Sep 22, 2014
The Busy Creator Podcast, episode 24 with Word-of-Mouth Marketing Guru Saul Colt
2014.09.22 by Prescott Perez-Fox | Edit »
The Busy Creator Podcast, episode 24 with Word-of-Mouth Marketing Guru Saul Colt
Saul Colt (@SaulColt) is one of the world’s leaders in word-of-mouth marketing. Over the years, he’s bolstered the reputations of his companies and clients by connecting audiences with brands, and by making people think, laugh, and cry. A well-known and well-liked figure across North America, Saul has built a network of creative pros and in turn those relationships have help build his own reputation.
In this discussion, we hear how Saul became a connector, how he spent his character-building years as a comic book writer, and how he still struggles (surprisingly) with his own shyness and fear of rejection.
Video shows Saul’s skywriting stunt, mentioned in the episode.
Saul is now Chief Evangelist at Xero, a small business online accounting software company. Catch up with him on his blog,Saul.is.
Show Notes & Links
- “Do you know Saul?” is the question; not a Breaking Badreference.
- Saul describes himself as “North America’s best word-of-mouth marketer”
- Creative Mornings
- Tina Roth Eisenberg, aka Swiss Miss
- “I do more listening than talking.”
- Debbie Millman’s appearance on The Busy Creator Podcast
- The Crying Indian in those “Do Not Pollute” ads
- Design Matters, Debbie’s long-running podcast
- Saul grew up in a family business; came up writing comic books
-
Malcolm
Gladwell talks about The
Connectors in The
Tipping Point
- The Cult of Saul
- “I want to be known for my accomplishments, not just for being the life of the party.”
- America’s Funniest Home Videos
- Saul spoke at 38 conferences in one year
- “People shouldn’t try to fail. They should try to be as awesome as possible.”
- Jen Mussari is also not a fan of failure on purpose.
- “There’s a fine line between boldness and foolishness.”
- Microsoft’s $900 million flop
- Saul coordinated a skywriting stunt for Xero
- “If you get those ideas that are worth being fired over, you have to do those ideas.”
- Saul did an Evel Knievel stunt (mainly just to wear the jumpsuit)
- “Everything has been done already. To think you have any original ideas is ridiculous.”
- Laugh-Think-Cry: Saul’s formula to include humour, insight, and emotion in any event or stunt.
- Be “crazy with a purpose”
- “Not everything measurable is great and not everything great is measurable.”
- Snapple’s giant popsicle stunt … that failed.
- Likemind or Meetup to connect with people
- Prescott has a very personal workflow for podcasts and audiobooks involving the now-retired iPod Classic and several iTunes plugins
- Every Which Way But Loose
Tools
- Xero
- LinkedIn and Facebook, for planning lunches and events in different cities
- Notebooks (and presumably pens/pencils)
Techniques
- Do more listening than talking
- Fearless execution. Don’t be frightened by crazy ideas or blow-back.
- Let others get credit, but also list your own accomplishments
- Tell first-hand stories, it has a greater impact
- Pick an end-goal first and work backwards
- Pick a unifying icon or reference that can resonate with everyone
- Vet an idea against “Laugh-Think-Cry”
- Use your network to meet cool, interesting people
- Always try to be home on weekends, and don’t ask people to hang (because they might say no?)
Habits
- Carry a notebook; allow yourself to be inspired by anything
- Email your people to get together in different cities
- Look for odd street art and museums; treat each visit to a city as if it’s the last time you’ll be there
- Arrive in town early and ask people if they want to hang out. Use passive aggression if necessary.
- Exercise every day.
- Watch a movie every day. (perhaps while exercising)
- Wake up before 7; don’t check email in bed.
- Scan RSS feeds, read about 1/3 of articles
Get The Episode
-
Download The Busy Creator Podcast, episode 24
(MP3, 51:39, 74.5 MB) -
Download The Busy Creator Podcast, episode 24
(OGG, 51:39, 47.3 MB)
