green Week
• Tesla Motors

Want to learn more about Buffett? Check out The Warren Buffett Way

Just consider the last time you picked up a magazine or newspaper. Do you remember any of the advertisements? How about when you lasted watched television? Do you remember a single commercial? By now, we are so used to seeing advertising that we subconsciously ignore it.

Here are three things we know:

• people read blogs
• people use social networks to communicate
• people watch a lot of television (and they skip over advertisements with the help of TiVo)

So what does this tell us? It’s simple. Companies need to focus on getting their messages out using alternative, and more modern, methods. Whether it’s developing a corporate blog or reaching out to the media, new and free communication channels are available in today’s business world and companies need to take advantage of them.

As an example, I recently helped a client gain exposure on CNN.com’s homepage as a response to a media campaign announcing a poll they were hosting. Being on CNN.com resulted in over 5,000 additional unique visitors each day to my client’s website. If you compare this to traditional advertising, this same amount of exposure would have taken thousands of dollars.

There are several ways in which you can help leverage your company’s media exposure. Here are just a few examples:

Develop a catchy hook: When developing a media pitch, it’s time for you to think outside the box. What can you add to your story that will bring it to the next level? Put yourself in the shoes of a journalist and ask yourself, “Would they care about my story?” If not, then it’s time to rethink your message.

Become an industry expert: Do you manufacture widgets or do you offer a service to the public or to other businesses? It doesn’t matter. If you do business at all, it’s important to build your reputation as an expert in your industry. For those that know how to do it, it’s not difficult. Offer free articles to industry trade journals, volunteer to participate in open panel discussions or launch a blog. The media always needs expert sources. Being known as an industry expert will open you up to serve in this role.

Follow the news: Stay up-to-date on the most recent news in your industry. Set up Google Alerts for certain keywords and phrases. If a phrase comes across the wire that relates to your industry, follow-up on it and offer your expert insight and perspective to your local media outlets.

Most importantly, the next time you consider spending money developing a large advertising campaign, consider this: The Body Shop was built using publicity with no advertising at all and Starbucks built its brand through PR. Starbucks now has approximately 12,000 retail stores and annual sales over $9 billion.

Here’s a great example of a company implementing Web 2.0 technology as a marketing tool to help reach future customers and build brand loyalty among current product users. This month, PepsiCo launched DEWmocracy, a game-based website that allows customers to help shape the flavor, color, name, logo, and design of the next Mountain Dew drink.

The site is designed around a virtual game, based on a fantasy legend, and consists of seven chambers, Fire, River, Jungle, Forest, Ocean, Desert and Mountain, representing the seven different parts of the drink. In each chamber, the user must complete several tasks before they are allowed to move on to the next.

DEWmocracy is continuing to open up its chambers. The fire chamber, which helps decide the flavor of your drink, was opened on November 5th and the river chamber, allowing you to choose the color of your drink, will open on November 14th.

In a recent story by the New York Times, Facebook’s new advertising system may be considered illegal in New York.

The story, which originated from a blog post on a Harvard Law weblog explained that a 100 year-old New York state statue may prevent the social network from using its new advertising system, in which it places Facebook users into its advertisments.

This statue says that “any person whose name, portrait, picture, or voice is used within this state for advertising purposes or for the purposes of trade without the written consent first obtained” can sue for damages. If that’s not enough, it goes on to say that such use could be a criminal misdemeanor.

After the New York Times published this story, Chris Kelly, the chief privacy officer of Facebook responded by explaining that the author’s view was too broad and that the law wouldn’t apply to Facebook…he continued by arguing “that it would be difficult for someone used in one of these ads to object because that person had already chosen to publicly identify themselves with the brand doing the advertising”.

While the principals of advertising may be considered similar to those of 100 years ago, the methods of user consent and advertising channels are considerably different. If any legal actions are taken against Facebook, this will certainly set a new precedent for internet companies doing business in New York.

Feel free to post your comments below and let me know what you think.

Instead, go after your local media. Develop a hook that focuses how your new business, product or service is helping your community. Believe me, local news stations love covering interesting topics going on in their own backyards.

If you feel inclined, take it one step further. Instead of focusing on a single area, come up with several different hooks for different places. When I owned The Selling Block in St. Louis, we launched a World Series charity auction with Major League Baseball, the St. Louis Cardinals, and the Boston Red Sox. We received plenty of coverage in St. Louis, but having the Red Sox involved allowed us to gain additional media exposure in the Northeast.

As a follow-up to yesterday’s posting about NBC’s Green Week, I must tip my hat to Anheuser-Busch heir, Adolphus Busch, IV, for installing the region’s largest personal solar power plant at his farm in St. Louis. He is certainly generating lots of buzz  around St. Louis.

 As a side note, this is not Adolphus’s first experience with environmental conservation. He currently serves as the chairman of Great Rivers Habitat Alliance, an organization committed to conserving Missouri wetlands. While living in St. Louis I served on this board and can comment first hand on the wonderful job they are doing.