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.

Some of his thoughts include:

• Avoid “big names”  For the most part, they are useless.
• Select people who will attend each and every meeting, who will pay close attention to the business
• Select people who have an affinity for your business, who understand your challenges and your opportunities

Be sure to check out his post for more good ideas…

• They are a great way to share ideas about your company’s research, products or industry
• They help build online awareness about your company
• They can act as a “less formal” extension to your press releases
• They provide an outlet for customers and investors to interact with your company
• They can help influence the media (see Blogs are Key to Influencing News Coverage)

Recently, I helped a biotech client, Nutra Pharma, launch its blog. We’re starting off slowly with one post each week on a different subject relating to its research, clinical trials or the life science industry. Just two days after we launched, we had 35 subscribers and a renewed excitement from investors.

Here are seven steps to jumpstarting your corporate blog:

1. Brainstorm a list of categories and topics you’ll cover on your blog
2. Sign up for a free WordPress account or download and install WordPress on your corporate site
3. Sign up for a free Technorati account and claim your blog
4. Install the FeedBurner plug-in and setup the email signup form
5. Post your first three blog posts (separate each by one business day)
6. After posting each blog post, submit the link on digg
7. Once you have several posts online, email your customers, vendors, and local media and let them know about your new blog

Do you undertake eco-friendly projects at home? Well, why not bring those same ideas into the workplace and at the same time, help your business grow?

There are several good reasons to incentivize your employees to become greener. Not only will you be helping out the environment and making your employees happier, but you’ll also be building goodwill throughout the community. As more job candidates seek out opportunities from socially responsible companies, your company will stand out.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, several companies have already implemented “green” incentive programs. Here are just a few:

• Clif Bar is offering its 212 employees forgivable loans for as much $5,000 for the purchase of vehicles that get at least 40 miles per gallon. The Company also pays up to $1,000 annually to employees that make environmentally friendly improvements at home
• Topics Entertainment offers employees $1,000 to trade in automobiles for one with less cylinders
• NRG Systems offers employees who buy a Toyota Prius a $1,000 bonus each year. The Company also holds monthly meetings to discuss environmental and alternative energy topics
• Green Mountain Energy matches up to $10 per two-week payroll period of donations employees make to environmental groups. The Company also gives out prizes like gift certificates based on the points that employees earn finding alternative ways to get to work, such as biking or public transportation

The Evening Standard has developed a new strategy for reaching and attracting customers. Instead of growing subscriptions, The Evening Standard is focused on growing daily circulation numbers by offering patrons an easier system for purchasing afternoon papers…

The new Smart-Card system, named “Eros” after the winged figure on The Evening Standard’s logo, allows customers access to a prepaid “tap and go” payment system. Other features include discounts based on frequency of purchases and additional rewards when customers submit their demographic data.

Currently, the technology is available at 150 locations throughout London.

Accommodate: one of the most commonly misspelled word
Advisor: used by the AP over advisor
B-to-B: proper way to say “business-to-business” – never use B2B
Bated Breath: not baited breath
Catalog: used by the AP over catalogue
Cell Phone: used by the AP over cellphone
Couldn’t Care Less: don’t use the common, but incorrect, could care less (this actually means “I care more than I might”)
Dialogue: more commonly used over dialog
Dot-com or .com: correct use over dot.com, which means dot-dot-com
E-mail: used by the AP over email (although National Geographic uses email – follow the AP rule when writing PR)
First come, first served: not serve
Flier: used by the AP over flyer when meaning a handbill or aviator
Follow up, follow-up: this is always two words (noun and adjective are hyphenated)
Grass roots, grass-roots: also two words (noun and adjective are hyphenated)
High-tech: never hi tech
Home page: always two words (same with front page and Web page)
Judgment: used by the AP over judgement
Log in, login: verb is two words, noun is one
Mike: short for microphone, not mic
Newsstand: always use two “s”
Nonprofit: no hyphen
OK: used by the AP over okay or O.K.
Portuguese: not Portugese (MS Word will help you with this)
PowerPoint: one word, with capital P in the middle
Set up, setup: the verb is two words; the noun and adjective are one
Showtime: one word
Similar: be on the lookout for similiar
Super Bowl: always two words
Theater: use this spelling for a movie house or performance space instead of theatre, unless a proper includes the spelling theatre
T-shirt: not tee-shirt
Video game: two words
Voice mail: two words
Web site: used by the AP over website. Web is always capitalized since it is a proper noun (World Wide Web)
Wiki: this word does not need to be capitalized unless it is part of a proper noun, such as Wikipedia

I wanted to take a moment and introduce you to the Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Pod Cast series. This is a great seminar series published by the Stanford Technology Venture Program at Stanford University. The seminars, which are an hour-long, consist of lectures from some of the greatest entrepreneurs and businesspeople. They are free to download through iTunes or on the STVP website.

Here are just a few examples of the past lectures:

• How to Build a Successful Company with Mitch Kapor  
• Social Networking 3.0 with Tony Perkins
• Overcoming Adversity and Taking Risks with Jackie Speier and Deborah Stephens
• An Entrepreneurial Perspective on the Life Sciences Industry with G. Steven Burrill

 

If you’re searching for new ways to communicate with potential customers, then consider becoming a guest blogger. Most bloggers are on a constant search for content. If you approach them with a good topic, more than likely you’ll be offered the chance to contribute to their blog.

How would becoming a guest blogger benefit you? Consider this. If your company offers financial services specializing in commodities, you could reach your target market by writing a post about the future of the oil industry on a commodity trading blog.

Keep in mind that when you write a guest blog posting, its common practice to submit a byline. This will give you 2-3 sentences to describe your background and include a link to your website. Don’t forget to do this, as this advertising is the primary reason you wrote the post in the first place.

5 Steps to Successfully Becoming a Guest Blogger:

1. Identify your target blogs. (Hint: if you search for blogs on Technorati and sort by Authority, you will know which blogs are the most popular. The ones with the highest authority rankings probably have the most reach as well)
2. Review each blogs’ archives. You should also pay close attention to see which blogs have used guest bloggers in the past. 
3. Identify the editor of each blog you intend to contact
4. Draft an email introducing yourself, identifying your topic of interest and explaining why this topic fits with the theme of the blog. Also be sure to tell the editor that your blog will not just be a commercial for your company
5. Follow-up after 1 week if you haven’t heard a response

In the December 10th issue of Forbes, Karlgaard wrote his “Digital Rules” column about how to give great speeches. Here is some of the advice he offers:

• Avoid using PowerPoint. Tell a story instead
• Get away from the podium. Walk around while you talk
• Always wear white shirts when speaking live. If you sweat, white won’t turn darker
• Poll the audience at the beginning of the speech to create a bond between you and the audience

As a bonus, he suggests visiting YouTube to find and review videos of past speeches and lectures. One of his favorites is Burt Rutan’s “Houston, we have a problem!” speech making the case for private space travel.