Promote U Guru Blog

Archive for the ‘branding’ Category

5 Things Your Freelance Sales Writer Must Deliver

July 18th, 2011

Hi All!

The following blog is a guest post courtesy of Debbie Feldstein, a freelance non-fiction writer based in New York City.  For more than 20 years, she has provided imaginative, unique, and persuasive copy in the form of press releases, brochures, sales letters, and autoresponders.  She has authored dozens of books, reports, and articles on effective sales and marketing.  Among her ‘best sellers’ are How to Use Social Media Marketing to Attract More Prospects, Make More Sales and How to Create Information Products.  For more information, please visit www.creativeblocks.com or send a message to oddball@creativeblocks.com.

Plus, I can personally vouch for Deb’s talent because she has been the Editor for my 3 books! She really is fabulous and great to work with.

Okay! Let’s jump into Deb’s article:

5 Things Your Freelance Sales Writer Must Deliver

The Internet makes it easy to find and hire freelance copywriters.  But the question many entrepreneurs and small business owners face when they want to outsource their copywriting needs is this:

How do I know which copywriter to choose? (My short answer is ‘Choose ME,’ of course.)

If you don’t know anything about the product you’re buying, then it’s tough to get a good deal.  For example, if you don’t know diddly about cars, you may end up buying a Yugo instead of a Mercedes.

One way to ‘look under the hood’ of a potential hire that you want to handle your business writing is to ask them in their proposal if they know (and can deliver) the 5 essentials of a good sales message.

Anatomy of a Conversion-Oriented Sales Message

Whether it’s an advertisement in the Sunday paper, a postcard, an online sales letter, a television commercial, or even a flyer stuck under the wipers of an automobile, an effective pitch always includes these elements.

To assess skills, ask your copywriter to provide portfolio samples of:

***Headline – A headline should be unique, powerful, and convey the biggest benefit of using a product or service.

***Body Copy – The body copy should be an emotionally compelling recitation of what the consumer will receive and needs to do.

***Social Proof – Testimonials and endorsements, prove that an offer is what you claim.  The problem is that many testimonials and long and rambling.  (Ask your copywriter for a sample of a before-and-after testimonial that he/she has edited.)

***Guarantee – Guarantees should remove risk so that the consumer has no fear of disappointment.

***Bonus – Offering something of additional value (“But wait, there’s more!”) should transform a sales offer from ‘good’ to ‘irresistible.’

***Urgent Call to Action – Procrastination kills profits and, unfortunately, prospective buyers may be likely to put aside offers to act upon at a later date.  Ask your copywriter for an example of a statement that tells a consumer how to place an order, with an incentive for them to act quickly.

Important note: When asking for a sample of these various elements, it is appropriate to request something from the writer’s portfolio.  It is NOT appropriate to ask your as-yet-unhired writer to do work ‘on spec’ and deliver samples based on your specific project.

Unscrupulous entrepreneurs (and you don’t want to be one of THOSE) sometimes ask numerous copywriters to provide on-spec samples.  Then they simply cobble those samples together to create their own sales message, without paying any of the writers whose creativity they are pilfering.

Your prospects are waiting for you.  And so are the talented copywriters that can help you turn those prospects into buyers.  Go for it!

Thanks, Deb, for the great advice!

Cheers & Happy Marketing!

Lisa

 

 

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Lisa Orrell Voted “Top 30 Brand Gurus in the World”

June 01st, 2011

Hi All!

Okay, so I have some cool news to share, therefore this post is a bit self-serving…but I can occasionally share news about me, and not just helpful tips, on my own blog…right???

Here’s the news I wanted to tell you about…it’s the actual Press Release that was deployed on PRWeb.com:

Lisa Orrell, Branding Expert and Marketing Consultant, Recently Voted “Top 30 Most Influential Brand Gurus in the World”

Voted on by over 22,000 industry peers and business professionals, Lisa Orrell makes BrandGurus.net’s prestigious Top 30 Brand Gurus List along with other globally known marketing experts, such as: Stephen Denny, Martin Roll, Sally Hogshead and Dan Schawbel.

Lisa Orrell, The Promote U Guru, is a well-known 20-year Branding Expert, Marketing Consultant and Certified Success Coach who works with small business owners, entrepreneurs, entertainers, professional and aspiring speakers, and book authors. And, based on her track record, she was recently included on BrandGurus.net’s “Top 30 Most Influential Brand Gurus in the World” List. According to BrandGurus.net, the winners who made their final Top 30 list were voted on by more than 22,000 industry and business professionals around the globe. 

