When our good friend Wayne Kelly (host/producer of the hit Wayne and Jayne Morning Show on KBS Canada) told us about his interview with Kyle MacDonald about his red paper clip nearly a year ago, I was pretty impressed with his trades. At the time using only Craigs List and his blog, Kyle had bartered his way from a single red paper clip to a snowmobile with just six trades. His goal — to barter his way up to a house.

Now, within just 15 trades and a little over a year’s worth of blogging and New Media marketing effort — Kyle MacDonald has turned that one red paper clip into a house!

Solely using the power of the internet and New Media Marketplace, Kyle’s unique marketing and bartering got him online and off-line publicity galore. Eventually that publicity got him noticed by Corbin Bernsen (”L.A. Law” and “Major League”) who offered Kyle a speaking role in a movie he’s producing. But instead of jumping at the opportunity, Kyle stayed true to his belief that all trades needed to be fair and provide something of value to the other person. There would be no perceived charity here.

Since he had nothing of relative value to trade Bernsen for at the time, he put the offer on hold and went to work. With research, and by using some online persuasion techniques Kyle discovered that Bernsen collected snow globes. Kyle (through a trade with Alice Cooper) got a very rare snow globe of the band Kiss so he could trade that with Bernsen. Now thanks to the power of online influence and persuasion he was on his way to some serious online and off-line media attention.

With all the buzz, Kyle’s blogging and the New Media marketing frenzy he was creating attracted the attention of the town of Kipling Canada. The city Council is capitalizing on the press, publicity, and online traffic generated by MacDonald’s story for their benefit as we ll as Kyle’s. In a very smart move the town Council voted to buy him a house in Kipling!

A very smart marketing move!

This one investment of about $45,000 US will easily bring half-a-million or more in free advertising and publicity to help boost Kipling notoriety. And that, the town is already planning to use to boost their marketing to get business owners to come back to Kipling. A ten-plus times return for buzz and traffic generation that was all made possible by New Media and online persuasion!

Pretty cool stuff!

The most interesting thing is that the real marketing and promotion power at work in this story is NOT in the technology of the New Media Marketplace. It’s in the in people, participation, and persuasion! Without the ability to build rapport or influence and persuade online, Kyle MacDonald would have never been able to wield the New Media technology to successfully reach his goal.

Technology is only a tool. The power is in people and persuasion.

What are some ideas you got from this story that you could use in marketing your business with blogs, or leveraging other New Media resources for buzz or branding?

What secrets of online persuasion and influence do you see at work in this success story? (Check out the resource links below to the AP news article “Blogger’s quest ends with keys to house” and to Kyle’s Red Paper Clip blog for more details.)

Maybe you’ve already had some wins with a similar story of your own. What was that win?

Share your thoughts with a quick comment. We’d love to hear how you’re using business blogs and New Media to generate free buzz, branding, and advertising for you and your business.

Links related to this article:

Kyle MacDonald’s Red Paper Clip blog
The Wayne and Jayne show on KBS Canada
Wayne Kelly’s blog
Craigs List
Blogger’s quest ends with keys to house

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John-Paul is a published author and weekly columnist for the Honolulu Star Bulletin. As a Business Coach and New Media Marketing Consultant he helps small business owners market, manage, and sell more with self-influence and persuasion. You can reach J.P. directly via [communicationcommando@gmail.com].