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Classified Advertising: How To Study Money Making Ads To Help You Make Money. Actually studying ads will not make you more money. It is like reading a book on copywriting and then thinking you are a copywriter. If you want to learn how to make money from writing classified ad... (04/11/09 09:01 AM)

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An Important Element In Writing Sales Copy That Really Persuades !. Dear Reader,

Vincent James is one of my heroes.

He has been for a long time. Back in 2006, Vincent wrote a book called "The 12 Month Millionaire" and that book is still worth... (03/29/09 09:01 AM)

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My book is now available on Kindle. I just heard that Lead Generation for the Complex Sale is now available on Kindle. It joins more than 200,000 books available via this service. Here’s an overview of Kindle: Kindle is a portable reading device from Amazon.com that allows... (02/25/09 09:00 AM)

Podcast: Interview on lead generation with Dave Stein. I was was recently interviewed by Dave Stein, CEO and Founder of ES Research Group, and author of How Winners Sell (a great book by the way). During the interview we talk about the following topics: What works to get... (02/25/09 09:00 AM)

FASOF.

FASOF, WTF is FASOF you might say.

FASOF is simple Funny Ass Shit on Friday...

So, I have something to add to your FASOF file for today... Check out the foreward to Guy Kawasaki's new book that I just started reading called Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition. It's a great book so far. Even if I've only read the foreward.

Anyway, it goes a bit like this (actual foreward text stolen from: http://blog.futurelab.net/2008/10/reality_check_checklist_the_be.html)

The Best Foreword In the History of Man

The last thing that Dan Lyons (Newsweek columnist and author of Options: The Secret Life of Steve Jobs) wrote as Fake Steve Jobs is Reality Check's foreword. It is, in my opinion, the best foreword in the history of man.

You know what I think about whenever I hear the name Guy Kawasaki? Motorcycles. It's true. It's the first thing I think about when I hear his name, even though I've been told again and again that Guy actually has nothing to do with motorcycles. So then I try not to think about motorcycles, but come on, the dude's name is Kawasaki. What else are you going to think about? And don't say Vietnam because that is not cool, people. Not cool at all. Guy was just a friggin kid when all that shit was going down. Anyway, since Guy is not a motorcycle designer, and also no longer a member of the Viet Cong, I try to think about something else, and usually what I think about is the fact that he worked for me at Apple back in the Eighties. To be honest he didn't make much of an impression on me back in those days, and I didn't really remember anything about him, but I asked HR to pull his records and apparently the only notes we have on him are that he had a habit of cutting the line in the cafeteria and that a lot of people did not like him.
Anyway, Guy worked here for about fifteen minutes but he's been dining out on that for the past twenty years, and whatever, more power to him. His big claim to fame was that he created this notion of technology evangelism and he created this huge community of weirdo Apple fanboys who would camp out overnight to get our products and who would attack anyone who dared to criticize Apple. To this day these freako Apple kooks still worship me like a god and never let me have a moment of peace or privacy. They steal license plates from my car. Some even show up outside my house hoping to catch a glimpse of me as I drive through the gate. Basically, they've made my life a living hell.

So, um, thanks, Guy Kawasaki. Thanks a friggin million for that. Great job. I mean it. You dick.

So what is Guy's new book about? To be honest, I have no idea. I didn't read it. I didn't even pretend to read it. I told Guy, Dude, look, I don't read books, okay? Books are a technology of the last century. If you want to make your book into a movie, or a podcast, and if you want to download that video or audio content onto a totally sweet iPod or iPhone, then maybe you will have created some modern content that I will consume, although, to be honest, probably not even then because I don't need to hear your frigtarded ideas about startups or marketing or raising money or whatever because I am already the greatest businessperson in the entire history of the planet and I've forgotten more about marketing than you'll ever know. Besides that I'm super, super busy and important, and I've got so much money that I could wipe my ass with hundred dollar bills every day for the rest of my life and I'd still have more money than almost everyone on the planet, including you, since the last time I checked you haven't exactly been setting the world on fire as a venture capitalist.