“I didn’t even know I had been nominated to be considered for this list. Apparently they had a rather large list of candidates and then put it out to their industry database and social media networks for voting,” explains Lisa Orrell. “I wasn’t notified until the Top 30 List had been selected, so it was a total surprise! And, after looking at the experts who were on there with me, I realized I was in great company. I actually know some of them personally or I have read their popular business and branding books.”

Aside from coaching and consulting with clients, Lisa is also the author of 3 business books: “Millennials Incorporated”, “Millennials into Leadership, and of her highly anticipated new one coming out in August 2011, “Boomers into Business: How Anyone Over 50 Can Turn What They Know into Dough Before and After Retirement”. And, as a professional speaker herself, Lisa conducts popular workshops and seminars on Personal and Business Branding, Marketing, PR, Publicity, Social Media, Book Marketing and Publishing, and launching a Speaker Platform.

“I think Lisa totally deserves to be on that list,” says one of Orrell’s clients, Stacey Vulakh, a Time Management Coach, founder of the Timestyle Time Management Approach, aspiring author, and professional speaker. “She has been amazing at helping me create my branding and positioning, launching my coaching and consulting business, building my speaker platform, and helping me develop the concept for my first book. Lisa is so good at what she does…it’s what she’s done her entire professional life!” 

Because of her vast business experience and notoriety, Orrell has been interviewed by, or written articles for, a wide variety of media, including: ABC, MSNBC, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, NY Times, U.S. News & World Report, Cosmo, China’s Her World Magazine, BNET.com, WomenEntrepreneur.com, and countless others. Plus, aside from being selected for The Top 30 Brand Guru’s List, Lisa is also the recipient of over 75 national and international awards for marketing, creative and strategic excellence.

People follow Lisa’s business insights, tips and advice on Twitter @PromoteUGuru, through her Promote U Guru blog, and on her Facebook Fan Page: Facebook.com/PromoteUGuru.

For media inquiries, to contact Lisa about her services, or to have her speak at your next Professional Association event, contact her at: Lisa@PromoteUGuru.com, phone: 408-340-8789, website: PromoteUGuru.com

OKAY! So that’s the cool news I wanted to share!

Cheers & Happy Marketing!

Lisa

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How I’m Celebrating 2011 National Small Business Week

May 16th, 2011

Hi All!

This week, May 16-May 20, is National Small Business Week! It’s an annual event, mandated by the President of the United States, and was started in 1963 to pay tribute to all the small businesses across America each year (now totaling 27.2 million in 2011!).

Other quick factoids: More than half of Americans either own or work for a small business, and small businesses also create 60-80 percent of new jobs in the country…so we contribute to the economy big time!

And, because I coach and consult with small business owners, coaches, consultants, speakers and authors, and I see how much they struggle with their branding, marketing, PR, sales, book marketing, and/or social media strategies (prior to hiring me, of course!), I wanted to celebrate this annual event by providing you with a special offer to help your business succeed.

Special Offer Details:

- Receive a 15% discount on ANY consulting package that I offer. I provide a wide variety of package options ranging in cost so you are sure to find one that fits your budget!

- In addition to the special savings, I will also ADD one “bonus” consulting session to any package you choose!

- This is limited to the first 5 people who contact me by the end of this national event (by Friday, May 20th).

So if you are struggling with your branding, marketing, PR, social media, sales and/or book marketing efforts, contact me right away. I can also help you develop a “topic expert” personal brand platform to attract paid public speaking opportunities and media interviews…I help most of my clients with that!

Again, this is limited to 5 people and you need to contact me by May 20th. Just send me an email or give me a call and I will email you my complete Services & Options Overview Package. Contact info: Lisa@PromoteUGuru.com or call 408-340-8789.

Let’s get your brand, business and bottom-line booming in 2011!

Cheers & Happy Marketing!

Lisa

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How to Write Articles for Branding and Web Traffic: Part Two

March 22nd, 2011

Hi All!

This is Part Two of a 2-part series, so hopefully you read Part One and are ready to continue with learning more about article writing for brand building!

Okay! So, you’ve outlined a list of article topics your target audience will benefit from, and you’ve written your first article. Now what? There are a wide variety of online article submission and distribution services available that operate in different ways and that serve different purposes.

