PARTNER News

Friday, August 6

An Airlline Listened.. Hey @TreyPennington, maybe there's hope for @useairways

Incidents of an large company hearing customers via social media are increasing.



It's still news, but we can imagine a day when it's common for an airline to care.



Easy to think "how could they?" and blame Air Canada, but that would miss the point. The incident is not new. The fast resolution is.

Amplify’d from www.montrealgazette.com

Air Canada repairs dying boy's wheelchair after Twitter
criticism

The family of a 10-year-old disabled boy from Kamloops, B.C., whose custom-made wheelchair was damaged on an Air Canada flight Wednesday, is crediting Twitter and the rest of the social networking world with convincing the airline to fix his chair and to send it back within 24 hours -and for offering him a free flight to Disney World.

Air Canada found itself in a PR nightmare and was hit hard yesterday morning by posts on Twitter and other social networking sites after it damaged Tanner Bawn's $15,000 wheelchair -his only mode of transportation. Bawn suffers from Duchenne muscular dystrophy and the loss of the chair left him largely confined to his hotel room.

Read more at www.montrealgazette.com
 

Thursday, August 5

We're talking more on social media, less on email

Americans have increased their time on social networking sites by 43 percent while email is down



But are we communicating more or less?

Amplify’d from www.socialmediatoday.com

Social Networking is Dominating On-Line Activity

In a study released yesterday, the Nielsen Company reports that over the past year Americans have increased their time on social networking sites by 43 percent, while their use of email has declined by 28 percent. The survey found that 40 percent of American’s on-line time is spent on social networks (22.7%), online games (10.2%), and e-mail (8.3%). In 2009, these three activities comprised just under 37 percent of on-line time.

In 2010, Americans spent 22.7% or just over 13 1/2 minutes per hour of their on-line time on social networking and blog sites, compared to 15.8% or 9 1/2 minutes per hour in 2009. On the other hand, in 2010 instant messaging and email had a combined share of 12.3% or just under 7 1/2 minutes per hour compared to 2009 when the two accounted for 16.2% or just under 10 minutes per hour. Though email and instant messaging are still two important communications channels, it would appear that the use of Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook messaging is increasing.

Read more at www.socialmediatoday.com
 

Wednesday, August 4

How 12 CEOs & Founders are Leveraging Web Video

I'm all for CEO's use social media.



But why is there a debate?



Of course CEO can go public.. they can also leave that to others. NO RULES.



I'm much more concerned about whether the CEO's and their staff are listening to their customers. Who is on the video is up to them.

Amplify’d from mashable.com

The debate continues on whether CEOs should be fluent in social media or not, but the number of CEOs using social media to engage customers is still very low, even among technology companies.

With all of the talk about how CEOs are getting social, we were curious to see how many CEOs are also branching out into web video. We took a look around the web to see how CEOs and founders are leveraging video to educate and engage consumers.

How 12 CEOs & Founders are Leveraging Web VideoRead more at mashable.com
 

Google Didn't Give Wave a Fair Shot

Here's a recipe for disaster. .. Give us a cool way to collaborate but don't let us access it with those we collaborate with.



I was excited to try Wave.. WORKED at getting an invite, only to see that I was on with others who were just there to check it out.



When I had a team that needed to collaborate, there were no invites available. Unlike Gmail or even Google search, there was no way to use it unless the whole team got it.



Maybe the opened it up more before the killed it.. but I'd lost interest long before that and forgot to check.



Cool technology. Smart people working on it. Not open to the public

Amplify’d from googleblog.blogspot.com
The Official Google Blog - Insights from Googlers into our products, technology and the Google culture
despite these wins, and numerous loyal fans, Wave has not seen the user adoption we would have liked.Read more at googleblog.blogspot.com
 

What do you do if you don't have @Comcast? (looking for @CoxCable to engage)

@comcastcares give unbelievable service to Twitter users. Has done this for YEARS now. Every Social Media training includes homage to their excellent team and we've had Frank on the Social Media Radio show



I live in an area with Cox Cable service.



As far as I can tell, they have excellent technology, and for a years I used them as an ISP and loved the service.



We went bi-coastal for a few months in 2009, at one point we were in Vegas and shut off the cable because we don't watch TV and were leaving town for months. We had just bought a CLEAR modem that was supposed to work in Atlanta and Vegas and I thought I was a pretty smart shopper. I assumed I'd go back to Cox in a few months to have dual source as a backup.



Next time we were in Vegas, I got a bill from Cox. Call them to inquire and make sure the bills would stop, and then paid the bill to avoid the hassle.



Months later, knock at the door. Cox guy wanted to get paid or he "has to take our cable box" We didn't have one, so we knew Cox has screwed up. We called a third time to make sure it was off.



Another two months go by and another guy shows up at the door.



Then we get calls on our voice mail telling us that the "cable box people have a special offer for you."  I know from years ago when a friend did cable collection, this is a highly thought out elaborate process they use to get people to reinstate, pay a bill, or at least get to the write off stage. The cable industry has always been very thorough having something at every point of contact to bring you back into the fold.



I've also had an issue with another cable company that LEASED me one of the first cable modems for five years, collect many times the cost of the equipment, and then put a ding for $175 on my credit report when I moved and left it in the house... I KNOW to be careful with cable disconnects :)



A few months back, I decide to let bygones be bygones and take the $19/mo ISP offer to have a back up to CLEAR (they are another brewing). I call Cox and tell them I want the package. I suspect that they will bring up the bill, and assume that at some point we'll work it out or I'll grumble and pay them.



Woman on the phone tells me "sorry, we can't sell you service. You have an outstanding bill".. When asked what I can do, she says "nothing"



Well, it's 4 moths later. They don't have my monthly payment and whatever dozen services they would have talked us into adding.



But that's not why I'm posting.



