It’s not hard to tell when the internet and other media are buzzing about a new product or service or a person.  When you see the same information on several media sources simultaneously then you know there is a buzz going on out there.  Unless your company has the advertising budget of a mega-brand like IBM or Apple you’re not going to have the resources necessary to have Matt Lauer talking about you on the Today show while at the same time having a press release show up on Yahoo’s homepage.  There are, however, various inexpensive ways that smaller companies can use to get people talking about a new product or service.

As of this writing, Twitter was still a free service.  So “Tweeting” about a great offer for your product or service is an economical way to reach a potentially huge audience.  According to TG Daily, the number of Twitter users is projected to reach 200 million in 2011.  Apparently every day the micro-blogging service grows by hundreds of thousands of users.  While short on features when compared to Facebook, Twitter does have incredible reach.  The simplistic approach to sharing information has become so popular that in addition to popular celebrities almost every major company and government agency is using Twitter to communicate with their target audience.  While you won’t instantly have large numbers of followers when you create a Twitter account for your organization, if you create a compelling enough offer it can be forwarded repeatedly on Twitter and reach viral proportions.

Creating a separate, offsite blog on a free site like Blogger.com to discuss subjects related to your product or service is a good way to create buzz and also a good way to create links back to your site.  We’re not talking about a straight sales pitch here, but an article that was inspired by a new feature of your product can create a buzz is if it’s valid content.  For instance, if you’ve just added a discussion feature to your online project management software an article on how social features improve business productivity tools can create conversation.  Including a link back to your product site with an embedded keyword will help your SEO efforts and will be a subtle way to drive readers back to your main site where they can learn more about what you’re selling.  Really good content will be shared by your readers and possibly even reposted on Facebook or another social media site.  Plus, you might get some space on related blogs as a guest blogger or with a link back to your own blog by commenting on a related topic.  The main point is that adding value to the conversation with whatever information you put onto the blogsphere (or blogosphere depending on your preference) helps create a buzz about your product or service.

If you’ve been gathering e-mails from current or past clientele, now would be a good time to put your database of e-mail addresses to use.  Similar to your Tweet for a great offer, craft a compelling message with cool graphics and e-mail it to your list of customers.  With some luck, the offer will attract attention from your customers who may forward it to family and friends.  If you create an aura of exclusivity with your offer, the interest level might even be higher.  The recipients will feel privileged to be on the list.

Another opportunity would be if you have SMS text marketing capabilities.  If you do and you’ve been gathering client’s cell phone numbers, then send out a blast text message with a compelling offer.  Text marketing when done properly has an aura of exclusivity built in.  Since text campaigns require subscribers to opt-in, they have already demonstrated a higher level of interest in your product or service than your regular clientele.  So, take advantage of this and send compelling offers that can’t be found anywhere else.  With the read rate of text messaging greater than 95% you can be sure it will be read.  If it pushes the right buttons your text marketing subscribers may even forward it on via text creating additional buzz.

And finally, since 2011 is the year of the social network don’t forget to get your message out on Facebook.  This platform has the same viral capabilities as Twitter because of the huge number of subscribers and the reposting capabilities.  So if you have enough followers on your Facebook page and your offer attracts sufficient attention, the ability to repost it by your followers could lead to exponential growth in demand for what you have to offer.

By using one or all of these digital marketing platforms and tactics you have the ability to create a buzz about your product or service.  The key is to know your customer base and tailor your offer accordingly.  No matter which platform you use, they all have the capabilities to create the type of buzz marketing that will lead to increased sales and a broader customer base.