The Tribune

By D’Arcy Rahming

Some of you may have seen the youtube clips of persons taking the ‘ALS icebucketchallenge’. This is a brilliant way to get publicity for your business or cause.

Here’s how it works: A friend, co-worker or family member nominates you to participate. You then have two options. The first is to accept the challenge and video tape yourself dumping a bucket of freezing cold ice and water over your head. You then can call out up to six more people to take the challenge, thus spreading awareness about the disease and the charity. Or you can chicken out and make a donation to the ALS foundation (For the record I did both).

This is a brilliant example of how to get publicity. It does several things that make it spread virally. The first is that it is engaging. Dumping a bucket of ice water on your head is supposedly within everybody’s reach. However, I have seen a number of fails where people slip down before pouring the water or have an intellectually challenged person assisting them. Sometimes they have the actual bucket dropped on their heads.

Examples of other engagement strategies are: Having your clients place a sticker on their car or hanging a flag outside of their window, and being rewarded by your business for these simple types of activity. Everyone who sees the sticker will think of your product. Your clients will become billboards for you. The more outrageous, the better.

But engagement is not enough.

Passing the benefit forward is the ultimate addition. For example, through the use of shame the ALS people have managed to raise more than $4 million so far. Shame comes in the form of being considered either cowardly or cheap - or worse, insensitive, to the needs of those suffering with Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

In my judo school, we have activities called ‘buddy days’, where a child or adult can bring along a buddy for a small fee. This exposes new clients to judo and engages the old clients in recruiting. The old clients are given a chance to show off their knowledge and they receive the reward of a patch for their participation.

So what can you do in your business or service that engages your clients in a fun way, and helps them to pass these benefits along? Be creative, and think beyond coupons, which can seem very salesy. In closing I lost a good friend to ALS. His name was Andrew Szott. Let’s get rid of this horrible disease.

• NB: D’Arcy Rahming holds an MBA from the prestigious Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. A lecturer at the College of the Bahamas, Mr Rahming has clients in general insurance, retail, the health and medical fields, sports federations and financial services. He is also treasurer of the Bahamas Olympic Committee. To contact him he can be reached at DArcyRahmingsr@gmail.com.