Need to sell a product or service?  You don’t need to spend millions of dollars in marketing cost to create an effective marketing strategy.  This is the principle behind buzz marketing.  What is buzz marketing?  What does it take to use this type of marketing technique effectively?

A lot of resources on the Web describe buzz marketing.  However, in essence buzz marketing simply means having people talk about your product or service so that it creates a media buzz of some sort.

Therefore, the very crucial element of buzz marketing is to design a unique angle of your product or service so that people will want to talk about it and pass on the information to other consumers.  Buzz marketing is a type of viral marketing or marketing by words of mouth.  Who wouldn’t love to advertise their products or services for free?  This is possible through buzz marketing.

Psychology behind buzz marketing

One element of buzz marketing is its disregard for the product and more emphasis on the stirring event that associates with the product.  A good example is the Oprah-Winfrey car giveaway event which blew many people in the audience’s mind out.  The brand of the car was mentioned, all right, but what created a bigger “buzz” was the event itself. 

People began asking about the intention and the cost of the car giveaway.  Of course, it was just another marketing strategy to encourage more people to watch the show and increase Oprah’s already ballooning popularity.

Another typical example that employs buzz marketing is giving away product samples.  Why?  Maslow’s theory of the hierarchy of needs explains that people always feels the need to maintain self-preservation and physical well-being; and as you move up the pyramid of needs, it becomes more social-cultural or the need to be accepted in a society; while the top of the pyramid pertains the need for self-identity and communicating that identity to those around you.

Another psychological element of buzz marketing is feeding the human need to be on the long end of the stick.  After all, who would want to be at the last?  Buzz marketers resolve this by fabricating an event such as distributing product samples that will lead consumers to think, “This product must be mind blowing for them to give out some for free.”  Doing so would also lead consumers to feel special and valued.

Additionally, buzz marketing is a subtle form of advertising which indirectly leads consumers to finding out about a product or service.  While “soft selling” tends to touch on the emotional side and is effective in promoting specific products, buzz marketing indirectly markets something or someone by creating “infectious chatter, street-level excitement”. 

However, although buzz marketing is deemed as one of the most effective techniques ever conceived, negative buzz may also be detrimental to an already feeble product by wreaking havoc as quickly as positive buzz can hoist a strong contender at the top of the totem pole.

How the Buzz begins

The Internet phenomenon is one of the biggest marketing tools ever invented because it allows even small companies to advertise products far beyond their area, and facilitates fast and convenient communication.  A buzz marketer can use the Internet to spread the buzz down to other websites or through spam emails.  The buzz marketer usually keeps its business affiliation while passing on words of mouth.

This way, the buzz marketer is perceived as the authority for endorsing something by simply sharing their personal experience and opinion in a sincere fashion.  However, it is only when we understand about the product that we learn the half-truth behind this honesty.  This is where the moral issue of buzz marketing arises – when the truth is compromised just to sell something.

Nonetheless, buzz marketing is a highly sophisticated marketing technique that should be used correctly, otherwise, it would be like frying yourself in your own cooking oil.