Here is a brief overview of the types that you’ll encounter. They will: Require you to pay a minimal fee, or not charge anything, to distribute your article online and will create a web page for your article that can be found in search results; or, they will have subscribers who pay a monthly fee to access fresh content (i.e. articles submitted by experts like you) and those people will use your article in their blogs, ezines, websites, publications or newsletters; or, the service will pay you a minimal fee if they approve your article and choose to offer it on their website for others to publish;  or, they will charge you a minimal fee to distribute your articles to targeted outlets (not just distribute it online) interested in your topic matter.

You can find examples of services that match the variety I just provided by performing online searches using phrases like: Free services to submit articles; online article submission; getting paid to write or submit articles; and services to distribute articles online.

You will quickly see there are hundreds of options to get your article distributed and found by your target audience! It can be a bit overwhelming, so start by picking a few and try them out.

Another option, if you have the budget, is to hire a VA (Virtual Assistant) or a freelance article submission expert, and they can do all of this for you. You can find people who can help you by posting a request on a service like eLance.com and you’ll receive responses from many individuals who offer this type of support. Plus, you can also find article ghostwriters on eLance.com who are reasonably priced!

But, if you plan to get your articles out to the masses by yourself, here is a link to a compiled list of article submission services…it’s very comprehensive and many of them are FREE!!!

But before I conclude this 2-part series, I’d like to share one more strategy you can implement for getting your articles distributed: Contact publications and blogs directly that reach your target audience. No matter what your area of expertise is, there are going to be tons of magazines, ezines, newsletters (print and online), websites, social media community websites, and blogs seeking content from outside authors.

You can do online searches to find the ones who reach your target audience and then create a targeted hit-list to inquire if they accept guest articles. You will find that some of them will even have article submission guidelines available on their websites!

If they find your topic ideas interesting, feel their audience will benefit from your information, and find your articles to be well-written, there’s a very good chance they will publish your content.

And, even better, you will begin to establish a relationship with these targeted contacts and that can lead to their accepting your articles on a regular basis. This is a fabulous scenario because their audience will become more familiar with you and that is a key factor for building your topic expert brand!

Cheers & Happy Marketing!

Lisa

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How to Write Articles for Branding and Web Traffic: Part One

March 07th, 2011

Hi All!

A very powerful strategy for building your topic expert brand positioning, and for driving traffic to your website, is to write articles and submit them to online article distribution services. Some small business owners also choose to do this for additional income (because there are some article services and media that will pay for your articles), but many experts don’t do it for pay; they write articles for the 2 other key reasons I mentioned.

In Part One of this 2-part series I’d like to outline 12 ways to make your articles compelling and how they can become significant traffic-drivers to your website.

I’ll then conclude this 2-part series next week by providing you with a list of some popular online article submission and distribution services that you can use to get your articles distributed to the masses.

12 Ways to Create Articles for Brand Building: 

When you write interesting articles in your area of expertise, it immediately positions you as an expert in your field. It also gives you the opportunity to showcase your knowledge and this can attract clients to you, as well as attract media interviews for you. But, if you’re not a great writer, don’t panic! You can hire ghostwriters (inexpensively) who will write them for you, and you can simply provide them with the topics you think will benefit your target audience.

However, regardless of whether you write the articles or someone does it for you, here are 12 tips for making them compelling and a valuable marketing tool for you:

  1. Grab The Reader’s Attention Fast: Make sure to create an interesting title for your article, and you can even make it a thought-provoking question. Also, in your opening paragraph set-up the “pain point” you’re going to solve and why it’s important to them. Writing articles that will solve a problem for your target audience is a great strategy for the angles you develop.
  2. Keep the Articles Simple and Easy to Understand Quickly: People want to read quick-hit information that they can grasp fast and benefit from. So make sure the articles you write provide good, helpful information and are written in a succinct style. A good way to achieve this is to use bullet points or numbered points so that your key messages and tips are easy to reference and follow. Having your key points “buried” in paragraphs will make it frustrating for your readers.
  3. Add Keywords for Online Search: Your articles will be posted in numerous ways online and will often be found by people doing keyword searches on your topic matter. So you want to make sure that you use the Google keyword tool that I mentioned back in the chapter about writing an effective Press Release, and add those popular search terms in the body of your articles. I know many experts who rapidly increase their search rankings because of writing articles, and oftentimes their articles start ranking higher in search results than their main websites do. Therefore, you want to implement this strategy!
  4. Make Your Articles Short: You don’t need to write super long articles to make them good. This is about quality not quantity! Most articles that I, and other experts write, are around 400-700 words. Keeping them short not only makes it easier for your readers but makes it easier for you to write them on an on-going basis.
  5. Don’t Pitch Your Services and Products: When you write articles it’s only about providing helpful info to your target audience. It is not about making your articles big infomercials to pitch yourself and/or your products. If you write good articles that people truly learn from, they will typically want to learn more about you and they will visit your website. The fastest way to kill your credibility and lose a potential “fan” is by trying to sell them on something in your article content.
  6. Be Yourself in Your Writing Style: Conveying yourself as likeable is important! If you’re a fun person, be sure to bring out your personality in your articles. This is the same advice I give to clients who hire me as a coach and consultant to launch their speaking careers! Don’t be one person on the stage and another person off stage. People can see through that because you’re not being authentic. And when you write articles, it may be the FIRST contact anyone has with you; even before seeing your website. So you want to make sure who you really are comes through in your writing. A good example of this is my writing style. I write in a very conversational way, and write very close to how I speak. I’m not afraid to add in sarcastic comments, casual verbiage or silly phrases to anything I write because that’s “who” I am…and I want my readers to get to know “me”!
  7. Don’t Quote Other Experts: The purpose of your articles is to showcase you; not someone who could be a competitor. You normally only want to quote other people in your articles if their information really adds to your message and content quality. Sure, you can quote stats and research results from studies you find, but try to avoid quoting or mentioning other experts who are similar to you.
  8. Offer Your Articles on Your Website: When I submit articles online, I also add them to my website, in Word, so that people can download them to use as content on their blogs, ezines, websites and newsletters. And, on my article web page, I clearly state they can use my articles as long as they are shown in their entirety, and the short bio about me provided at the end of each article is included. I also ask that they send me a link to it when it’s used. Millions of people are constantly seeking for content and understand they have to source the author who wrote it. This is great for driving their traffic to you!
  9. Create an E-book: Once you have several articles done, you can also compile them into an e-book and either offer it as a free gift on your website (as long as people provide you with their contact info to download it), or you can sell it. Either way, this is a good strategy for creating simple products and for building your contact list.
  10. Write Them Consistently: If possible, try to write and submit at least one article per month online. I know experts who do one-per-week because they receive so much benefit from doing so, but that may be tough for many of you. Start by writing a few, and after you get the hang of it and start developing a “formula” for cranking them out (or hire a ghostwriter to do them for you), you can start to increase how many you publish monthly.
  11. Share Your Links: Many article distribution services will create a web page for your article that will be found through online searches. You’ll have a unique url for your article’s page and can share that link to drive traffic to your article on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and in emails to your contact database.
  12. Embed Links in Your Articles: When you write an article, make sure to have certain words or phrases that have hyperlinks to pages on your website, your blog posts, Twitter page, Facebook page, and/or to other articles you have written and that are posted online. Just make sure the links take them to info that is relevant to what you’re writing about and to points you are making.

Okay! Get started on creating a list of article topics that will interest your target audience and showcase your topic expert knowledge. And be sure to read Part Two of this series for services that can distribute them for you to obtain massive website traffic and readers!

Cheers & Happy Marketing!

Lisa

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4 Steps to Leveraging Other People’s Audiences for Big Exposure

January 14th, 2011

Hi All!

I saw the following blog post on ByBloggers.net (an amazing resource for learning effective strategies to create and market digital products), and received permission from them, and the article’s author, to share it here. It’s loaded with great information to help you expand your brand to the followers of other bloggers and online broadcasters (ie: People with podcast shows) who have large audiences.

No need for me to go on about this topic…author, Mike Tiojanco, does a fine job on his own! But before you dive into his info-packed article, here’s some info about Mike: He is an entrepreneur, blogger, and partner at BlogcastFM Premium. In January, he is launching his new project, 8 Hour Rebellion, aimed at helping people break out of the 9-5 and live a life free from the chains of an office desk (so he can spend more time with his wife, two kids, and Xbox360). And you can follow him on twitter: @mtio.

So, without further delay…here is what Mike has to say about:

Leveraging Other People’s Audiences

Most entrepreneurs are familiar with the concept of using leverage to make money.

Use other people’s time (OPT) or, more commonly, other people’s money (OPM) to push your business.