But I digress.

Anyway, Guy is craven enough that he doesn't really care whether I read his book or not. As he put it to me, all he wants is a famous name to put on the cover, and pretty much everyone else turned him down and so he had to resort to calling me, and so fine, I let him beg a little bit and then I made him do some humiliating things like stand on one leg for half an hour and jump up and down and make strange noises, and then I said, Okay, okay, enough already, you total freak, I'll write you something.

So this is it--my official endorsement. Reality Bites is by far the best book ever written about the Valley. It's an important and necessary work, one that should be required reading in every business school in the country. I wish this book had been around when I was starting Apple in my garage back in 1976. I'm sure I wouldn't have read it, but still it would have been nice if it had been around back then to help out all those other people who wanted to start companies but couldn't figure out some of the more subtle aspects of business, like the fact that you need to charge more money for your products than it costs you to make them. That's a really super important lesson, yet one that so many people overlook, especially here in the Valley. Anyway, if these incredibly super-obvious things aren't already super-obvious to you, then you probably need to read a book like this and have someone like Guy Kawasaki teach you how to start a business, in terms that a child could understand.

And now I'm thinking about motorcycles again. Dammit! Namaste, poorly informed wannabe business people. I honor the place where your imbecilic gaze and my incredibly wise words become one. Much love. Peace out.

Fake Steve Jobs

July, 2008

(02/24/09 09:00 AM)

Random Business Books - Support Room to Read. Our friends at 800 CEO Read are doing their 2008 Mystery Box of books promotion again to help out my favorite cause, Room to Read. Room to Read, for those of you that haven't heard of them, develops "holistic, multi-pronged approach to help children in the developing world gain the lifelong gift of education."

Since 2000, Room to Read has impacted the lives of over 1.9 million children by:

Constructing 442 schools
Establishing over 5,630 libraries
Publishing 226 new local language children's titles representing over 2 million books
Donating over 2.2 million English language children's books
Funding 6,922 long-term girls' scholarships
Establishing 155 computer and language labs

So, if you're up to helping Room to Read, head over to 800 CEO Read to buy your box of random mystery business books from 2008.

From 800 CEO Read:

For $30.00 we are putting together a Mystery Box of three business books. In this box you are guaranteed one title that either won, or made the shortlist for the best book of 2008 in its category, along with 2 other titles from last year that were submitted for the awards. As an extra we'll throw in a copy of our annual In the Books year in review. 100% of the purchase will go directly to Room to Read, and we'll cover the shipping on all orders. Get on board and help us make a difference!

(02/24/09 09:00 AM)

New Event! What's Your Marketing Stimulus Plan?.

I've just launched the first of a series of marketing, thought leaderships and social media events that I'll be running in Wisconsin in 2009. If you're up for some 'marketing stimulus', I recommend that you check out this program!

The MarketingSavant Group invites you to attend the Marketing Stimulus Plan Boot-Camp, a one-day in-depth workshop that will jumpstart or revitalize your marketing efforts in these tough times. The best companies don't cut marketing spend in a downturn, they do the opposite. They know that even the toughest market conditions still provide plenty of opportunity.

Attend this one-day workshop to refine and revitalize your marketing strategy to help you swim upstream during the recession and position your company for long-term success.

Who: The MarketingSavant Group
What: What's Your Marketing Stimulus Plan? Workshop
When: January 27th, 2009 from 8:30 to 4:45
Where: De Pere, WI at the F.K. Bemis Center - St. Norbert College
How Much: $295 early reg / $395 after 1/9/09
Where do I Sign Up: At the Eventbrite website

Marketing managers, sales professionals, business owners, and executives within small to medium sized companies responsible for sustaining profitability and striving growth in a downturn will learn how to:

* Develop a road map for putting frugal, ethical and effective marketing strategies in place immediately
* Understand how new approaches in digital and social media marketing can catapult your company into new market opportunities
* Adapt your marketing spend for today's unpredictable economy
* Adjust prices and promotions without sacrificing market share or brand image
* Focus on accountability and obtaining measurable results from your investments
* Improve strategic and tactical planning with marketing ROI techniques and tools
* Manage your marketing budget and collaborate CFO and CEO

It's been said that "Every adversity carries a seed of equal or greater benefit." This program will help you and your business find the silver lining in those dark clouds by adopting creative, compelling, and low-cost/high-return marketing strategies. We'll discuss and learn new ways to devise new strategies to overcome economic turmoil, and execute new tactics to win, sustain and grow new business.
Bonus Item for Attendees:

All attendees will receive a copy of Marketing in a Downturn: Recession-Proof Strategies for Smart Marketers, a 90-page e-book featuring over 25 interviews with leading marketers, consultants, managers and business owners sharing their most effective marketing strategies for remaining profitable and sustaining growth during a downturn.

Who Should Attend?
* Marketing and communications professionals
* Small business owners
* Channel and brand managers
* Entrepreneurs and start-up managers
* Advertising and public relations professionals seeking new client solutions

You'll Walk Away With:

* Dozens of low-cost and effective ideas that you can implement immediately to jumpstart your marketing in the recession of 2009
* The tools, templates and action plans you'll need to succeed in the world of digital and social media marketing
* An idea packed e-book, Marketing in a Downturn: Recession-Proof Marketing Strategies for Smart Marketers, on how to make the most of your marketing in a recession

Register Now at Eventbrite

(02/24/09 09:00 AM)

Social Media Marketing Best Practice Tip.

I'm fond of saying that social media doesn't have 'best practices' per se, we just have 'current practices'. Those things that we know are working right now with very, very limited play in a real market. That said, I see that Mitch Joel, Six Pixels of Separation, has started a blog meme on pulling together the best practices and has challenged bloggers to write one post. I also see that Toby has already contributed some outstanding insights. Here's my take

Social Media Best Practice Tip:

Alignment: Yes, that's it. Alignment. If your organization is considering (or is well on their way) pursuing social media in your tactical marketing plans. It (social media) MUST be in complete alignment with your strategy and differentiator as an organization and in complete alignment with what you're already doing in your marketing plan.

Strategic & Differentiation Alignment:
If you've not yet read Seth Godin's book, Meatball Sundae, I highly recommend you check it out. In a nutshell, it gets after this very issue. If you're in charge of marketing for any organization that does not (and is not likely to in the future) embody openness, sharing, trust and all of those things that are required in a customer-owns-your-brand world that is social media, this might not be a strategic fit for you. Should you change, perhaps, but that's not the issue here. Just as I would rarely advise a B2B startup client to advertise on network television, there are some companies that aren't going to align on social media. One last thing - even though your company has some aligning characteristics...if your legal department doesn't, your social media marketing plan may have a hard time getting off the ground. I'm just sayin'...

Marketing Plan Alignment:
This one's a bit easier, but still a challenge, and we're still talking about alignment. If you decide to setup a Twitter account because it's cool, but you're not blogging and you're expecting things to just explode for you, that's unrealistic (but, you already knew that...) You need to align social media vehicles with that you're already doing and plan appropriately for their launch. If you have a customer database but you've never sent an email, maybe do that first...then put up the videos, then email your customers again, then get the blog going, then seed you customers with that and get the real conversation going... I'm still bullish on data and collecting it on prospects and customers (RSS subscribers and video viewers are not success metrics in the end) and employing that data in your marketing and social media efforts.

[UPDATE] One more thing... This 'social media thing' is new, and it's not...you know what I mean...right? Well, here's what I mean. Companies that do well in social media are those same types of organizations with the criteria identified by Jim Collins in Good to Great. They would meet the test of social media readiness. Examples of that criteria include: humility, acting as a servant leader, being able to accept brutal honesty, availability, a willingness to share credit (ideally, give full credit to others) and take sole responsibility and blame for failures.