Today, my co-author on Twitter Revolution, @CoachDeb tweeted about her AT&T ISP service being down and how the tech came out and mad it worse. We had a brief exchange of tweets and NOBODY responded (that I could see).



There are thousands of people that see Deb's tweets, many more see mine. Our references to Cox and AT&T are there for any of the thousands of employees of those compannies to see. I know from expereince that Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and one network engineer at Clear see their brands and respond.



And CoxCable has an EASY example to follow.. Maybe the best big company use of Twitter is @ComcastCares



Today, nothing...



This is not the first time I've tried. I've send tweets to @CoxCable and use many variations of Cox Cable and Coxcable in tweets with hashtags, without, with @ sign and without. If anyone were monitoring, they would have noticed.



I've already done a blog post about CoxCable. Got a lot of "Cox Sucks" tweets but nothing from the company.



I'd love to have a happy ending to this story. I'm not looking for special treatment, just a sign that someone has started monitoring social media. I'll probably buy some service from Cox just to add to the story.. but whether I do or not.. I think it's time we all start SQUAWKING about companies that haven't learned to listen.



Do this with LOVE. The people working at Cox are people just like you and me. They will respond when they start listening. The companies that have employees listening and acting as good people do will thrive in the future. I don't want my local cable company to be one that doesn't survive. I want them to "listen and love" (the marketing strategy for the 21st Century).



If you know anyone who works for Cox that may be listening, please let them know about this post.



If you don't know anyone who works for Cox, tell everyone in your network. I believe that someone who know someone who reads this will help us show Cox some love and bring them with us into the 21st Century.

Tuesday, August 3

RT @monikapin Facebook Sharing Your Private Data?

The data that gets shared is always data you supplied. We know that once we upload and push submit it's out there somewhere.



But why does FACEBOOK continue to get the rap?



Could it be that they are pushing the edge of pushing out data?

Amplify’d from www.freshegg.com

It seems as though Facebook and personal privacy issues are never too far apart, with this week  being no different as a 2.5GB database containing names and public information on every searchable Facebook user appeared on torrent network site Bit Torrent.

The reason this information is so valuable to marketers, is that it allows them to tailor specific products at specific audiences; the more they know about us, the more they can push advertisements towards us that are aimed at people in our location, age group, income bracket, occupation, social category, sexual orientation or a myriad of other demographics. In an age when an advertising campaign can cost a lot of money without necessarily bringing any rewards, targeted marketing would appear to extremely appealing to major corporations.

Read more at www.freshegg.com
 

RT @sophware: Judging a Twitter experience by # of followers is sad. We're all essentially following each other.

Money can't buy you love.

Amplify’d from www.readwriteweb.com

TwitterTwitter is requiring password resets for users who signed up for "suspicious" third-party programs that promise to automatically (or magically) get them followers. Twitter usually pushes out password resets to users whose accounts it believes have been compromised due to phishing or other attacks.

Read more at www.readwriteweb.com
 

Monday, August 2

Old Media Joke of the Day

LA Times writing about Social Media as a "complement to traditional media campaigns"



Does anyone still pay attention to what the paper say?



:)

Amplify’d from latimesblogs.latimes.com
Politicians nationwide who increasingly turn to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to complement their traditional media campaigns also should pay attention
pay attentionRead more at latimesblogs.latimes.com
 

To forgive is not just to be altruistic. It is the best form of self-interest





I'm reading HERD: How to Change Mass Behavoir By Harnessing Our True Nature by Mark Earls (great book so far.. the first 25% tells me it's going to be a strong MUST BUY on my list.)



Here's on life changer for me:

To forgive is not just to be altruistic. It is the best form of self-interest. What dehumanizes you inexorably dehumaizes me. Forgiveness gives people resilience, enabling them to survive and emerge still human despite all efforts to dehumanize them


I hadn't heard the Desmond Tutu quote before. Won't ever think of an injustice or wrong in the world quite the same way again.

Wednesday, January 30

Do You Want To Be on Oprah?

Imagine Oprah calling you...

Are you ready to be that famous?

Would your career, book or business benfit from that much exposure?

You know that they don't call for expert guest out of the phone book. There is a system that authors and expert entrepreneurs use to generate millions in free publicity.

You can learn how FREE at the "How to get National Publicity" teleseminar

Monday, December 31

Why you should follow Joel...

I just got a call from Joel Block about a quick little project he's working on.

When Joel calls, I always listen and learn. He's one of the most successful business growth accelerator guys I know.

http://JoelBlock.com/blog

Today he's helping a very worth little charity hit's it's goal. Take a look, give a couple of bucks, and make sure you connect with Joel

Thursday, December 20

I Was Bribed To Share This.. You Can Be Too

I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

  • The best blogging techniques.
  • How to get traffic to your blog.
  • How to turn your blog into money.

I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it's still free.

New Marketing Style: Clicks and Mortar - WSJ.com

New Marketing Style: Clicks and Mortar - WSJ.com: "Among the new features that stores are trotting out this year to help shoppers decide what to buy: testimonials from other customers.
Taking a page from the e-commerce world, companies including Cabela's and Staples are featuring endorsements from shoppers in their product displays. People who visit one of Cabela's 26 stores can see a sign for a Texsport combination fan and light. The display includes a 'five-star' consumer rating and a July 16 review from AlanK of Kansas City, Mo., who writes: 'As someone who does a lot of summertime tent camping, I can't begin to tell [you] how valuable this little combo is. I hang it over my cot every night and I have a bright reading light and a cool breeze to go with it.'"

Sunday, December 9

Multipy Your Book Marketing Success With Onine Promotion SIte Multiply.com

As you begin to use social media to boost your online marketing presence for your book, I suggest that you take a look at Multiply.com

For instance, I'm using the blog editor at multiply.com to post a message for my new multiply.com blog, while posting the same entry to my Book Marketing Success blog and other marketing blogs.

