How to Launch Your Career as an Author, Get Your Book Published and Get Book Publicity: MP3 Audio

How to Launch Your Career as an Author, Get Your Book Published and Get Book Publicity: MP3 Audio
Find out how Arielle Ford has helped launch the careers and create bestselling books for Deepak Chopra; Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, Chicken Soup for the Soul series; Neale Donald Walsch, Conversations With God; Debbie Ford, The Dark Side of the Light Chasers; and Dean Ornish, Love and Survival and many, many other notable authors. Visit www.EverythingYouShouldKnow.com for more details

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Seth Godin Says Most Marketers Are Out of Sync
Keynote at SES Chicago is food for thought.

If you thought you had Marketing 101 down pat, it's time to think again.

Seth Godin's keynote at SES Chicago lived up to the promise and certainly gave the audience some new ideas to chew on. He started with a new look at the origins of marketing - the story of Josiah Wedgewood, a potter in England in the 1800's at the start of the Industrial Revolution. 

Wedgewood was the first to create a factory environment and a production line with specialized job functions.  He built a showroom and shipped product around the world.  He made millions and his name is still famous in ceramics and china today.  His brother Thomas stuck to the 'tried and true methods.'.  He did it the way it had always been doine before.  He died poor.

The point of this history lesson?  Wedgewood took advantage of changes in society and technology and changed the way he structured his business.  Marketing is not just the whipped cream you add on top, says Godin.  It's a core function of how you operate.your business.  It's a high level decision about how you're going to create, promote, distribute and deliver your wares. If you're smart you adapt your business model to the forces in the marketplace.

Another revolution is upon us, he warns.  And this one will be the biggest yet. If we don't realize this we are going to the Thomas Wedgewoods of our age.

His new book due out in December called Meatball Sundae - is your marketing out of sync? covers the 14 trends that are causing this revolution.

I covered these trends in a previous post.

These are not new ideas or trends. What makes this book different is that Godin gives us direction on what we need to do to take advantage of this revolution in the marketplace.

It's no longer just a BtoB or Bto C world.  It's BtoCtoCtoB.  ther is direct contact between producer and consumer. Poele are connected and they are talking to each other.  Online publishing tools have given consumers the power of voice.

The smart way to do business today is not to look for customers for the products you make, says Godin. Create products your customers want.

YouTube did it and made billions.KIVA is a non profit that is getting ir right.

If you figure out what these trends mean to your business you could be the next success story. 

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SEO and Marketing Basics Are Top of Mind for 2008
Two thirds focus on basics and almost half plan to do SEO

A survey of 1700 MENG (Marketing Executives Networking Group) members conducted by Anderson Analytics, shows  key areas for 2008 are:

• Marketing basics (60% "Very Important") which include specific concepts such as customer satisfaction, customer retention, segmentation, brand loyalty and ROI were of greatest interest.
• Search Engine Optimization (42%) had relatively wide appeal, and cut across marketers in all fields.
• "Green Marketing" (32%) was another important emerging concept and it was identified as the trendiest marketing buzzword.

See Also

• Marketing Execs Say Basics Are Most Important in 2008
  This is the first of a series of studies by MENG which will make a major contribution to the growing effectiveness of marketing.

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Actionable Social Media SES Chicago
Social Media step you can take right now

The complaint I hear most often at search and social media conferences is that while the content of the sessions is excellent, it's at a high-level and very general.  They want specifics. What can I do right now, how do I get started? is the question I often get asked.

This session was perfect for folk who want the nitty-gritty, tactical view.

Todd Parsons of BuzzLogic, one of the main players in the field of online reputation management, was the first speaker.

He set the stage with these stats:

• 65 million Americans read blogs every day
• 60 percent do it explicitly to  get an opinion
• 65 pecent of 'power shoppers' spend at least 10 minutes prior to purchase getting online opinions. 
• 3.5 billion brand-related conversations take place online every day.

First and foremost listen to the conversations and be aware of what is being said about you.

Action:  Get an RSS reader and subscribe to searches on your brand name in Yahoo News and Google Blog Search

Linking is what connects all these conversations and you need to initiate and foster good links

Action:  Create good content with authentic stories - engage your audience. Syndicate this content and add links that lead back to your website.

Action:  Track the conversations and see who links to whom. Buzz Logic does this very well.

(I used BuzzLogic for the case study in the November PRoactive Report, which covers online reputation management. It gives you the exact picture of how the  conversation is developing and spreading and the best place to engage.)

Next up was Adam Lavelle of iCrossing.

We're living a connected lifestyle now and we have more and more devices at out fingertips to access content. And it's driven by content.. By 2010 70 percent of content will be user generated.

Your users are shaping the perceptions about your brand.

Action:  Listen.  Be useful

Some brands no longer own the conversation about their brands. He cites 3M and PostIt notes as one example.

Action:  Join forums where people talk about your brand. Become an active member and answer their questions. Offer useful input and support. Use it to build links back to your website.  Do not be overtly commercial.  Be helpful.

Jennifer Laycock of Search Engine Guide spoke next.

Jennifer's actionable tips focused on using Flickr. Images are very important online - they do get people engaged. And in Image Search Technorati pulls from Flickr and so does Yahoo, particularly for 'long tail' phrases (those with more than a few words in the phrase.)

Action:  Add images to your site and set up an account at Flickr.  Tag all images with keywords and phrases.

Flickr has a very active community. 

Action: Get engaged in niche groups relative to your market.  Ask questions. Encourage any brand evangelists you find on Flickr.

Flickr has feeds.  You can use the feeds from your Flickr images to drive traffic to your blog.

Action:  Use your Flickr images in your blog posts 

See Also

• Join the PRoactive Mastermind Group on Facebook
  Be a part of discussions about social media and online reputation management

How To Make An Absolute Fortune in the Information Products Business by Shawn Casey

Conversational Marketing is Actually a PR Technique
PR Can Learn From Successful Online Ad Campaigns

In a recent post about who is in the conversation John Batelle that while the  online conversation has very obvious benefits for the users, one of the troublemsome spots has been how do we keep it going and still pay the rent?  Or the hosting, in this case.

Most writers who have a following online write because it's a passion. Readers/viewers come back because the content is compelling and they value the conversation.

Batelle makes the case that advertisers who are joining the conversation - those who are brave and innovative enough to learn the grammar and language - get the most bang for their marketing buck.

He cites some good examples in this long post about Conversational Marketing

Advertisers who use the medium to actually talk to their readers and get their  feedback?   Now where have I heard the phrases 'establishing and maintaining relationships with your audience' and  'creating a climate of mutual understanding between an organization and its publics'?  Oh yes, it's in the definition of public relations.

Seems the ad folk are using PR tactics, And it's working.  

Take a leaf out of their book. Figure out where the your particular pilgrims are pitching their tents and learn the language and grammar of their conversation.

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