(02/24/09 09:00 AM)

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Constructing 442 schools
Establishing over 5,630 libraries
Publishing 226 new local language children's titles representing over 2 million books
Donating over 2.2 million English language children's books
Funding 6,922 long-term girls' scholarships
Establishing 155 computer and language labs

So, if you're up to helping Room to Read, head over to 800 CEO Read to buy your box of random mystery business books from 2008.

From 800 CEO Read:

For $30.00 we are putting together a Mystery Box of three business books. In this box you are guaranteed one title that either won, or made the shortlist for the best book of 2008 in its category, along with 2 other titles from last year that were submitted for the awards. As an extra we'll throw in a copy of our annual In the Books year in review. 100% of the purchase will go directly to Room to Read, and we'll cover the shipping on all orders. Get on board and help us make a difference!

(01/23/09 09:00 AM)

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Korg nanoKey - Review. There are a bunch of reviews of this, and I'd say that most of the ones I read were fairly accurate. 1.) It does, in some ways, feel like a "toy" 2.) The layout of the keys takes some getting used to 3.) It is the perfect size to sit in fron of a Mac Book Pro 4.) It is just cool as crap... and fun! Anyway, enough words... here is quick little snippet I... (01/15/09 09:01 AM)

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New Event! What's Your Marketing Stimulus Plan?.

Attend this one-day workshop to refine and revitalize your marketing strategy to help you swim upstream during the recession and position your company for long-term success.

Register Now at Eventbrite

(12/17/08 09:00 PM)

FASOF.

FASOF, WTF is FASOF you might say.

FASOF is simple Funny Ass Shit on Friday...

Anyway, it goes a bit like this (actual foreward text stolen from: http://blog.futurelab.net/2008/10/reality_check_checklist_the_be.html)

The Best Foreword In the History of Man

You know what I think about whenever I hear the name Guy Kawasaki? Motorcycles. It's true. It's the first thing I think about when I hear his name, even though I've been told again and again that Guy actually has nothing to do with motorcycles. So then I try not to think about motorcycles, but come on, the dude's name is Kawasaki. What else are you going to think about? And don't say Vietnam because that is not cool, people. Not cool at all. Guy was just a friggin kid when all that shit was going down. Anyway, since Guy is not a motorcycle designer, and also no longer a member of the Viet Cong, I try to think about something else, and usually what I think about is the fact that he worked for me at Apple back in the Eighties. To be honest he didn't make much of an impression on me back in those days, and I didn't really remember anything about him, but I asked HR to pull his records and apparently the only notes we have on him are that he had a habit of cutting the line in the cafeteria and that a lot of people did not like him.
Anyway, Guy worked here for about fifteen minutes but he's been dining out on that for the past twenty years, and whatever, more power to him. His big claim to fame was that he created this notion of technology evangelism and he created this huge community of weirdo Apple fanboys who would camp out overnight to get our products and who would attack anyone who dared to criticize Apple. To this day these freako Apple kooks still worship me like a god and never let me have a moment of peace or privacy. They steal license plates from my car. Some even show up outside my house hoping to catch a glimpse of me as I drive through the gate. Basically, they've made my life a living hell.

So, um, thanks, Guy Kawasaki. Thanks a friggin million for that. Great job. I mean it. You dick.

So what is Guy's new book about? To be honest, I have no idea. I didn't read it. I didn't even pretend to read it. I told Guy, Dude, look, I don't read books, okay? Books are a technology of the last century. If you want to make your book into a movie, or a podcast, and if you want to download that video or audio content onto a totally sweet iPod or iPhone, then maybe you will have created some modern content that I will consume, although, to be honest, probably not even then because I don't need to hear your frigtarded ideas about startups or marketing or raising money or whatever because I am already the greatest businessperson in the entire history of the planet and I've forgotten more about marketing than you'll ever know. Besides that I'm super, super busy and important, and I've got so much money that I could wipe my ass with hundred dollar bills every day for the rest of my life and I'd still have more money than almost everyone on the planet, including you, since the last time I checked you haven't exactly been setting the world on fire as a venture capitalist.

