title: The Bacon System: Sizzlin' Hot Recipes That Grow Your Business
author:  Brian Basilico 
description: <span>T</span>he first question people usually ask me is "What's with the Bacon?" The second question now is, "What is the Bacon System?"<br /><br /><b>What's with the Bacon?</b><br />I was speaking at a conference in Los Angeles along with friends Rich Kizer &amp; Georganne Bender. They invited me to talk about social media at the Craft and Hobby Association Conference. Georganne grabbed her phone and said she was posting on Twitter, "Giving a speech at #CHALA2012 #Bacon" and predicted that she would have 10 new followers by the end of the speech. So, we did our 1-hour group presentation and then went to look at the Twitter results. She was completely wrong, because she actually got 20 new followers.<br /><br />Now, I was not a big Twitter person, but I did spend a lot of time on Facebook. I also was big into face-to-face networking (with more than 20 meetings a month), many of them morning meetings held at breakfast places. So, I started taking pictures of bacon during the meetings and posting them on my Facebook wall.<br /><br />People immediately engaged. I got comments like, "Yum," "I love bacon," and my favorite, "Dude, do you have a pre-paid plan with your cardiologist?" Then it exploded. People started posting bacon pictures and memes on my wall. That Thanksgiving, more than 50 friends posted a picture of a turkey wrapped in bacon on my Facebook page.<br /><br />Later, I met with a client at a coffee shop, and we were discussing her project when I told her I was writing a book (my first one). I explained it was a social media, 'Why-To', book called, It's Not About You, It's About Relationship Marketing In A Social Media World. Then she said "No... It's Not About You, It's About Bacon!" That's when a brand was born.<br /><br />From that point forward, Bacon became something that has kept me top of mind on social media and in real life. It spawned three new books and so much more. I am now asked to teach at universities and community colleges. I have even taught part of a master's class at a local university. This can all be attributed to the constant learning and research I do on current communication technologies and techniques.<br /><br />When I am hired to speak, the meeting organizers often have some part of the meal contain bacon. I made a real "stink" at a conference where I spoke, when I hired a chef to cook bacon in the back of the room before my talk. The smell was wafting throughout the conference center and people were racing into the room to grab their slice!<br /><br />Today, I have a podcast (BaconPodcast.com), online TV show (BlabWithBacon.com), and a virtual school (BaconCoach.com).<br /><br />Now you may say, "Not everyone likes bacon," and you would be correct. Once after I gave a speech, I was signing books in the back of the room and a woman walked up to me and said, "I am totally offended by the title of your book!" To which I responded, "Ma'am, every day millions of vegetables are murdered. Can we please stop the madness?" She walked away in a huff! Most people do get it ... The Bacon is a brand. You have a brand and a story, and that's what this book and The Bacon System is all about.<br /><b></b><br /><b>Evolution, Education and Reinvention</b><br /><b></b><br />My father was a training developer and instructor for AT&amp;T (that's how I got that video production job in my job history below). So, I guess training and teaching is in my blood.<br /><br />During the early days of my business life, I worked in technology and communications. I owned two different audio recording businesses, worked for a major corporation in TV and video production, created multimedia and programmed CD ROMs, produced DVDs, built websites, and created live and online training systems. Marketing was the cornerstone of most of this, and I have been doing and learning about marketing for more than 35 years.<br /><br />During the past 16 years, while running my latest business, I have learned to evolve and reinvent. When I first started, I was creating business-card CD programs for companies. Social media was not even on the radar yet. Websites were clunky and expensive. The internet could barely play quality video. YouTube was not invented until 2005.<br /><br />In the past few years, I've started to see the pieces fit together. People and their businesses were struggling to get found on the internet. The only way people were seeing success was by paying Google for AdWords. Since this a bid-based system, the cost of these ads started to rise. A local plumber might have to pay $30 per click to their website. On average, it takes 10 clicks to get a client, so the cost of acquisition would be $300. Not a very effective way to get new clients.<br /><br />Others were being lured by search engine optimization (SEO) and other companies that promised they could get you found on search engines. At what cost? It could cost hundreds and even thousands of dollars per month. They hoped that you would treat it like a gym membership and use it the first month and forget about it, but keep paying for it. One company was in fact a gym, paying $750 per month. The cost of acquisition was even higher than Google AdWords in most cases I have worked on.<br /><br />Then I had a few customers where I had the opportunity to coach them in using content marketing, analytics, and websites, and they were killing it. Their business were doubling and tripling without spending 1 cent on advertising. I started to piece together what was making them so successful while others struggled, and the Bacon System was born.<br /><br /><b>What Is the Bacon System?</b><br /><b></b><br />The Bacon System is a tried and true online marketing system that helps you take advantage of using the internet to find and communicate with your ideal customer.<br /><br />Why a system? I was encountering people and companies who would dabble in a few aspects of internet marketing with limited success. They would try a little social media, maybe a little blogging or video, and not see any measurable success. Once I put this system together and started to implement it for my own business and then for customers, it was clear that this step-by-step system worked.<br /><br />The Bacon System has three main parts: The Marketing Trifecta, Content Generation and Online Distribution. All three parts work together to create measurable engagement on the internet, which in turn generates new business.<br /><br />The Marketing Trifecta starts by identifying your ideal clients, where they are hanging out on the internet, and what kind of information they are consuming. Then it looks at your website, measures traffic to it, and then drives more traffic to it through content marketing.<br />Part two, Content Generation, is about the tools you can use to generate the content for the system. This includes creating your content through blogging or using video and audio platforms. This will show you the best way to create content that speaks with your perfect avatar (potential customer).<br /><br />Finally, in Online Distribution, we explore the delivery platforms and how to use them to find and communicate with your perfect customers. This includes learning how best to use tools like email marketing and social media to drive traffic back into the Marketing Trifecta circle of success.<br /><br />As I said before, the pieces alone are good, but when you put them all together, you get a proven system that simply works better.<br /><br />I hope you enjoy this book as much as I have enjoyed the journey of writing it. To learn more about The Bacon System, visit my website at TheBaconSystem.com.
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
  # Contents
  
