Buzzhoney Helps Brands Attract and Connect with Customers on an Emotional, Human Level

Every interaction with your company should be a compelling experience for the customer. Your stories should evoke emotion. Your words should rouse them to action. All that you offer should be relevant. Marketing starts here.

chris bannon, buzzhoney ceo

Emerging from the ashes of the dot-com implosion, Buzzhoney was born in September 2001.

Only two years prior, founder Chris Bannon sold his previous company, Sladekutter to Boston-based ZEFER, a heavily funded darling of the tech press.

After taking a little time off for bad behavior and watching the tech bubble burst from faraway beaches, he felt this was the perfect time to get back in the game.

(SFX: Record Scratch. VO: He would quickly discover it was not the perfect time)

So amid a recession and a hangover, he launched his new brainchild to little fanfare, setting up shop with a small core of employees in a subleased space in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh.

Flipping through his Rolodex (Editorial Note: that’s like a paper version of an iPhone contact list), he started “dialing for dollars,” reaching out to old clients and colleagues.

A week later, 9/11 happened.

Bannon would come full circle, settling into the old Sladekutter offices on River Ave, reviving the regular happy hours and attracting blue-chip clients.

The team would spend 18 years there, before relocating to the suburbs of Mt. Lebanon.

And through these many years, through all the ups and downs, multiple recessions, and the rise of the smartphone, social media, and artificial intelligence, the mission has not changed from day one.

Help clients attract and connect with their customers on a human level.

If you want to build long-lasting, value-based relationships with customers who are drawn to you, don’t forget that those are breathing, laughing, loving, stressed out, fearful, hopeful, stubborn, self-conscious, but sometime confident people on the receiving end of your marketing campaigns.

With all of the reliance on technology in today’s marketing, remember that you are talking to your mother, your father, your sister, your brother, your son, your daughter, your neighbor.

It’s not enough to reverse engineer algorithms or crunch data so hard it screams.

With each emerging platform and shiny new channel, we can reach the customer in fresh ways. But at the end of the day, we’ve got to have something meaningful and relevant to say.

We’ve got to strike a chord and stir something inside if we want people to pay attention, let alone act.

The brand with the most empathy for its customers wins the long game.

Yes, technology is how we reach them. Technology enables our understanding of the customers. Technology can make our efforts more efficient and often more effective.

But, it is the words we use and the experiences we create that change people’s minds.

A website isn’t just “traffic,” it is the place where people learn about your offering and your culture
A digital ad isn’t just a part of your funnel, it’s a first step to solving someone’s problem
A Youtube channel isn’t just a place for your corporate videos, it’s where customers can learn and improve themselves
An email newsletter isn’t just a clickthrough rate, it’s a regularly scheduled 1:1 time with your customer

Remember this golden rule of marketing: No one cares. You’ve got to make them care.

That’s marketing’s job. And that’s our job at Buzzhoney. Make people care by showing them that we care. We speak to their concerns and worries, their needs and desires.

We cut through the noise like a surgeon’s scalpel, not by adding to the chaos, but with a quiet, resonant whisper that makes the customer lean in.

We boost sales not through crass manipulation but by helping the customer arrive at a buying decision.

Now, we may not be the biggest firm.

We may not be the smartest.

We may not even be the best-looking.

We may not be… wait, where was I going with this?

Oh, yes, right. We are not the perfect fit for every client, and that’s ok. We are not trying to be all things to all people.

But for the client whose success depends on mastering the balance between the art and science of marketing, we’re a pretty good option.

So, if you are struggling to differentiate your brand.
Or your marketing costs are rising.
Maybe your sales are flat and you can’t pinpoint the cause.
Or you are losing business to inferior competitors
Or perhaps you feel overwhelmed, treading water and hoping to catch a wave that brings you back to shore.

First, stop burning up your budget on an ineffective marketing strategy.

As they say, when you are in a marketing hole, stop digging.

The good news is there is another way. A way that combines the timeless principles of human nature with the latest in digital engagement.

Let’s assume you offer a legitimate and valuable service or product, and…

You want to build a robust pipeline
You want to attract ideal prospects, pre-sold and ready to give you money
You want to charge what you are worth
You want to delight your customers and keep them coming back for more
You want to grow the business

In our decades of “rubber meets the road” experience, those who effectively combine the HIGH TECH with the HIGH TOUCH most often win.

So how to do it? Start here…

You’ve got to abandon a lukewarm, watered-down approach. Be bold. Be lively. Get them excited. As David Ogilvy once said, “You cannot bore people into buying.”
Be vulnerable and transparent. If your company screws up, own it. Tell them about the mistakes you’ve made and the lessons learned.
Appeal to emotion. Yes, even B2B buyers feel things.
Loosen up. Don’t be so stiff, all the jargon and “marketing speak” style of copywriting goes in one ear and out of the other.
Employ a little humor. You don’t have to be George Carline or Richard Pryor, but if you can make them smile, it goes a long way.

If you’re still reading at this point, it is evident that you are an intelligent and savvy businessperson with great taste to boot.

May I be so blunt as to suggest we book a time to meet?

It’s just a call, no strings attached.

P.s. If we end up working together, just know that we will do everything within our power to ensure your success. You will get our best ideas. You will benefit from our decades of experience. Your goals become our goals.