Building your own Brand Buzz

Say the word ‘buzz’ and your lips will initiate a continuity of sound synonymous to the kind of activity which should occur when there is action of any kind which aims to create excitement and elicit action.  The idea of buzz building especially around a company or a brand is to generate activity which will translate into increased business and eventually profits.    Buzz building, therefore has to be done with activity; talking, sharing, and doing.

A major complaint of businesses today is the increased cost of traditional advertising.  The fact is that while air time and newspaper spaces have experienced marginal increases, businesses are now faced with even higher costs for their day-to-day operations.  Costs such as energy, security and labour eat away a large portion of the budget, therefore ‘aesthetic’ areas such as marketing suffers from insufficient or no funding.  Marketers are therefore forced to use creative methods to ensure that their brands remain at the top of the consumer’s mind; one such method is buzz building.

The first step and most important step in buzz building is to get people talking; “especially influencers.  Networking amongst influencers and experts in your industry will assist in generating the initial buzz around your brand, maintaining that buzz is a combination between the emotional response which the product elicits and your ability to keep customers talking; positively.

Appealing to the target market’s emotion is also critical.  The ‘wow’ effect is the strongest element that can create a buzz.  The more your customers are ‘wowed’, the more likely they are to continue talking about your company and your brand.”

Another important step is to generate free press.  There is power in good Public Relations.  A well-written press release highlighting the great points about your brand can generate and sustain interest long enough to implement a full communications campaign; be strategic by selecting the media outlets most interested in your pitch.”

Encouraging customer’s participation is also a great way to build the buzz around your brand.  Encourage feedback and make it easy for customers to share information.  Engage both online and offline platforms and reward them for feedback as well as sharing your company’s information.