(Image from Flick: Car Dealership Ad 2, by The Toad)

I am buying a car right now and went to the dealership yesterday to pick one out. After negotiating a while with the general sales manager, he handed me his card, cleared his throat and announced:

“With this card comes a promise. I promise to help you, or anyone you recommend to me—whether or not they buy a car from me. I will help answer questions on leasing versus buying, financing, mileage, any way I can be a resource. That’s why I’m here.”

This came as pleasant surprise. I am more likely to do business with someone I view as a resource; I am more likely to recommend someone I view as a resource.

If you made a similar promise with your business, what would it be?

If this interests you, then you may also like Seth Godin’s Four Words.

Before working in marketing, I spent a lot of time in theater, particularly improv theater.
One of the first thing you learn in improv is an exercise called “yes and.”
This simple exercise has profound implications on social media.
It provides an instructional lesson for how to contribute to a conversation online and how to ad value.

Here’s an example:

Playing the “Yes, And?” Improv Game — powered by eHow.com

If you get it, add to it!

The recent Mortin issue underscored how powerful mommy bloggers are in influencing opinion. On twitter, blogger, and social networking profiles I have observed a tremendous outpouring of mom pride and affinity. In exploring this further, I came across MomForce  — a new service that connects employers and marketers to the mom experts for hire—they promise to help you “reach mom..with moms.”

I interviewed Jessica Smith, its founder, recently and have posted our discussion below:

Who should use MomForce.com?

Moms, Dads, anyone that has an authentic understanding of moms and who has marketing experience.  Companies that are targeting moms and want to successfully introduce their brand and establish brand loyalty in the “mom community”.

As a marketing agency, how can I use MomForce to communicate with mom’s in social networks?

MomForce.com gives agencies, start-ups, and large corporations the ability to bring an authentic voice to the social networks by hiring a social media and marketing savvy mom on either a project or long term basis. By doing this, you take away the megaphone of traditional marketing, the talking at a community and instead give them the ability to listen and to share…thus becoming a conversation.!

How are you marketing MomForce?

I’m marketing MomForce.com through word of mouth marketing, my 15 Days Series on my personal blog, JessicaKnows.com and through Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

What do you wish more employers knew about MomForce?

That it is designed specifically for hiring social media and marketing savvy moms (and dads) to complement their existing marketing and PR efforts while allowing for little to no overhead and flexibility around the logistics of making it a win-win situation for both the company and the mom.

What is your background—how did you get involved in MomForce?

I have a BA Communications and 8 years in marketing, business development, and recruiting.  I was hired as Chief Mom Officer for Wishpot.com this past summer and quickly realized that there are so many moms that can add value through their authentic voice and understanding of how social media is changing the way moms access and share information.  I shared my vision of promoting this concept with Care.com’s Sheila Marcelo and together we hatched MomForce.com with the talented Care.com team.

Learn more about Jessica on her blog here and her LinkedIn profile here.

You may know what words your customers use to search for your products in Google…
but do you know what words your potential customers are using online?

Soon enough, marketers will identify prospects by phrases that indicate their intention to buy.
And once they have identified a potential customer on this basis, they’ll get their attention.
By following them on twitter.
If you’re on twitter asking for advice on what Christmas gift to buy, for example, expect a herd of marketers to start following…
And if you’re a marketer, what phrases will you follow?
Enter it here to see who you’ll find.

I recently interviewed Richard Shaffer, owner of Israeli Wine Direct. Tom Wark, wine expert and blogger, called Israeli Wine Direct “the kind of on-line wine store that should attract at least a glance, if not an order, from all those wine lovers that fancy themselves wine explorers and who revel in the diversity of what different places and people can do with the grape.”

Richard exemplifies a social media entrepreneur.  When he first began Israeli Wine Direct, he used his blog as a way to interview and gain access to Israeli wine experts. And once the business was established, social media has opened doors to new audiences.

His approach to marketing is personal. Wine lovers across America, including Guy Kawasaki, invite him into their home to pour Israeli wine for friends and families. Speak to Richard for 30 seconds and you’ll understand why he gets invited. His passion for wine is contagious, and he shares it on his company blog, Twitter, Friendfeed, YouTube and Facebook.

As his business becomes even more successful, I look forward to seeing how Richard’s enthusiasm will translate into creating a company culture with an even greater impact.

Check out our discussion below.