But I digress.

Anyway, Guy is craven enough that he doesn't really care whether I read his book or not. As he put it to me, all he wants is a famous name to put on the cover, and pretty much everyone else turned him down and so he had to resort to calling me, and so fine, I let him beg a little bit and then I made him do some humiliating things like stand on one leg for half an hour and jump up and down and make strange noises, and then I said, Okay, okay, enough already, you total freak, I'll write you something.

So this is it--my official endorsement. Reality Bites is by far the best book ever written about the Valley. It's an important and necessary work, one that should be required reading in every business school in the country. I wish this book had been around when I was starting Apple in my garage back in 1976. I'm sure I wouldn't have read it, but still it would have been nice if it had been around back then to help out all those other people who wanted to start companies but couldn't figure out some of the more subtle aspects of business, like the fact that you need to charge more money for your products than it costs you to make them. That's a really super important lesson, yet one that so many people overlook, especially here in the Valley. Anyway, if these incredibly super-obvious things aren't already super-obvious to you, then you probably need to read a book like this and have someone like Guy Kawasaki teach you how to start a business, in terms that a child could understand.

And now I'm thinking about motorcycles again. Dammit! Namaste, poorly informed wannabe business people. I honor the place where your imbecilic gaze and my incredibly wise words become one. Much love. Peace out.

Fake Steve Jobs

July, 2008

(10/31/08 09:00 PM)

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Social Media Marketing Best Practice Tip.

(09/11/08 09:00 PM)

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Learn Word of Mouth Marketing.

Always willing to post a shameless pitch for a good cause... here's an upcoming event that you won't want to miss!

Word of Mouth Marketing Crash Course - Chicago, July 30th

Learn Word of Mouth Marketing Our friend and WOM guru Andy Sernovitz is hosting a small-group word of mouth marketing seminar. Usually he only does private training for companies at a very large price, so this is a rare chance for 50 people to get the best introduction to word of mouth that there is.

We've arranged for a $250 discount for our clients. Use code "welovemarketingsavant" when you register.

This is a very practical, hands-on course. In one intense day, you will:

* Master the five steps of word of mouth marketing
* Construct an action plan that your company can start using the very next day
* Get the same training that big corporations (Microsoft, TiVo, eBay) have received -- for a fraction of what they paid
* Know how to translate word of mouth marketing into real ROI
* Participate in an active, intense day of practical brainstorming (not boring theory)
* Learn from Andy Sernovitz, the guy who literally wrote the book on word of mouth marketing

Andy promises you will learn a repeatable, proven marketing framework that is easy to execute, affordable, and provides measurable results within 60 days.

More information: http://events.gaspedal.com

(07/08/08 09:00 PM)

Help Room to Read - Get mystery business books.

The team over at 800-CEO-READ have an awesome project in the works that benefits one of my favorite causes, Room to Read.

Here's the deal:

For $20.00 we are putting together a MYSTERY BOX of three business books. In this box you are guaranteed one title that either won, or made the shortlist for best book of 2007 in its category, and 2 other titles that were submitted for the awards. 100% of the purchase will go directly to Room to Read, and we'll cover the shipping on all orders. Get on board and help us make a difference!

To take part in this special offer, visit The 800-CEO-READ Mystery Box page: http://800ceoread.com/mysterybox

(06/09/08 09:00 AM)

193 Creative Marketing Ideas. A few weeks ago I added a small link in one of my posts to my unpublished beginning of a book of 193 Clever Marketing Ideas. John Moore linked to it and it got some interest, so I thought I'd give a more formal promotion here. Plus I want to see how Scribd works in my blog! BTW, Scribd and Slideshare are very cool! 193 Creative Marketing Ideas - Upload a doc Read this doc on Scribd: 193 Creative Marketing Ideas (05/05/08 09:01 PM)