That's three more mentions for me (Warren Whitlock) and my author and book publishing keywords.. plus I'm reaching millions of readers on the multiply.com service.

I'm just getting started... using tools to import a list of contact to see who is here.. then uploading videos for additional posting, along with photos, other blogs, and more.

Take a look now at http://whitlock.multiply.com and post a comment to let me know how you will use it to attract new readers for your book and online promotions.

Monday, August 6

Saturday, July 21

What We Can Learn From Harry About Marketing

The Harry Potter book out today is the 7th best seller in the series.

Not content with huge success on the last book.. they've not got 20% more orders for the intial print run.

Read about th magic of Harry Potter Book Marketing .. you are sure to find cross over ideas for your own business.

Wednesday, December 27

Great marketing results from myspace

We've been conducting tests using blogs and posts on MySpace.

Take a look at Warren Whitlock, book marketing

Thursday, November 9

We Are Thinking Rich

I haven't been using this blog much.. because I spend a lot of my time these days on a Think and Grow Rich project with my parter Ted Ciuba

We are looking for people that want to be rich and Partners who want to make money with us

Ted will giving away a million dollars with a program that has been proven many times.

You can read news about the project at The New Think and Grow Rich News Blog and read articles at The New Think and Grow Rich Articles Blog

Saturday, June 3

MegaSuccessDay.com is live

Check out this Free SUCCESS help site

A big company ASK campaign

Kraft Foods now is asking there customers for new ideas. InnovateWithKraft.com

This could just be them throwing in the towel. According to the Wall Street Journal, profits are down 24% in the past two years.

Or maybe they are humbled and will listen to the real experts.. the customers. If so, this is a great idea.

You can ASK your clients. Use this tool

Wednesday, May 31

Disney's smart approach. Marketing Answer to their problem.

The company's "Disney Magical Journey" promotion, its biggest Chinese marketing campaign of the year for consumer products, is a twist on the traditional customer-loyalty program. To enter a contest for free Disney DVDs, television sets and trips to Hong Kong Disneyland, customers peel a sticker off a Disney product, attach it to a form, fill in a few personal details and mail it in.

The catch: Only legitimate Disney products carry the specific red hologram-covered stickers, in a market rife with pirated Disney products that often are of similar quality to the real thing

Sunday, April 23

A test of my blogging power

Here goes another marketing test using my blogs.

I have a site called http://bookformoms.com that is just now up for a huge email promotion this coming Tuesday... It's a great deal.. you buy a book and get $3237 in bonuse gifts.

Even if you don't buy.. there's a free recording with the author talking about the stuff in the book.

Lisa Martin knows her stuff... she's a specialist in training and coaching working moms. I had now idea there was as specialty, then I talked to Lisa! She has a system all worked out for finding one's personal balance.

Cool stuff. take a look.

Tuesday, April 11

Disney's goal: Link ads, free online TV

USATODAY.com - Disney's goal: Link ads, free online TV: "NEW YORK — ABC test offering four shows is another step toward ad-supported free TV on the Web.
'We're interested in coming up with emerging opportunities and keen on finding the advertising opportunity if we can,' said Mike Shaw, president, sales and marketing for the Disney-owned network.
CBS showed how popular free webcasts of shows can be when millions clicked on its offering of NCAA tournament games last month. Ad time was sold separately for the TV and Web programs."

Saturday, March 25

Sunday, February 19

How To Check Pages on Google for PageRank

Get a good PageRank from Google with this tool

URLs
Separated by newline (100 max)

Wednesday, February 8

another twist on the concept

it occures to me that the hirarchy of incoming leads on a web site goes beyond just the link or ther relavance of a site.

To that end, I'm expertimenting with a list of sites, many geared toward the same topics.. none linking directly back and forth.

I posted this link:

http://bamboovideo.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, August 16

A Personal Marekting Trial.. My House

We have a house for sale, and have had great response to direct marketing like voice mail (to screen out the casual lookers) and this form that further screens and shows the house.

Investment is $10 and way under an hour of my time.

Do you think I'll get back that much?

Large Lot House 2681 N

Maybe every house should have it's own web site.

Measuring anything to avoid counting the re$ults

The largest advertising conglomerate is out touting ECONOMETRICS, a complex way of using the weather, demographics, and other factors to measure what ad to use.

I like the idea that they are measuring.. but it seems silly compared to running an ad, counting the dollars that come in, and simply determining if it made you any money.

The "creative types" in advertising hate all this of course

WSJ.com - Econometrics Buzzes Ad World As a Way of Measuring Results: "'There is no doubt in my mind that scientific analysis, including econometrics, is one of the most important areas in the marketing-services industry,' Sir Martin says in an interview.
Econometrics uses statistical analysis to measure the relationship between different sets of events, such as the effect of educational qualifications on wage levels. To determine an advertisement's effectiveness, econometricians write an equation to measure the effect on sales of different factors, including the weather, price cuts and advertising. For the advertiser, the purpose is to help decide which ads to run."

Saturday, August 13

Software helps you stop being a jerk

This is a cool trick. You'll soon be able to know if someone you are talking to is interested in what you say...

Software helps you stop being a jerk

Madan said the Jerk-O-Meter could one day be used to gauge customer interest in advertising, research, television and movies. It could also be used to soften up those annoying telemarketers, or at least improve their selling skills. Analyzing a conversation could help a salesman determine whether a consumer will purchase a given product, Madan said.

A Marketing Plan For Life

Read my new blog, and find out how I'm using Robert Michael Fried's 12 step marketiing plan from A Marketing Plan for Life

A Marketing Plan For Life

More Blog, PR, email, web site cross promotion

The more I link things together, the easier it is to promote any new idea.