However, when I launched a membership site, it wasn’t OPT or OPM that made it a success.

It was OPA. Other People’s Audiences.

Anatomy of a Partnership

Last November, I helped launch BlogcastFM Premium – a membership site that helps people take their blogs to the next level.

None of that would have happened without a partnership between myself and the BlogcastFM founders, Srini Rao and Sid Savara.

Let’s go step-by-step through the partnership/joint venture (JV) process as I experienced it:

1. Build Your Network

Way back in February I heard about a new podcast series that was launching – BlogcastFM. I had been reading Sid’s personal development blog and following him on twitter. I was just starting my own blog at the time, so the podcast content was perfect for me.

I ended up following Srini on twitter and reading his blog.

A couple posts into my blog I shot him an email asking him to take a look. He was kind enough to take few minutes to check it out and give me some feedback.

I kept in contact with him via twitter, and eventually pitched him on my very first guest post.

At the time I had no clue that these initial contacts would turn into a partnership, but at the time I was just looking to connect with people who were doing what I wanted to be doing.

The takeaway: Work on building your network early and often. Many successful bloggers advise that you spend 50% of your time writing content and 50% of your time networking.

2. Listen to People’s Needs

Like I mentioned before, I am a devoted listener of BlogcastFM.

I listen to just about every episode the day it comes out, sometimes more than once (I’ve got a 45 min. commute).

After listening to that many episodes, a common theme appeared.

In just about every episode, Srini commented, “If I could put into action the ideas I get from every interview, my blog would be way more successful than it is.”

So even Srini, the host of the podcast… the interviewer himself… needed help pulling the best tips out of every interview and figuring out how to implement them.

Surely their audience was having the same issues.

I could help with that.

The Takeaway: Find something that someone’s audience needs that the blogger doesn’t have time to create (or has no interest in creating).

Dave Navarro did this with Naomi Dunford’s audience.

Her audience at ittybiz.com consists of small online business owners. She offers marketing and business development advice – a lot of which is focused on creating ebooks and other digital products. However, her material didn’t really focus on how to launch the ebook once it was created – Dave’s specialty.

Before partnering on “How to Launch the **** of Your eBook,” Dave Navarro was mostly unknown. It was the partnership with Naomi that put him on the map.

3. Pitch the Idea

Back in September, I approached them with an idea for the product – a membership site offering action worksheets for each of their 100+ interviews on BlogcastFM.

They said yes.

I think what really put them over the edge is that I provided a sample of the product – an action worksheet for the interview with Sean Ogle.

This let them see exactly what I had in mind, as opposed to an abstract description in an email.

The Takeaway: Don’t be afraid to pitch the idea. After my pitch, the feedback the guys gave to me was that this was something they really wanted to create for their audience, but they didn’t have the time to do it themselves. Worst case scenario, they pass, but now you’re really on their radar.

The last step:

4. Make Them Love You.

This is something I’m still working on, and will continue to work on as long as BlogcastFM is around.

Do the best work you can.

Make them feel lucky to have you on their team.

Remember, your work is a reflection on their reputation.

The Takeaway: After someone says yes, provide the best work you can so that they feel that the partnership was the best business decision they ever made.

Like I said, I’m still working on this one. I had some family issues that prevented me from doing this over the past month or so, but you better believe I’m going to work my tail off showing them that this was the right decision for them.

That said, I’ve got some interviews to listen to and some worksheets to create…

BIG thanks to Mike, and to Jonathan, founder of ByBloggers.net, for allowing me to share this! GREAT ADVICE and useful info!

Cheers & Happy Marketing!

Lisa

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7 Easy Steps to An Effective Marketing Strategy For 2011

January 01st, 2011

Hi All!

The New Year is here…are you ready with a Marketing Plan and Strategy to enter 2011 organized, poised for revenue growth and career success? If you are, fabulous!

However, if you’re like many of the new clients who hire me, you’re probably “hoping” 2011 will be better but don’t really have a plan to make it happen. You may even know your previous marketing efforts have been ineffective, but have no clue what to do to fix and improve them.

Oftentimes, I find that small business owners, speakers, authors, coaches, consultants, etc. are good at what they do in their profession, but aren’t that great at marketing themselves, their businesses, and/or their products. They run in circles in a “reactive” mode (versus create a strategic plan) and then wonder why they are struggling to land new clients, sell books, secure speaking opportunities, or generate more income for their businesses through other avenues.