  
  
  
  
  * [Cover Page](cover.xhtml)
  
  
  * [Title Page](03_titlepage.xhtml)
  
  
  * [Copyright Page](04_copyright.xhtml)
  
  
  * [Dedication](05_dedication.xhtml)
  
  
  * [Contents](06_contents.xhtml#contents)
  
  
  * [Introduction](08_introduction.xhtml#intro)
  
  
  * [That Wonderful Stuff Called Bacon Fat](09_chapter.xhtml#ch01)
  
  
  
  
  
  * [Bacon Fat Mayonnaise](09_chapter.xhtml#a1.1)
  
  
  * [Clarified Bacon Fat](09_chapter.xhtml#a1.2)
  
  
  * [Bacon Fat Piecrust](09_chapter.xhtml#a1.3)
  
  
  
  
  
  * [DIY Bacon](10_chapter.xhtml#ch02)
  
  
  
  
  
  * [DIY Basic Bacon](10_chapter.xhtml#a2.1)
  
  
  * [Maple-Infused Bacon](10_chapter.xhtml#a2.2)
  
  
  * [Spicy Chili Bacon](10_chapter.xhtml#a2.3)
  
  
  * [Homemade Canadian Bacon](10_chapter.xhtml#a2.4)
  
  
  * [Home-Cured Pancetta](10_chapter.xhtml#a2.5)
  
  
  
  
  
  * [Party-Worthy Bacon](11_chapter.xhtml#ch03)
  
  
  
  
  
  * [Devils on Horseback](11_chapter.xhtml#a3.1)
  
  
  * [Slow Cooker Bacon Jam](11_chapter.xhtml#a3.2)
  
  
  * [Caramelized Onion and Bacon Dip](11_chapter.xhtml#a3.3)
  
  
  * [Pig Candy](11_chap