Well for starters, when I hear the word buzz on its own, I think of bees swarming around a hive full of honey. If I think a little further I get an image of a busy New York street, a mall full of people, or even a festival/parade. These things also bring me back to the image of the bees buzzing around a hive of honey, the only difference is that they're people, and the honey is something that attracts them there.



The honey in New York would be business opportunities, social opportunities, and entertainment. In a busy mall, it's the stores with the products and services they offer. A festival or parade has festivities, extravagant performances, or entertainment value. All these things are what we could call buzzworthy, because they attract a crowd of buzzing bustling people excited and active.

So now let's put these images in the frame of business and word of mouth/buzz marketing. When we're trying to develop a viral marketing campaign, we need something buzzworthy. So let's look for some honey that'll get the bees swarming. Since we're probably not selling honey to bees, we'll need to find something that is sweet enough that will attract a swarm of buzzing excited customers for a feeding frenzy.

This is where things could get challenging though. It would seem that there are so many products and services out there, with so many marketing campaigns, that the swarms have scattered and become uninterested. They've headed for the honey one too many times with the thought of how sweet it will be, only to discover a bitter muck or molasses at best. This causes them to become discouraged, untrusting, and wary of the next guy who advertises honey.

Don't let this get you down, or stop you from releasing a product. The fact that there are so many dud products out there can be your opportunity to release a good one. According to the contrast principle, those dud products can actually boost your recognition just by your ability to be so much better than the competition.

Now I can sense that some of you are probably thinking "How can I be sure my product is better than the competition?" It's simple; just make a product that is buzzworthy, which means making your product sweet enough to attract a swarm of buzzing customers. How? Through excellence! People talk and get excited about excellence, and that is buzzworthiness. Here's a breakdown of how to be sure your product is excellent.

- Don't overhype your product and then underdeliver. You may get a swarm on the initial product launch, but when those buzzing bees find out that your honey is really molasses, the buzz will be silenced, and you can say goodbye to your customers, because they won't be coming back for more. Only amateurs focus on the first sale.

- Give your customers a high return on their investment. This means deliver what you promised, at a fair price, and then overdeliver. Give them more than what they asked for. Add value to your product where-ever value can be added. Stick behind your product, give support for your product, guarantee your product or their money back, and tack on some bonuses for buying your product.

- Create a good Unique Selling Proposition (USP). Your USP is an attention grabbing phrase that addresses a few of the following: What you're selling, how much, key benefits, &/or why buy from you. This is an important part of your product creation process and is best if it's short, sweet, catchy, and enticing. Pay attention to the word "unique" in there, because you need to have a unique quality that makes you stand out from the rest of the crowd. You also want to make sure that your USP is believable. Most people know the old saying "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is", and if that pops into their mind when they read your USP, then you're sunk.

Hype your product, and then overdeliver! Excellence is buzzworthy, and if you go that extra mile for your customer, and if you exceed their expectations, then they will be excited about you and your product, and they will tell others about it.

Q) What is buzzworthiness?

A) Buzzworthiness is something that is buzzworthy.

Q) How do we judge what's buzzworthy?

A) If it's buzzworthy, then it will create a buzz.

Q) What defines a marketing buzz?

A) If customers are excited about a product, telling others about it, and coming back for more with a swarm behind them in a feeding frenzy.

So there you have it folks. I hope this gives you a better idea of how viral/word of mouth/buzz marketing works, and how you can create a buzz with your product/service. Just one more key to note is that you should study the concept here, then innovate, and improve upon it. Some of the biggest buzzes I'm sure are still to come, and you might just be the one to start them buzzing.