If any of this resonates with you, keep reading!

Here are 7 steps to help you create an effective Marketing Plan and Strategy for the New Year:

  1. It’s time to really research your target audience. Do you really know what your customers and potential customers want? Do you have a profile that describes your “ideal” customer/client? Or, perhaps you want to expand out of your current target audience and find new types of clients. For example, maybe you’re a Coach or Consultant and want to start attracting clients who are willing to pay higher fees for your services. Do you know “who” they are and where to reach them? You can’t effectively market to them if you don’t know all of this important information first!
  2. Research your competition. Sure, this may sound like common sense but many small business owners don’t take the time to do this. What do your competitors offer? What do they charge? What products or services do they offer that you don’t? What types of marketing strategies are they using that could also benefit your business? Not only is it good to know what they’re offering and their pricing, but you can get fresh ideas for marketing your business by learning from their strategies.
  3. Focus on what makes you “unique”. Back in college when I was an Advertising Major, one of the key phrases mentioned in my classes a lot was “Unique Selling Proposition” (USP). It’s still a key phrase and used by major Ad Agencies a lot when working with a new client. What’s your USP? Great, you’re a CPA, lawyer, landscaper, speaker or executive coach…but so are many other people! So, what makes YOU different? Find your USP, focus on it in your branding and marketing communications, and “own” it. Making yourself different from all the other people who offer what you do can be the difference between struggling or excelling this year.
  4. Outline your marketing goals. You can’t create an overall strategy if you don’t know what you want your marketing efforts to accomplish! You want to write down specific goals, such as: Secure 2 paid speaking engagements per month; land 4 new clients per month; get 75 new subscribers each month for my e-newsletter; or attract more targeted fans on my Fan Page and get 100 new “likes” per month. These types of targeted goals will enable you to start thinking about “how” to accomplish them…and this leads to determining the strategies, messaging offers, and marketing mix you’ll use.
  5. Determine your marketing mix. Once you’ve determined who your target audience is, what makes them tick, where you can find them, what your competition is doing, and what your USP is, you can develop your strategy for reaching your marketing goals. Create a list of 3-6 strategies, ranging from email, social media, sales calls, direct mail, online services, speaking at events where your audience attends, writing articles, PR, finding strategic partners, etc. Don’t feel like you have to use everything! Pick a few, focus on them, and implement them.
  6. Develop your plan. Once you’ve determined the mix of tools you’ll use, you can focus on implementation, messaging, frequency, budget, etc…this becomes your actual Marketing Plan! Work backwards from your goals, and chart your map for the year…what will you be doing each day, month and quarter to reach your goals using the mix of tools you determined? Example: You want to do eblasts. How many per month and what will you send? You want to speak at association events to reach potential clients. But what are the associations and what is the presentation topic you’ll pitch them? You want more “likes” on your Fan Page. Will you develop more strategic partners to help you achieve this? Run ads on Facebook? And if you decide to run ads, what is your budget and what will your ad say? You have to write your Marketing Plan so you have a direction!
  7. Evaluate, measure and assess regularly. Marketing Plans are not set in stone! You can change a strategy in your plan if it’s not working well. You have to! But you can’t even get to the point of “being strategic” about your strategies if you don’t start with a plan and monitor the results.

Sure, this 7 step process is a simplistic approach (there are some Marketing Plans that are much more detailed and complex), but you don’t need to make it complicated; that’s what can scare you from even trying to create a basic plan! I’ve helped clients outline an effective Marketing Plan in an hour, so trust me when I say this doesn’t have to be a drawn-out process.

I don’t care whether your plan ends up being one-page or 50…just make sure you have some sort of strategic plan so you enter 2011 feeling more organized and in control of your new year! And here’s a link to a Marketing Plan software solution that can help you: Marketing Plan Pro.

Cheers to a Prosperous New Year and Happy Marketing!

Lisa

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Cool Service For Publishing A Book and Product Development

December 15th, 2010

Hi All!

I’m certainly behind on my blogging the past couple of weeks. My Father has been very sick so I’ve been away from work quite a bit to be with him. The good news is that it looks like he’ll be released from the hospital in time for Christmas! Go, Dad, go!!!

OK…onto the topic of this post…a question I get a lot is,”How do I publish a book (or develop products)??”. There are many ways to do this, and here’s one solution that’s worth looking into.

And, no, they don’t know that I’m writing a blog post about them! So I’m not receiving anything from them for posting this.

