Buzzmarketing: Get People to Talk about Your Stuff

by Mark Hughes

Book Overview

Mark Hughes' secret of his success lies in the fact that he made his company a magnet for media attention and word-of-mouth publicity by any means necessary. Most notoriously, he persuaded the town of Halfway, Oregon, to rename itself Half.com (his company name). This stunt was called, by Time magazine, one of the greatest publicity coups' in history. In this groundbreaking book, Hughes offers practical advice on the art of 'buzz marketing'. He draws...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1591840929
• ISBN13: 9781591840923
• Release Date: July 2005
• Publisher: Portfolio
• Length: 242 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.4" x 9.5"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Word-of-mouth advertising . . . simplified!

I often tell my students that word of mouth advertising is the best way to go when you want to promote your product or service . . . but that said, I add that it is easier said than done; i.e., until BUZZMARKETING by Mark Hughes came along. This excellent book, subtitled GET PEOPLE TO TALK ABOUT YOUR STUFF, gives step-by-step instructions on how to implement a word-of-mouth campaign that works . . . and Hughes should know, in that he was the guy who persuaded the town of Halfway, Oregon, to rename itself Half.com--called "one of the greatest publicity coups in history" by TIME. What makes BUZZMARKETING both interesting and useful are the many examples, ranging from Miller Lite during the "Tastes Great--Less Filling" era to AMERICAN IDOL'S use of buzz to become a global phenomenon . . . Hughes also suggests that coming up with the big idea isn't necessarily easy; in fact, "to get that one gem of an idea," [he's] "had to create and discard seventy more that never see the light of day because, quite frankly, the first seventy really suck." Yet rather than leave you with the feeling that this is impossible to do, he then gives this an actual technique that he has employed . . . such as, "When advertising responsibilities were added on top of my marketing at Pep Boys, one of the first things I did was bring the agency account team to Las Vegas . . . to work in the stores. We donned our uniforms, felt our customer's anxiety, solved our customer's problems, say what they looked like, heard what they sounded like. We got under hoods, and inside their heads." Simple stuff when you think about it, but it works . . . as did many other tidbits cited in BUZZMARKETING; to name just a few: * In a very different kind of business, a man named Ian Klein decided to go into the online dating business five years ago. But when you're competing against Match.com, things get pretty competitive. His sister was one of the 64 percent of overweight Americans, and also one of the eighty million single people in America. In time, he made the connection, pushed an unusual button, and created a niche site called OverweightDate.com. Among overweight singles, the whispers started. At Weight Watchers meetings, at bars, everywhere. * I decided to see if we could print a message on a urinal screen--the  rubberized screen preventing bubble gum, cigarette butts, and other stuff from clogging up the pipes. Sure enough, it could be done. But what would we print? A simple logo seemed very NASCAResque--a mindless logo slapped on without any vivid connection to our brand or context. Once again I wanted Burma Shave contextual humor to make people smile. I also knew we had to push the envelope in order to generate word of mouth. Ultimately we printed this on the urinal screen: "Don't piss away half your money, head to Half.com." A bit controversial, yes. And we weren't oblivious to the potential risk. In fact, we asked both males and females for their opinio

Buzzmarketing is a must read

Buzzmarketing offers a truly revolutionary way to look at marketing. By chronicling successful marketing ploys and campaigns, author Mark Hughes outlines a strategy that will garner your product publicity at a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing strategies. A must read, I recommend this to anyone interested in brand development, advertising, public relations, or marketing. This title is ideal for product managers looking for creative and cost effective means to maximize marketing budgets.

Exceptional Marketing Guide for Small and Large Businesses!

Everyone knows that good word-of-mouth advertising can make a product, and bad word-of-mouth comments can kill a product. Many books exhort you to create such good "buzz" and give you lots of examples. Mark Hughes does that same thing, but he backs up his advice with a six-step process broken into detailed subcategories of how to implement that make creating "buzz" as simple to understand as baking a chocolate cake with a packaged mix. The book is spare. Mr. Hughes doesn't waste a word. The examples are just enough to get the point across . . . and not belabor it. Get this book now before you competitors do! I was very impressed to see the many small company examples in here that someone can use to market on a tiny budget. The big company examples are revealing too, even if small companies may not be able to directly emulate them. If you enjoyed Purple Cow, you will like this book more . . . and find it easier to apply. I used this book to plan the marketing for my next book . . . and have been very pleased with the results.

How to Get People Talking and Buying

This book offers a practical guide to the art of creating buzz. The author, Mark Hughes, was a vice president of marketing at online retailer Half.com. Using a small advertising budget he drove his company's number of users from zero to 8 million in three years. His secret: he transformed the company into a magnet to media attention. He accomplished this coup by persuading the town of Halfway, Ore. to rename itself [...] According to the author there are six buttons to creating great word-of-mouth campaigns: 1. The taboo - sex, lies, and bathroom humor. 2. The unusual. 3. The outrageous. 4. The hilarious 5. The remarkable. 6. The secret - both the revealed and unrevealed. Understanding that, the author says, there are six steps to creating a campaign: 1. Push the right button. 2. Capture the media. 3. Advertise for attention. 4. Climb the mountain. 5. Discover creativity. 6. Police your product. If your company has millions of dollars to spend on advertising, this book will be of little use. However, if money is tight and everything to lose, time spent studying this well-written book could place you and your product in the forefront of your target buyer's mind.

Excellent Book

This is an excellent book. If you want your marketing to truly grow, check it out. No matter what size your business is or how varied your market. As the author points out in the introduction, the goal is to out-think instead of out-spend. Unfortunately, that has become just another buzzword for most companies. Kinda like "world class" has become -- nearly meaningless. Not so with this book. It really has some thought provoking approaches. Many of us know little facts that the book points out, like the fact that word of mouth is ten time more effective than TV or print advertising. I don't want to give too much away (read the book!), but it is not buzzmarketing if people don't want to talk about it. There were so many points that I agreed with the author. I kept nodding my head and wishing other marketers would have a clue. Like the author says "most people simply don't pay attention to advertising". How true. I rarely mark in my books, at least since college, but this one got many notations in the side columns. One of the little secrets (well, it seems to be a secret) is that companies that treat their employees well often get much better buzzmarketing from their employees and their products sell better. The book is easy to read and presents new information effortlessly. It passed a couple of my quick tests. One is whether I could finish it in a cross-country flight (yes). Another is whether I would WANT to finish it (yes). Another is whether I would recommend it to my friends (yes). Even if you are not marketing your own wares or those of your company, this book will help you appreciate what really gets things going ... buzzmarketing.