Currently, I'm doing a lot of work on best seller campaigns for authors. One cleint is Robert Michael Fried. We're going to make A Marketing Plan for Life a best seller on Sept 20th.

First thing I did was read the book.. and decided I would follow his 12 step program in planning the promotion.

Follow our progress at A Marketing Plan For Life

Friday, August 5

Freedom of speech means freedome to be wrong

I have a certain amount of respect for Bob Parsons.

I don't much agree with him, but I do respect him putting his money where is mouth is and continuing his fight against corportate censors.

I guess where I differ is that I don't believe you have to use sex (or foul language, etc) to be "edgy"

Using "flatulation" in beer commericials as an excuse to have a brales woman bounce on TV doesn't make sense to me.

I'd really like to see Bob and his creative team do something funny that doesn't offend censors. His spot with the word "blackmail" is a good example of what they are capable of.

GoDaddy is a great company to watch. They do great marketing, and aren't afraid to break some rules.
Hot Points � A blog by Go Daddy founder and president Bob Parsons#trackbacks#trackbacks

Sunday, July 31

Even Better results on Yahoo

A follow up to my "boost" follow up on book marketing expert promotion.

I'm in 6 of the top 10 listings now on Yahoo. Without the current press release showing at all.

Yahoo! Search Results for "Book marketing expert"

2 in the Top 10 on Google

Been working on promoting my "book marketing expert" reputation using a few of the techniques I teach others to use when establishing themselves as an expert in their field.

My "Potter Marketing" blog promotion, with a press release and cross links from other blogs (including this one) have boosted my ranking for this term on Google.

"Book marketing expert" - Google Search

When last checked, this search had my book marketing expert blog at number 9 and a reference to my press release at number 8. I'd imagine that I'll be firmly in the top 5 in a few weeks.

My new press release about Dan Kuschell's book giveaway has just been posted at book marketing expert news with even more references to the search term.

At the same time, hundreds more of the people on my list were able to find out about the free seminar on prosperity, free book and $400 in bonus gifts that I thought we were done with. And now maybe thousands more will learn about Dan Kushell in the press release.

These are proven techniques. I use them for my clients all the time, but still, it's a cool feeling to see my own rank boosted every once in a while.

Saturday, July 30

How Many Ways Are There To Announce An Event?

I'm doing a teleseminar with Dan Kushell. It's already sold out, but I've been thinking.. why stop there?

I was talking to Dan about this, and verified what that he is still giving away most of the copies of his book A Champion in the Making.

Authors go to a lot of trouble to sell books.. Dan is a "best seller" and chooses to give them away. That's odd enough to write about in my blogs, and I always cross promote interesting blog entries.. so why not?

I issued a press release, and put it on my Book Marketing Expert Blog. Mentioning it here will create more incoming links, and I'll talk about it in other blogs, in a message etc. my mailing list, and who knows where else (maybe you got here from one of those places.

Naturally, I got Dan to order some extra lines for the teleseminar, which by the way, is FREE to all my readers.

Sign up for the teleseminar, and be sure to read all the sales copy from Dan. He is an expert at the "back end" of these things.. in fact, I'm hiring him to do some more for me. If you can get into is program, he'll make you more successful, but even if you don't, you're going to learn from the best at what he does.

Take a look here. It's got a free book and $400 in bonus gifts attached. (cool)

Dan reveals how he does it

Wednesday, July 27

Good Copywriting helps in search engine placement

Good Copywriting helps in search engine placement

WSJ.com - Putting a Value on Marketing Dollars

Here's an idea.. let's get the foxes to tell us just how many chicken's are in the coup.

WSJ.com - Putting a Value on Marketing Dollars: "Ad executives long have snickered at the old adage: Half of all advertising is wasted -- but finding out which half is impossible.
Now, with corporate spending coming under more scrutiny, getting the answer is no joke.
Interpublic Group, the advertising holding company, is forming a new unit devoted to helping advertisers figure out just what their marketing dollars do. Known as the Marketing Accountability Partnership, the unit will be run by Neil Canter, a former Accenture partner. He will report to Stephen Gatfield, Interpublic's executive vice president of global operations and innovation, and Interpublic Chairman and Chief Executive Michael Roth."

Saturday, July 16

Marketing Lessons from The Magic of Harry Potter: Important lesson about these lessons

I have a new blog, dedicated to my research on the Harry Potter craze and my observations on how this can help promote your book or project. Here's a particulary appropriate post on this.

Marketing Lessons from The Magic of Harry Potter: Important lesson about these lessons

Monday, July 11

It’s true, Bridge Phrases Make Better Copy

Honestly, I didn't need to start this sentence with the word Honestly

Unless I want you to read this post.

As you'll find out, (another bridge phrase), these phrases that your English teacher told you to strip out of your writing are actually quite helpful.

Here's a list of common phrases.. think about how they can make your writing flow (unless you're working on an English assignment)

Warren's list Bridge Phrases

And we don't stop there
As if that's not enough
As it turns out
Best of all
But that's just part of the story
But wait there's more,
By now
By the way,
Even better
Fair enough?
Good news!
Here's why
Honestly,
In my experience
It's true
Meanwhile,
My experience is
Nevertheless
No doubt about it
No problem!
No wonder
Now is the time
On the other hand
Really,
Sadly,
Simply stated
These are just a few
Think about it
To make a point
Treat yourself
Truthfully,
What does this mean for you?
What's more
You see
You know,

Thursday, June 30

Yahoo! 360� - My Blog

Running test on the 360 beta program at Yahoo.

Here's my blog page there.