The service is called FastPencil.com. They are ideal for self-publishers of ANY type of book. BUT, if you don’t want to write a book, they also create products like: ebooks, small how-to guides, picture books, etc. And they can be developed in printed and electronic formats. Plus, they offer a turnkey solution where they’ll upload to all the major online retailers for you, AND provide distribution services (meaning they’ll print and ship the orders for you).

Another cool thing is that they provide templates, so you can design and layout your own book, guide, booklet, ebook, etc. This can save you money on having to hire a graphic designer. AND, they even offer book writing software to make the process easier for you!

I also noticed on their website that they offer a service called “Premiere”, which appears to be a publishing imprint service for established authors. That’s worth looking into more for publishing your future books.

Here’s a brief blurb from the About Us page on their website:

FastPencil is book publishing without the pain. The traditional book publishing process can take many months of effort and more money than most writers anticipate. It’s no wonder authors get discouraged.

You shouldn’t have to ask anyone’s permission to write and publish your own book! We have removed the hurdles inherent in traditional book publishing by combining amazing advances in print on demand technology with a sophisticated online workflow system.

While powerful technology makes it possible for anyone to publish a high-quality book, our collaboration capabilities make FastPencil the easiest, fastest, and most exciting way to write and publish. Regardless of the type of book they’re writing, most writers need feedback as they create. When authors have ready access to friends and collaborators, the writing and editing process is faster and easier.

At any point in the writing process you can connect with like-minded people, share knowledge, chat, gather feedback from reviewers and editors, and collaborate with other authors, all without leaving FastPencil.

OKAY! Take a look at their website for more info…I’m interested in using them for e-books and short guide development, so I’ll be learning more about them soon, too!

Cheers & Happy Marketing!

Lisa

P.S. If you have used their service, please post a comment about your experience!

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How to Conduct A Virtual Book Tour to Increase Your Sales

November 13th, 2010

Hi All!

Book authors are on a never-ending quest to promote their books, sell their books, and increase awareness for them. Yet, many authors struggle with this. I know this first hand because I have a lot of clients who are authors and seek my help with their book marketing.

One effective book marketing strategy that most authors do not use is conducting a Virtual Book Tour; using blogs as the vehicle. There are many ways to do one, so this post will give you some general guidelines to follow and you can adjust, alter and brainstorm additional ideas for your tour.

And the great thing about Virtual Book Tours is that it doesn’t matter if your book is new or not! There are many authors who have books that are several years old and their Virtual Book Tour brings the book back-to-life, generates interest for the book amongst people who didn’t know about it when it first came out, and ramps sales again. So don’t think this strategy is just for NEW books! And, it doesn’t matter whether you self-publish or not! I know authors who get hung-up on the self-published status of their book, but it’s NOT an issue!

1.)   Establish a timeframe for your tour. This can range from one week to one month. And you’ll want to start organizing it 1-2 months ahead of time for effective planning.

2.)   Find blogs that reach the audience you want to target for your book, and contact the owners of those blogs. This can range anywhere from 10 to a million blogs! How many blogs involved on your tour just depends on the time you have to do this outreach and how many blogs are the right fit for your book’s topic.

3.)   Tell each blogger the tour’s timeframe and what your expectations are when they participate in the tour. This may include: During the tour, they need to write a review of your book that includes the book’s cover linked to your Amazon page or wherever your book is sold; and you’ll provide them with 1-3 articles that pertain to your book’s topic that they will run during the tour as “guest blog posts” (from you) on their blog. And in the articles you provide them, they’ll include your short bio, pic of your book (or of you), and link to your website. You’ll provide EACH of the blogs that participate the same articles and each of them can run the articles in any order they want during the tour.

4.)   Send each participating blogger an organized “kit” for the tour (via email). This should include: General tour info (restate expectations, tour timeframe, roll-out schedule, etc.); file of your book cover; file of your headshot; and the articles you wrote for them to use as “guest posts” (as Word docs with links embedded to your website, Amazon page, etc.). Don’t rely on the bloggers to find the correct links to YOUR stuff!

5.)   Mail each blogger a copy of your book. Obviously you need to do this so they can read it BEFORE the book tour launches. And, no, don’t ask them buy it! Mail them a free copy!

