We believe that…
1) There is always a way.
Every year, the dreams of millions of entrepreneurs, musicians and artists die, simply because they can’t get noticed and attract enough audience and customers to transform their dreams into reality.
It’s not too late to change things! We can work around obstacles if we change our mindset, open up to each other and start a movement that can build the foundation for the success for everyone involved.
2) Collectively, we can change things.
A talented classical music group in Paris tried unsuccessfully for several years to attract the 90 to 120 people to their seasonal performance, but was only able to attract around 30 each time. The group’s manager was desperate and tried every marketing tactic he knew for event marketing: MySpace, Facebook, flyer distribution, posters, emails and so on. Lot of money was spent and sweat equity was put in, but with no favorable results.
Then, in November 2009, we heard about the group’s “orphan music,” music that was excellent but had little to no audience. We approached several groups that performed classical music in Paris (about 15 groups) and suggested that they use GoodBuzz.org to create a peer referral network.
Winter 2009-2010 was the best season ever for the 15 groups that participated in the peer referral network. Each time one member of the network had a performance, with peer referral, each event attracted around 10,200 leads with a conversion rate slightly higher than 2.5%. This resulted in the sales of more than 250 tickets with each collective promotional campaign.
Did any of the groups that belonged to the system lose anything? No. All of their initial fears disappeared when they saw the impressive results.
Yes, it’s possible to beat the hurdles when we open up and help others. Peer referral networks have been proven again and again to be an extremely powerful marketing tool for events promotion. You help others and they help you. It’s really that simple.
3) Information is the most important gift you can give. Give it in abundance.
Sending “information as a gift” is the basic way GoodBuzz.org works.
When you create your campaigns on GoodBuzz.org, don’t hype up your event or over promise. Write simply and clearly. Imagine your mom receiving your message, understanding it and forwarding it to her friends to support you. If your mom won’t refer you, who will?!
Write your ad with your peers and end receivers in mind. Will your peers feel comfortable transferring your message to their friends and hard earned customers? Or, will they view it as junk mail? Put yourself in your peers’ shoes. If you received this ad, would you feel comfortable forwarding this on? The value your potential customers will receive should be stated clearly in your ad, along with reasons why your product or service will benefit them.
If you write your ad correctly, you will be able to find peers who will enthusiastically forward your campaigns to their friends, employees, customers and more. Best, they will do this at no cost to you! Your advertising is seen as a gift, not an unwanted marketing message that will damage your brand.
Likewise, you should never refer a peer campaign to your contacts if the message won’t be seen as something useful. If you are in doubt, ask yourself if you would send this campaign to your mom, spouse or best friend. If the answer is yes, you can refer with confidence.
Bad campaign:
Come see the Riverdale Art Show, $10 donation at the door – Friday, October 15th
Good campaign:
Support a good cause and meet world-renowned artists at this invitation-only event! Discover a world of new art at the Riverdale Art Show on Friday, October 15th and receive free autographs from famous artists from around the globe. Your $10 donation will go to help local school art programs.
Basic Rules:
i. Figure out your contacts’ interests, needs and hobbies. Find relevant campaigns and information to forward to them on a regular basis.
ii. Make sure your contacts see the information you have forwarded as a real gift, not as an advertising message.
iii. You can forward up to five campaigns to a person each week. If you send information that is relevant to their needs and interests, they may even call and thank you!
4) Trust is based on free exchange of information.
Without trust, our society would crumble. So would GoodBuzz.org without a trust system.
On GoodBuzz.org, your goal is to have people refer their family, friends, colleagues and hard earned customers to you for free. Make it easy for them to trust you!
Since GoodBuzz.org is a peer referral network, everyone works to build and strengthen trust within the network.
To help gauge how trustworthy someone is, we have built The Trust Test into our system. The Trust Test helps build your credibility with your peers. It’s important to take this test soon after account registration. Your answers will be visible in your profile.
5) When you need help ask… and ask repeatedly
The new economy is “market or die.” People on GoodBuzz.org expect you to send them referral requests. Don’t be shy. As the saying goes, “If no one is telling you “no”, you aren’t selling hard enough.”
Be careful, though. Spend a little bit time to build your network. Go through the member directory, find and invite relevant members to be your partner or join a referral network. You can create one yourself or join an existing one. Browse the network directory to find a relevant network to join.
Starting your own network is a powerful way to build a reliable base for referrals. Search out and invite people to join your network. It may take you a little time to start up. But, when your network reaches a certain level, you will find that asking for help and getting referrals will be incredibly easy. Before long, you will be able to ask for help and get 50 people to send you free referrals in a matter of minutes.
Ask and you shall receive.
6) When you can help, act immediately
You will receive referral requests from your peers. If you can help, act immediately. Add a personalized message to your contacts for the campaign you will be referring. Feel free to use a little excitement if you really believe in what you are promoting.
GoodBuzz.org makes it easy to Accept or Decline a campaign. In two clicks you can send an answer to the requester.
7) If you can’t help, try to find someone who can
When you can’t refer a peer, maybe you know a person who would be interested referring the campaign to their list. When this happens, don’t wait. Make the introduction and connect both parties immediately.
8) It’s not a simple game of reciprocity
Some peers will refer your campaigns to their contacts, you but you won’t be able to refer them. Don’t feel bad about this. GoodBuzz.org network is not a “if you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” kind of place. The peer you can’t refer will receive referrals from many other peers. One of these days, maybe you will be able to refer a campaign from one of their peers. Until then, don’t worry.
GoodBuzz.org keeps score of what you are doing for other people and what other people are doing for you. If you take a lot and don’t give back enough, other people will see that and your chance to receive more referrals will decrease. If you play the game, everything will be fine.
9) Take pleasure in the success of others
Some members have 100 or 200 contacts. Others have 2000 or more. If the member with more contacts sends a referral request to the member with fewer contacts, they will receive fewer leads. How do we make sure that everyone gets enough leads?
GoodBuzz.org is a double score game:
- First, you send campaigns to your contacts because they will see value in it and appreciate the fact that you have found the time to search and select relevant information to send to them. You score a relationship point with your contacts.
Remember: Never send a campaign that is irrelevant to your contact’s profile, needs and interests.
- Second, you score a point with your peer, who will see that you have referred his campaign. Your peer will be grateful to you because of all the leads he or she will receive.
GoodBuzz.org is a content, marketing, strategy and relationship-building tool that anyone can used to spread the word about other people’s campaigns. In turn, it’s a lead generation tool for those who have campaigns to talk about. It’s a win-win for everyone!
10) Celebrate life
Members of GoodBuzz.org feel good, really good, when they see the statistics on how their actions contributed to the success of their peers. Relationship started on GoodBuzz.org usually go offline as well. Members hang out or have a drink together to celebrate and share their happiness and enthusiasm about the great results that GoodBuzz.org has brought them.
Come on to make the movement. Join the GoodBuzz.org movement and do Business differently.