Yahoo! 360� - My Blog

E-Mail Bounce Rates Improve but Open Rates Falter

E-Mail Bounce Rates Improve but Open Rates Falter: "Click-through rates were a mixed bag. The overall rate fell to 7.9% in the latest quarter from 8.4% a year earlier, but some industries saw rates improve. "

Tuesday, June 21

Steve Jobs stories on life

Here's the best thing I've every read by or about Steve Jobs. Three stories he told the graduating class at Stanform University

'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says: " Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories."

How to Craft Cash-Creating Climactic Copy

Michel Forten just came home with a story for anyone that writes:

"Have you ever picked up a book off the shelf at a local bookstore, read the front and back covers, opened it up and, after reading a few pages, just couldn't put it down?
Do you remember, after buying the book, how you flipped each page with an almost excruciating curiosity because the story was so tantalizing, you became increasingly riveted to the book with each subsequent chapter?"

You'll want to read the rest of the story at:

The Michel Fortin Blog: How to Craft Cash-Creating Climactic Copy

Secrets of Successful use of influence. the Science of Influence with Kevin Hogan

I've just fixed this page. Now would be the perfect time for you to go to this page. You will want to take advantage of this offer.

Free class coming on 6/28

Secrets of Successful use of influence. the Science of Influence with Kevin Hogan

New class on persuasion and influence

As a reader of this blog, you are invited to be my guest at a new class I'm conducting with Kevin Hogan.

Guaranteed success through the science of influence

Free High Income Coaching Class - How to Make $100,000 or More as a Life Coach

I've got a new website up that will be of interest to anyone that is looking for a qucik and easy way to add revenue this year.

Coaching is a great way to add another dimension to your business, or can make a great full or part time money making opportunity.

How to Make $100,000 or More as a Life Coach - free class

Sunday, June 12

Plugging a Friend's New Blog

Jeff Shuman has created a blog to go with his weekly newsletter.

Looks like he's heard my advice that every book, business, newsletter and website should have a blog.

Take a look at this:

Make Money Online

Friday, June 10

Jack Shafer Lives in a Round World

This slate article states that it's okay to sell a book, as long as you follow this guy's rules..

jack lives in the past.

Tom Friedman Is Flat - He can't stop plugging his best seller. By Jack Shafer: "Book cover.
Shafer's First Law of Journalistic Self-Promotion allows a reporter to do anything he desires to publicize his new book. He may beg book review editors to review it, urge op-ed editors to let him opine about his subject in their pages, pitch magazine editors on excerpting it, spam every friend with a media connection to see if they can help get him profiled or interviewed on the Today Show or Charlie Rose, call in favors from friends to throw him book parties, suck up to famous writers in hopes that they'll blurb him on the dust jacket, purchase presents for his publicist, and sell his children to a traveling carnival and spend the proceeds on copies to drive up its Amazon rating."

Tuesday, May 31

Marketing - The Bold Approach Method: Two Must Read Marketing Books

My friend Dave Lakhani of bold approach is a genius.

How do I know.. he's recomending the same books as me.

Read his thoughts on this blog entry, and subscribe to his newsletter.

Two Must Read Marketing Books:"Two Must Read Marketing Books

This note will be very quick. I just finished reading two great books that I thought you should know about because they'll radically impact your business and profitability."

EmailSherpa.com : email marketers & newsletter publishers

EmailSherpa.com : email marketers & newsletter publishers: "Email Marketing Brings In $15.50 per Campaign Dollar

Tell that to the next corner-office stuffed shirt who doesn't think email marketing pays off.

That $15.50 per email-marketing dollar spent is roughly 17% more than in direct-mail campaigns and 73% more than telemarketing campaigns, according to a new study from the Winterberry Group, a New York-based research and consulting group.

Winterberry also predicts that email sales will go up to $16.70 per dollar in the coming year, compared to $14.60 generated per DM dollar, and $9.71 in sales per telemarketing-campaign dollar."

Google's Scan Plan Hits More Bumps - Forbes.com

What is it about these big corporations? (yes, a University Press is a corporation) They are always fighting any type of progress.

You'd think that the library people should want the knowledge accessable in any way they can... especially with Google's safegaurds against illegal copying.

I'd much rather see Google do this than a P2P factory in the third world that doesn't care about copyrights.

Get used to it.. progress is going to happen!

Google's Scan Plan Hits More Bumps - Forbes.com: "If Google scans copyrighted books into its library database, the digital copies might be misused and laws will be broken, says Peter Givler, executive director of the Association of American University Presses. He wrote, 'Google cannot legitimately claim to advance the public interest by increasing access to published information if, in the process of doing so, it jeopardizes the just rewards of authors and the economic health of nonprofit publishers.' "

$350 Tablet for "Couch Browsing" over WiFi

From a new article at LaserPage.com

Nokia 770 $350 Couch Brower


Nokia announced a non-phone device that connects to you 802.11
wireless network.

Positioned somewhere between a iPod and a pda.. on sale this fall

It is supposed to do all these functions


  • Web Browser

  • Flash Player version 6

  • Email Client

  • Internet Radio

  • News Reader

  • Media players, Image viewer

  • PDF viewer

  • File Manager

  • Search

  • Calculator

  • World Clock

  • Notes

  • Sketch

  • Games

  • For more info on the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet. Look at the Nokia web site. They have pages of info on the operating system, why you should use an Internet Tablet, and why the Nokia 770 might be your tablet of choice for couch browsing



    Nokia - Nokia 770

    Monday, May 30

    Tinu Called and Mentioned Me in Her Blog

    It's always nice to hear from friends.

    This time, I heard for an Internet marketing expert because I sent a postcard!

