This is post #1 of my book-to-blog experiment; read the previous post, about the inspiration for the project, here.
What's your talk trigger?
Is there one thing about you or your business that makes customers talk about you? If so, that might be your "talk trigger," a term coined by Jay Baer and Daniel Lemin in their book, Talk Triggers.
What’s a talk trigger? Ted Wright, CEO of the word-of-mouth-marketing agency Fizz, puts it this way in Talk Triggers’ foreword:
It could be an unusually large menu, a cookie left on your hotel pillow, a hotline that connects customers directly to the CEO, or funny hold music. Whatever it is — and it can be almost anything — you need it to create word of mouth.Here’s the beautiful thing: talk triggers work even if you’re a small business … even if YOU are the CEO of a one-person company.
I’m imagining:
- A marketing consultant who gives every new client a teddy bear because it somehow fits in with her marketing message
- A life coach who ends every sixth session with a matcha tea ceremony
- The owner of a pest control company who sends thank you and holiday postcards featuring the art of his young daughter (#truestory)
- A writer whose novels include a set of collector cards tucked into an envelope on the inside back cover
- Authors who gives away stuffed llamas to match the llama on the covers of their book (#truestory)
Talk Triggers has its own talk trigger: llamas! (I have no idea why yet….)
These triggers can become what you’re known for, and what people talk about spontaneously — which is basically free marketing for you.
I’m a marketing writer / editor / blogger / writing and blogging coach. Here are a few talk triggers I could potentially use in my business:
- Send every new client a journal and a set of my favorite pens
- Write autoresponders and record my voice message via haikus
- Start a book-to-blog experiment (#truestory)
- Create a card deck (#truestory — www.ineedcopy.com/deck)
That list took me about two minutes to come up with.
Here’s an exercise for you, if you’re willing.
Brainstorm for no more than five minutes about potential talk triggers for your business, and share your ideas with me in the comments.
The more people share, the more ideas we’ll all have to choose from. And isn’t sharing what the Internet is all about?
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I think we might be soul mates. And I'd love for you to join my tribe.
When you do, I'll alert you to new blog posts, new programs and products, and new ways for you to create excellent, frictionless, online experiences that lead more people to YES! I promise to be relevant and real, and to send only thoughtful content and advice.
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