www.nextwaveonline.com Leadership & Life Creating The Buzz In Your Circle Mal Fletcher Winning the Battle for Influence - Part 3 We live in an age where people are increasingly influenced by the power of trends, especially trends within their circle of friendships and acquaintances. In many ways, this is understandable. Surrounded as we are by so much hype and commercialism, we tend to listen more to word-of-mouth comments from our friends than what advertisers tell us. Suspicious of commercial advertising, we prefer to rely on advice and tips from those we know we can trust. In short, we listen to 'buzz' -- informal information about products and ideas. The world of business is now waking up to the power of 'buzz'. In the late 1980s, I was leading Youth Alive Australia. We wanted to find out how to increase the reach of this great national ministry, through mass media marketing. I visited one of the nation's leading advertising 'gurus' who, as it happened, was a Salvation Army man. He gave me some very good advice. 'Never forget that you have something that major corporations would do almost anything to get,' he said. 'You have a bunch of people who would live and die for their message! That's the best kind of advertising there is.' Some companies today pay big money to hire consultants who can help them create 'buzz' in the marketplace. If any group of people should be ahead of the pack when it comes to creating buzz, it should be the church! In the Bible, creating 'buzz' is called 'evangelism'. Interestingly, many corporations are now hiring what they're calling Company Evangelists - people who will passionately spread the word about their products. Research into 'buzz' has revealed that word-of-mouth advertising doesn't just happen - it can be created. Before the Trivial Pursuit game was launched at an American Toy Fair in 1983, the people behind the game devised a simple strategy to get peoples' attention. They sent out hand-written, personally addressed envelopes to several hundred key buyers in the toy industry a few weeks before the trade show. Inside each envelope was a little card with the Trivial Pursuit logo and a random card from the game. People started 'buzzing' about these cards. What were they? Where did they come from? It helped get the game off the ground with a bang. Some people become the real 'buzz' creators in their circle. They're the ones to whom others will go for information and advice. Sometimes, they're called 'hubs' because they are the key points of connection between a group of people and a new idea. To win the battle for influence in your world, you must become the 'buzz creator' in your circle of friends and acquaintances. You must get the gospel message and the values of God's kingdom back on people's agenda. You can get people talking about Christian ideas. Research shows that 'buzz' is created about a new idea/product when:
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