    Thanks for the kind words

    Free Traffic Tips - the blog: Money Mondays : Just got off the phone with Warren Whitlock: "The number one thing? Send out mailings in the post! And I do this from time to time but I'd forgotten how wonderful it feels to be on the receiving end of these contacts - particularly when the other person remembers you and how you first came to interact. "

    Sunday, May 29

    North County Times - North San Diego and Southwest Riverside County News

    North County Times - North San Diego and Southwest Riverside County News: "ATLANTA ---- Book sales are up 20 percent at Paradies Shops since the airport-based stores started giving customers a 50 percent refund on returned books, a company spokeswoman said."

    Saturday, May 28

    Drug Marketers Try a Lie That Doesn't Work

    Accourdiing to Seth Godin ("All Marketers Are Liars") we don't care about the technology.. just the story.

    As we see in this example, just telling a story isn't enough.. it really can't be a lie (fraud), it has to be an authentic lie (story)

    The map is NOT the territory.. but the drug companies haven't learned that they don't get to control the story.

    Direct-To-Consumer Advertising Takes Direct Hit From FDA - Yahoo! News: "'People don't see the new technology behind the pill,' he said. 'All they see is what's on TV. If that creates a bad image, it hurts the industry.'

    A bad image is exactly what many drug ads have created, says Bruce Vanden Bergh, professor of advertising at Michigan State University. In an effort to build business, too many ads raise consumer anxiety.

    'Some ads create the ailments they purport to cure,' Vanden Bergh said. 'This is what advertisers do when they're heavily regulated. They can't make specific verifiable claims, so they make their messages ambiguous."

    Friday, May 27

    All books will be accessable on the web soon

    I've talked to publishers and authors who are resisting it.. but a web based search of EVERYTHING is going to happen.

    Here's the announcement from GOOGLE


    Yesterday, we launched the Google Print search service -- a new way for Google users to search exclusively for books. Now users can go directly to http://print.google.com/ and search the ever-expanding collection of titles in Google Print. No web or newsgroup results: just books, and nothing but the books. This means your books will be visible to users whether they run a general search on Google or a specific search on Google Print. It's one more way of helping potential buyers find your titles.

    We're also integrating Google Print with Google Accounts, our new user account management system.

    Here's how it works: most of your selected book pages will remain visible after search by all users, but some pages will now be fully viewable only if users sign in to their Google account. This gives your books an extra level of security, as those who want to see multiple pages must sign in to do so.

    Whether they sign in or not, all users are still restricted to viewing only 20% of all available pages as provided through the Publisher program. As always, our goal is to help users search for, discover, and buy your books. Although Google Print is still a beta program, allowing users to search exclusively for books is an exciting step toward that goal.

    If you have any questions about today's launch, please feel free to contact us at print-support@google.com

    It's Not What You Say, It's How You Say It

    The Michel Fortin Blog: It's Not What You Say, It's How You Say It: "They help to direct the reader's eyes. They also help to drive important points home. But above all, they help to replace the cues, nuances and nonverbal subtleties that occur in traditional, face-to-face sales encounters."

    Apple Matters

    Apple Matters: "Seth Godin: I think the worldview of the Mac user is fundamentally different than the worldview of the MS user. Apple has to hope that it survives long enough for that worldview to change, though it might take a generation. There�s no question in my mind that Apple is unable to change that worldview on their own. "

    Does the Worth of Reviews Lie in How Many Books They Sell? Are They Mere Marketing Tools? Or Culture Drivers? A New Twist on 'Critical Mass'

    The Book Babes: Does the Worth of Reviews Lie in How Many Books They Sell? Are They Mere Marketing Tools? Or Culture Drivers? A New Twist on 'Critical Mass': "A deflating piece of news floating into my �in� basket the other day: In a press release promoting The Making of a Bestseller: Success Stories from Authors and the Editors, Agents and Booksellers Behind Them, up popped this revelation: Reviews don�t matter�not as a sales tool, anyway. A blow to those of us engaged in the righteous crusade of book criticism. "

    i-Newswire.com - Press Release And News Distribution - 400 Reasons to get it right: By Arts Editor Pamela Faye

    i-Newswire.com - Press Release And News Distribution - 400 Reasons to get it right: By Arts Editor Pamela Faye: "Daniel said, �There are so many creative people who are held down by their own inabilities to promote, not only their books but themselves as well. �Book Marketing from A-Z� shows the successes, and pitfalls, of authors from around the world, and give fledgling authors choices on what may work for them in their attempt to create a path to become not on published but also celebrated authors.�"

    PublishersWeekly.com - Getting Published Now Even Easier Than Getting Read

    PublishersWeekly.com - Getting Published Now Even Easier Than Getting Read: "Bowker revealed its annual count of books published in the U.S.recently and it proved the maxim of the headline even more than usual. The country saw a whopping 195,000 new titles in 2004, up 14% from the previous year.

    The growth in title production is being driven mainly by mid-sized and small publishers—and likely on-demand and vanity presses. According to Bowker, the number of new titles released by the largest trade houses rose 5.4%, the largest increase since 2001, but still relatively small. And the number of new publishers registering with the U.S. ISBN Agency rose about 5% as well."

    WSJ.com - Put Away the iPod: 'Harry Potter' Unlikely as a Download

    this is the kind of backwards thinking what will make the Harry Potter series an easy target. If the author and publisher doesn't make it available, someone else will. Illegal, but predictable.

    WSJ.com - Put Away the iPod: 'Harry Potter' Unlikely as a Download: "In fact, Ms. Rowling has been burned by unauthorized digital publication of her five earlier novels. 'You should NEVER trust any Harry Potter e-books offered for download from the Internet or on P2P/file-trading networks,' she wrote in January on her Web site, www.jkrowling.com. She urged readers not to fall for these 'scams.' She ended her warning with a quote from Mad Eye Moody, one of her characters: 'Constant vigilance!'"

    Thursday, May 26

    Hits and Niches

    Hits and niches: "Book sales flat


    The move toward narrowly defined audiences is a response to an increasingly competitive market.


