I had an interesting lesson in "hype" this evening. When I pulled in the driveway at home, returning after a day at the office, my older daughter and my puggle were outside waiting to greet me. Both welcomed me in their own way. Then the puggle saw a dog across the street and started barking. The beagle that lives behind us heard our dog barking, so he started barking, too. The newfoundlands a couple doors over heard the beagle, and they started barking. I could hear a cacophonous chain reaction up to a few blocks away.
None of the neighbors' dogs saw what mine did (a white, fluffy canine on a leash), but the beagle heard a dog barking, so he barked, and the next dogs barked, and so on- none of them knowing why, only knowing that a "barkable" event must have occurred. It made me think of "viral" marketing: One person, group or company creating an event that only has to be noticed by one connected person to start a chain reaction capable of reaching a potentially endless number of people. Thinking in that context, every e-mail you send, every update to your website, every blog you post could be the initial lynchpin in an advertising cascade. Since your target audience will probably be more discerning than my neighbor's beagle, however, there is a greater need for creativity, novelty and relevance, but it's still incredibly powerful stuff!
At Obbee, we take the power of the internet very seriously, using it to create qualified prospect lists for the real estate, mortgage, insurance (home & health), debt settlement and loan modification industries. We can even match up clients with sales professionals in real time. Our sales leads may generate a lot of buzz... hopefully not much barking, though! :)
- Dave
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