6.)   Offer several copies of your book to each blogger who participates to use as a giveaway item for a contest they can create (or use it as a free gift for something the blogger wants to promote). You may not want to do this with every blogger who participates (if you have TONS of blogs on the tour), but you’ll want to offer it to the ones who have a lot of traffic. This is a good strategy because aside from them writing a review for your book and running the articles you provide to them during the tour, they can create a contest (or promotion) “around your book” which will be additional exposure for your book.

7.)   Thank and mention the blogs who participate on YOUR blog throughout the tour, on Twitter tweet the links to the blog posts they do about (and from) you, mention them on your Facebook Fan Page, etc. Doing all of this is critical because you are giving the participating blogs exposure to YOUR social networks, and that’s good business. The bloggers who participate on your tour are doing YOU a favor so giving them some “link love” and exposure is only right.

8.)   Consider sending each blogger who participated in your tour a Thank You gift when it’s over. Again, show them gratitude for their time, effort and help in promoting YOUR book!

Okay! That’s a general overview of how to do a Virtual Book Tour. Yes, I could go on & on with more ideas for conducting a successful tour, and ways to make it more elaborate (but that can get costly), so this gives you a good starting point. The “basic” approach I provided can get you great results as long as you PLAN ahead of time and connect with enthusiastic bloggers who are excited to participate in your Virtual Book Tour.

And if you want help with ideas, planning, and execution of your tour, or need other book marketing strategies, you know where to find me…

Cheers & Happy Marketing!

Lisa

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Cool Online Tools to Reach Targeted Media Interested in Your News

November 01st, 2010

Hi All!

I wanted to share some very cool tools that can help you reach TARGETED media and industry influencers; who are specifically interested in YOUR news and expertise. By using these tools, you can attract media interviews and get mass media coverage to build your personal or business branding platform, increase your income, and increase the sales of your products (i.e. your book if you wrote one!).

AND, I don’t care whether you’re a one-person company, small business, self-published book author, etc. The media (print, broadcast and online) is on the hunt for interesting news and topics 24/7, 365-days a year. So you don’t have to be famous or have earth-shattering news to get their attention! They just want interesting news or segment ideas that will appeal to their audiences.

I recently helped an author-client land a featured interview on a popular talk show on Lifetime! And she is a self-published author who just started working with me…getting media exposure rolling CAN happen fast if you make some effort!

SO…go for it!

1.) PitchEngine.com

Overview:

Unlike traditional wire services, PitchEngine enabled users to openly create and share their own content, while including images, videos and attachments at no cost. In 2009, more than 70,000 pitches were shared by 27,000 organizations looking to get the word out to not just journalists, but to bloggers, consumers and other influencers as well. PitchEngine’s “Co-op SEO” concept enables brands big and small to experience exceptional indexing in major search engines.

2.) MediaSyncOnline.com (FREE!)

Overview:

MediaSync is a free Web-based service from mBLAST that allows Marketers to easily research and use detailed, up-to-date media intelligence on print and online publications, their staff and their areas of coverage.

With MediaSync, you can find:

  • Detailed profiles for relevant editors, reporters, analysts and bloggers, including contact information, contact preferences, and latest articles and topics of coverage.
  • Detailed publication profiles, including industry classification, traffic statistics, staff lists, and more for thousands of print and online publications, newspapers, blogs and social media sites.
  • Detailed editorial calendar information, including topic, editorial and advertising close dates, and more.

MediaSync allows users to search for the information they need (on their companies, clients OR the competition), refine the results, save their search and receive alerts when new information is available that matches their criteria. They can also upload existing media lists and/or create and maintain new ones, and export it all into a contact list or briefing book.

3.) Special Learning Guide: “Promote U Thru PR – How to Get Mass Media Coverage to Build Your Brand & Income”

Overview:

Check-out my info-packed Learning Guide that outlines the PR & Publicity strategies I help my clients with, and the ones I personally use (which have landed me over 100 media interviews!). This special guide typically sales for $37, but for a limited time I’m offering it for $27.

I charge a lot more than $37, let alone $27, for the seminars, workshops and webinars I conduct on this topic…and the info in this Learning Guide is the same as I share in those more expensive events.

It covers everything you need to know about attracting the media, pitching the media, writing a killer Press Release, online tools and resources, and MUCH MORE. Simply CLICK HERE for the details of what you’ll learn…it’s on the Products Page of my website.

So there you have it…3 very cool tools that can help you reach the media YOU want to reach, and who are interested in YOUR news.

Cheers & Happy Marketing!

Lisa

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