    After strong growth in the '90s, book sales have stalled. In fact, the number of books sold dropped by nearly 44 million in 2004 from the year before.


    'Dollar sales have been persistently flat, while numbers of books being published rise, meaning dollars are generally spread out over more product,' says Michael Cader, founder of PublishersMarketplace.com."

    NPR Audio : Web 'VidLits' Used to Promote New Books

    NPR : Web 'VidLits' Used to Promote New Books: "There's a new marketing tool for book publishers: Trailers on the Web that promote their books. They're called 'VidLits.' One example: Yiddish with Dick and Jane."

    Word-of-Mouth Communication Study

    Word-of-Mouth Communication Study: "Gabriel Weimann's The Influentials: People Who Influence People -- needed to be returned. As I was on my way to the library I noticed a post-it note next to a sentence I had marked off. The sentence was written by Elihu Katz, a pioneer in researching the concepts of personal influence and opinion leaders. The quotation was:

    'Find an opinion leader and you find a conversation.'"

    'Marketing Fusion' Fuels Growing Businesses

    'Marketing Fusion' Fuels Growing Businesses: "'Marketing Fusion' is not a 'how to' textbook. Instead, the book highlights seven strategic elements that, when correctly fused, can ignite growth in any business.
    The seven closely linked elements include learning to develop an overall strategic marketing program; creating a magical consumer experience; how to be brand driven; generating a kaleidoscope of public relations opportunities; 'wowing' your clients at every turn; readying your team to serve as brand ambassadors; and balancing the right elements for blastoff.
    Neighbors, an alumnus of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce Leadership program, is a past president of the Las Vegas chapter of the American Marketing Association and has been active in the Public Relations Society of America, Legal Marketing Association, Leaders Network and Strategic Coach program."

    Friday, May 20

    WSJ.com - Google Introduces Web Service For Users to Customize Pages

    WSJ.com - Google Introduces Web Service For Users to Customize Pages: "Google Inc. is introducing a way for consumers to create personal Web pages with customized news, stock prices, weather, and other information, marking a further foray outside the pure search business and competing even more directly with Yahoo Inc. and other Web portal sites.

    The new service, to be released in a test version (at labs.google.com), allows individuals to view information from different Google services -- such as weather forecasts or messages in their Gmail email inbox -- on a single Web page."

    Sunday, May 15

    Barnako.com: Report Says Blog Boom Has Stalled

    Big companies still don't get it..

    Barnako.com: Report says blog boom has stalled: "A research report on the business of blogging cautioned companies Friday to be wary of investing resources and time in producing Web logs. EMarketer Inc. said just 4% of major U.S. corporations have blogs available to the public for purposes such as corporate marketing, communications or advertising. 'Thus far, the financial and economic impact of blogging is minimal,' said Ezra Palmer, the research firm's editorial director."

    Monday, May 9

    7 Truths of Niche Marketing you Haven't Heard

    Kevin thinks he has a contrarian view.. but all the smart people I know agree. Don't find a market for a product.. find a product for your market.

    Niche Marketing

    Thomas Edison Million Dollar Invention Strategies

    Edison's 10 tips to building your brain

    Thomas Edison million dollar invention strategies

    Marketing Results - more leads, conversion, sales and profits

    Marketing Results - more leads, conversion, sales and profits

    Online Ad Boost SEARCH Response

    DMNews.com News Article: "A Yahoo Inc. study released today analyzing financial adviser client HarrisDirect's campaign claims that online display advertising increased the number of relevant searches by more than 61 percent.

    Clicks on sponsored search advertising links leading directly to HarrisDirect's site at theharris.com also jumped 249 percent after a user was exposed to a display ad campaign, Yahoo said.

    The study found that consumers exposed to the display ad campaign clicked on 139 percent more links to the HarrisDirect site via both sponsored and algorithmic links."

    Corporate Sites Seem to Skimp on the Facts

    Number one mistake? No media contact information on the media page.

    Compressed Data: Corporate Sites Seem to Skimp on the Facts: "On average, the 20 journalists who participated in the study said they succeeded in finding a public relations phone number only 55 percent of the time, company financial data 60 percent of the time, and information about management 66 percent of the time.

    'The study found that nearly every company we looked at had made a lot of mistakes in their rush toward more glamorous things on the Internet,' Mr. Nielsen said. "

    Identifying the Business Value of What We Do

    Identifying the Business Value of What We Do: "A Simple Trick: Take It Away

    How do we tell what the contribution of registration is to our business? One simple trick is to play with the idea of taking it away.

    If we removed the registration process entirely from the site, what would the effects be? Well, because almost everyone who uses it is frustrated, we’d be eliminating their frustration right off. And it probably wouldn’t cost too much to just pull it off the site.

    However, what would we lose? Would the absence of new names hurt our marketing efforts? Would it make customer service more difficult? Could we quantify what the long-term effects of the lost functionality would be?

    Often the simple exercise of pretending to remove the functionality and looking for the downstream effects can help us understand how important a feature is to our business. With a little research on the feature’s impact, we can start to quantify the true value of the functionality. This trick doesn’t always work, but when it does, it can be extremely insightful."

    Saturday, May 7

    The name (title) matters

    The Globe and Mail: MUSCLE MARKETING: "the average supermarket carries about 45,000 separate products, up from 12,000 to 15,000 only a decade ago. And a recent study by Boston communications company Schneider and Associates found that consumers are increasingly unable to recall any of the new items by name. No wonder Adidas's cologne is called Adrenaline; today's products have to get in the game -- or at least yell from the sidelines -- for us to take any notice.
    'The reason all these names are jumping out at you is that they're verbs,' explains Sutherland, who is based in Toronto. 'Eighty per cent of the words in the English language are nouns, so when we see verbs, we tend to notice them.'
    His co-author, the New Jersey-based Rivkin, describes such action words as essential in marketing. 'The motivation in general is to inject a sense of urgency,' he says. 'A product with an imperative conveys this idea to the consumer that something is happening that they don't want to miss out on.'
    The current crown prince of naming is David Placek, president of the California-based Lexicon Branding, which gave good name to, among others, Dasani, Swiffer and BlackBerry. 'A good name gets your attention,' it says on the company's website. 'A great name changes your thinking. Like a well-written poem, a great brand name has a purpose; it provokes, inspires, uplifts.'"

