Buzz Marketing is a term that is often used interchangeably with Viral Marketing or Meme Marketing.
But both these types are quite different from Buzz Marketing, let’s see how
What Is Buzz Marketing?
Buzz marketing is a viral marketing technique.
So out of the many viral marketing techniques, one is Buzz marketing.
It’s a technique that focusses on and makes use of word-of-mouth communication to sell a particular product or service.
Word-of-mouth communication in this case is not only related to friends or family.
It also takes into account various social media platforms.
But it’s not that simple.
In reality, buzz marketing involves capturing the attention of consumers and influencers to spread the marketing message to such a great extent, that eventually, it becomes newsworthy.
It comes to a stage where you want to be a part of the clan, by talking about the product marketed in such a way.
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How Buzz Marketing Works?
When it comes to Buzz marketing, it’s all about creating that one trigger which will create the desired impact.
Now that trigger can be as basic as a wink, remember Priya Prakash?
Or it can also be a very well implemented strategy that creates a buzz, directly or indirectly for your brand.
However, it’s extremely important to ensure that the trigger then creates a cycle of Word of Mouth marketing.
Here, I would also like to talk about another phenomenon known as the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon.
This is the situation when you come across something unusual or unknown and lookup for it online.
We have all done this at some point when we needed an answer for Rasode main kon tha?
How to create a Buzz?
To understand how you can create a Buzz requires you to think from people’s point of view.
Can you, as a marketer just come up with something and expect it to create a buzz?
That’s quite unlikely because it needs to have the same effect on people.
And you cannot guarantee that.
But here are a few ways in which you can create a buzz.
1. Limited Editions
Limited edition communication makes use of something known as the scarcity principle.
You create an urgency in the minds of your consumers, making them want to purchase your product ASAP.
The best example I can think of is the Xiaomi mobile phone sale.
If the sale is supposed to go live at 12 pm, it may not be a surprise if the stock is sold out at 12:03 pm.
2. Make influencers your target
Influencer marketing is growing by leaps and bounds.
I feel it’s the best way to talk about a product.
Influencers already have a great fan following and it makes a lot of sense if they create a buzz around your products and it sells.
3. Make people your focus, not the product
Something that I strongly believe, works.
Buzz marketing is only applicable when the word spreads, and accordingly, this will only work when its about people.
So the process needs to be around the situation and then creating a connection with the product.
4. Utilize the network effect
The network effect refers to the fact that a product becomes more desirable when a lot of people are using it.
You might have seen this phenomenon when shopping online.
Which product are you more likely to buy, a product that has 5-star ratings from 2 reviews, or the one that has a 5-star rating from over 150 people.
Clearly the latter.
What are the types of Buzz Marketing?
Let’s look at the top 3 types of Buzz Marketing
1. Spreading a rumor
Now, this can definitely backfire, and we will talk about how that happens, later when we discuss the disadvantages of Buzz Marketing.
But if done in the right way, this can work wonders.
Just spread a rumor around your brand, and there you have a buzz created.
2. Online advertising
This is the most common type of buzz marketing that marketers consider these days.
Advertise your brand heavily online, to the extent that it’s almost close to bombarding, but not.
Works wonders, if you also have an element that’s spreading some sort of news already.
3. Offline campaigns
These are considered to be close-knit buzz marketing techniques.
And, mostly revolves around a person to person communication.
The easiest way to incorporate this is through customer care services and feedback.
What are the advantages of Buzz Marketing?
Let’s look at a few advantages of Buzz Marketing
1. Free advertisement
In a situation where you are using a popular trend your product gets free advertising, what else can you ask for?
And if you look at a comparison, clearly Buzz marketing is more likely to give you greater returns than the traditional form of marketing.
2. It allows you to develop an instant connect with your audience
For once you get the chance to focus on your audience and not just work around a promotional campaign.
And even customers acknowledge this, it creates a better image of your brand, because for once you aren’t focussed on the product directly, but focussed on creating a buzz.
How can Buzz Marketing backfire?
We have already spoken a lot about why buzz marketing can be something your brand can definitely explore, however there can always be a chance that it can backfire.
Let’s see how
If a brand takes a dig at a topic that is controversial in nature, it can create a big problem.
We see Amul’s advertising doing this quite often, I’m sure they plan all of it in good faith but it can backfire especially if people’s sentiments are attached to it.
Another way in which Buzz marketing can backfire is when the hype doesn’t live up to reality.
That’s actually the worst space to be in because this can lead to negative word of mouth marketing.
So before you get into buzz marketing, its always better to ensure that you can back up the claims you are making.
Examples of great Buzz Marketing campaigns
Since I have already mentioned Amul in brief, let’s look at some other campaigns that created the much-desired buzz
1. Netflix India
When Netflix planned on entering the market in India they were aware that it’s not going to be an easy ride.
Television viewing was the most common form of entertainment, and we were asking consumers to not just move but also pay more for it.