How to LIVE RICH. A good friend and ex-Dell colleague passed away on Friday, April 25, 2008, after a courageous and inspiring battle with brain cancer. I want to celebrate and share the piece of his life I knew, and the words of wisdom he left for all of us. Two months after I joined Dell in March 1999, a curly-haired Harvard grad moved into the cube next door. Over the next seven years Rich and I worked together to help build Dell’s consumer eBusiness to a $3.5B business, and then on Dell’s CRM and segmentation strategy (he worked on corporate strategy while I worked in Consumer division). But what he worked on is not as important as HOW he accomplished his goals. Rich exemplified leadership. In fact, he had the rare quality of being a Level 5 Leader, as outlined by Jim Collins’ book, Good to Great. He excelled through confident humility amidst a (typical) corporate environment of politics, ego and alpha aggression. He always put decision in terms of what was right for the business, and helped others grow in the process. Everyone loved to work with Rich or for him. So many of us were awestruck at Rich’s knowledge and wisdom. Rich often put up ‘observations’ on his small whiteboard in his cube. One time he made the observation that time and quality of mission statement are inversely related – graphed on the board, the more time spent on the mission statement the less it resonates. So true. And so funny.... (04/29/08 09:01 PM)

9 Guerrilla Marketing Answers. A few weeks ago I was on an Austin Technology Council panel for the topic of Guerilla Marketing (YouTube Videos here). I’ve always loved Guerrilla marketing, and wrote a book on Guerrilla and Word of Mouth Marketing in 1997 with foreword from Jay Conrad Levinson, the "father" of Guerilla Marketing. I also have this unpublished book of 193 Clever marketing ideas ... I’m not going to do anything with it, so I posted it to Scribd for people to read for free. I made a few notes to answer the questions the moderator was going to ask for the panel. I’m on a long flight back from London right now...a good time to expand these notes and publish them... 1. What criteria do you use to choose where to spend marketing dollars for new technology companies? Start with sales first. You need very little marketing in the beginning. They are the most productive form of research and recon for the market, because they're selling at the same time, adapting the message and learning what works. From this intelligence you build your foundation for the marketing plan and priorities. The bulls eye spend is on establishing outside credibility, typically through press and case studies. Also identify the customer objections from the sales team and work on overcoming those first. Finally, build and leverage partnerships. Leverage their spend and be associated with brands that are larger and more credible than yours (for now!). 2. What is the most efficient way to get... (04/21/08 09:01 AM)

Borders Books online. I typically buy my books from Amazon... way too many of them, but I digress. During a discussion the other day, the subject of Python (the programming language) came up and since I don't know Python I thought I'd see what I could find to learn more about it. I searched online and found a few good sources, however, I tend to learn best from books. I went to Amazon and found a couple of... (04/20/08 09:01 PM)

Which Proposal Would You Rather Evaluate?.

What do you see when you review your own proposals with an eye toward how they actually look (as opposed to how they read)? Do you have page after page of text without anything to break up lengthy series of paragraphs? How enticing can that be to the real reviewers who are going to decide whether or not your proposal will make the cut? Reading a proposal is not like reading a fascinating book. Because the language and content of a proposal is often dry and boring, you need to do whatever you can to get reviewers' attention and to make them want to keep reading. One of the best ways to do this is through the use of relevant and attractive graphics.

Some time ago, my friend Heidi wrote this post on "Getting Started With Proposal Graphics." She gives some good pointers about how to think about and use graphics in proposals even if you are not sure exactly what graphics you are going to use.

Now The Proposal Guys blog has an interview with the principal of a graphics design firm that specializes in proposal graphics. Years ago, such firms probably didn't even exist. But these days, we often have a limited number of pages in which to tell our proposal story and increased competition for funding. Thus, we need every edge we can get. And good proposal graphics in combination with a well-written proposal can give us that edge.

One of the things that I like best about this article is the graphic at the very top -- "which proposal would you rather evaluate?" If this doesn't make a compelling case for the use of graphics in proposals, I'm not sure what does.