    Getting a Buzz On: How Publishers Are Turning Online to Market Books

    Getting a Buzz On: How Publishers Are Turning Online to Market Books: "

    Getting a Buzz On: How Publishers Are Turning Online to Market Books
    May 06, 2005
    By Rachel Deahl

    �Buzz� is close to supplanting �love� as an overused, devalued�but very effective�term. In the book world, it�s credited with being the reason some titles become bestsellers while others, well, don�t. It was buzz that pushed Curtis Sittenfeld�s late-blooming Prep, which sold slowly when if first hit shelves but picked up steam (i.e., buzz) from good reviews, to move 94,000 copies to date, according to Nielsen BookScan. It�s buzz that has made The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini�s fictional account of an Afghan coming of age in the 1970s, into a publishing fairy tale: Released in April 2004, the literary novel sold an astonishing 500,000 copies last year�and then went on to truly stratospheric success this year, having remained in the Top 15 of The Book Standard�s Fiction Bestsellers Chart since Jan. 16. These kinds of success stories have driven publishers like William Morrow, which recently launched a successful marketing campaign to promote one of its latest titles, Freakonomics, to focus on generating buzz for a book above all else. And to do it online"

    Wired News: Judging a Book by Its Contents

    Wired News: Judging a Book by Its Contents: "Benjamin Vershbow, a researcher at the Institute for the Future of the Book, sees Amazon's SIPs as an automated version of tagging, a concept that fuels sites like del.icio.us, a bookmark-sharing site, and photo-sharing site Flickr. Both rely heavily on users attaching descriptive names to websites or photos so others can discover them."

    Wednesday, May 4

    Perfecting Your Expert Pitch for the Media

    PR Fuel: Perfecting Your Expert Pitch: "The most important facet of positioning yourself as an expert is proving it. In my email blasts to reporters, I always include a direct quote which serves to show off what journalists can expect me to say, and I also include a brief analysis of the news or subject. A simple email saying you're an expert and giving your background will not suffice; you need to prove in writing that you know the subject. As evidence of this point, all three quotes I received for the Comcast story last week came directly from my email. I spoke to only one journalist on the phone, and he simply wanted to confirm the information I sent. You can't beat a cut & paste quote."

    E-Mail Marketing: Alive and Well

    Online advertisers and users agree.. email is here to stay

    E-Mail Marketing: Alive and Well

    Tuesday, May 3

    Stop Setting Goals! (Free Book)

    Just got an email from Michel Fortin. He's giving away a 78 page book he wrote 9 years ago.

    "This is not your average marketing book.

    It's really a little "out there" for some people. A little metaphysical. A little spiritual. A little motivational. A little "higher consciousness" related.

    This might not be appealing to some of you. But for others, this book about how to stop setting "goals" and start setting "guides" instead (i.e., your priorities) might be the most powerful, life-changing book you have ever read. "


    The Michel Fortin Blog: Stop Setting Goals! (Free Book)

    Pop Art Toaster

    Available now as a promotional item, or just for a fun breakfast

    Pop Art Toaster - Iconoculture

    How am I doing in the search engines?

    I was just reminded of a site that give you your rankings in several search engines all at once.

    It's not a full blown SEO tool, but it's free, and much more fun than visiting a dozen sites

    Free Web Submission: Free Search Engine Submission and Site Promotion

    Sunday, May 1

    You Could Get 10 Million Free Ads From Yahoo

    A promotion with Richard Branson, advertising the advertising available for local businesses is going to give someone 10 million free ad impresssions.

    Yahoo! Search Marketing: Think Big

    My Blog on Blog Marketing

    Regular readers of this blog will know that one of the major benefits of blogs is a chance to promote other content, and have it ranked in the search engines.

    This entry is an announcement of one of my newer blogs. A blog about blog marketing (note how often I blog the word blog).

    I'll write more on blogs and blog marketing later... in the mean time, you can read my new blog at the blog link below:

    my blog on blog marketing

    Tuesday, April 26

    Why News Releases Fail: How to write great news releases

    "My plight as a publicist is that I spend a lot of time educating my clients trying to get them to understand the psychology of dealing with the media. The rubber meets the road in the news release because this single sheet of people is the key nexus for all communications with the media. It has to be free of negative issues or factors that will reduce or eliminate media interest and response."

    Why News Releases Fail

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    I created this poll to see if my readers here like polls, and to play with the software. (well, mostly the latter).












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    Book Printing Forum: 13-digit ISBN Number Creates Printing Opportunities

    The artilce here is written from the perspecitve of a book printer.. they get a lot more work from this.

    Book Printing Forum: 13-digit ISBN Number Creates Printing Opportunities

    Publishers Weekly Seeks Book Reviewers

    What could you do with this?

    Publishers Weekly seeks book reviewers

    Monday, March 21

    destinationCRM.com: Internet Spending Reaches an All-Time High

    destinationCRM.com: Internet Spending Reaches an All-Time High: "Consumers are increasingly attracted to online shopping, with online spending increasing 14 percent in 2004, according to a study conducted by the Online Publishers Association (OPA) and comScore Networks. Entitled 'Paid Online Content U.S. Market Spending Report,' the study reveals that U.S. consumers paid an all-time annual high of $1.8 billion in 2004. "