So get out your crayons..

(04/18/08 09:01 AM)

New Book for Sales Leaders - and special offers.. time sensitive. My sales effectiveness colleague, and AllBusiness blogging colleague, Keith Rosen, has a great new book out today with a special promotion going on through 4/17. I heard about the book at the end of last year, and have been awaiting... (04/15/08 09:01 AM)

Government Grants and Free Money.

With the economy in bad shape like it is these days, many people are experiencing financial hardships. As a result, the scammers are out in force, advertising their books and CDs that promise free money from the government for everything from paying your bills to getting out of debt, and more.

I'm getting a boatload of emails from people who want me to help them write a letter to apply for a government free money grant. Many others write to say that they need the right form to apply for a grant or that they have written a proposal but don't know which government agency to send it to.

If you need help, you may be eligible for various types of government benefit programs, which are often called grants. Most of these programs are administered at the state and local levels. You don't need a special book to find them, and you don't need to write a letter or a proposal to apply. But you will probably have to meet certain income or other types of requirements, and you'll need to be realistic -- despite what the scammers and books tell you, the government is not going to give you a handful of free money to pay off your credit card bills.

Below is a list of categories of benefits and assistance offered by the government. You'll find this listing along with links to specific programs in your state as well as federal agency programs and other resources. Just click on the link to go to the website.

clipped from www.govbenefits.gov

Select categories of interest.

Select categories of interest. (Check all that apply)

Career Development Assistance Child care/Child support

Counsel/Counseling Disability assistance

Disaster relief Education/Training

Energy Assistance Food/Nutrition

Grants/Scholarships/Fellowships Healthcare

Housing Insurance

Living Assistance Loan/Loan repayment

Medicaid/Medicare Social Security

Tax Assistance Veterans-Active Duty

Volunteer opportunities

(04/14/08 09:00 AM)

Help Room to Read - Get mystery business books.

The team over at 800-CEO-READ have an awesome project in the works that benefits one of my favorite causes, Room to Read.

Here's the deal:

For $20.00 we are putting together a MYSTERY BOX of three business books. In this box you are guaranteed one title that either won, or made the shortlist for best book of 2007 in its category, and 2 other titles that were submitted for the awards. 100% of the purchase will go directly to Room to Read, and we'll cover the shipping on all orders. Get on board and help us make a difference!

To take part in this special offer, visit The 800-CEO-READ Mystery Box page: http://800ceoread.com/mysterybox

(04/04/08 09:00 PM)

Marketers and Automobile University.

I remember listening to a Zig Ziglar tape (yes, this was a while ago, college perhaps...~10 years ago) where he brought up the terms "automobile university". I've never forgotten that term and as I'm speaking to more and more diverse groups of marketers who tell me that they 'simply don't have time to read', I'm inclined to recommend that they too enroll in Automobile University.

Motivational speaker Zig Ziglar coined the term "Automobile University" to describe how time spent in traffic can be used to educate yourself on a variety of subjects. Using audiobooks in your car is a great way to learn almost anything from finance to philosophy, literature to languages. In a year, the average driver can learn about as much as a college student attending a year's worth of classes.

What's that, you ask? Well, if you're looking for the how-to, you can certainly read this super-helpful piece in e-how. Although, I think that by stating books on CD or podcasts and books on iPod are the likely the best learning devices for time-starved marketers and that listening to any of these in your car on the way to work, to a client or in the airport/on the plane is the best way to keep up on what's new in marketing.

The next question I get is "what should I be listening to?" Well, here's a few ideas:

1. Why don't more marketing authors release their books as audiobooks? Now, I'm not sure about the market dynamics of this (perhaps it's cost prohibitive?) but when you look for books with "Marketing" in the title in the audiobooks section of iTunes, you find only 39 titles. So, that's one place to start. Now, not every great marketing book has "marketing" in the title, but look at that list of books you should read that you've been sitting on for a while and see if you can't find a few of those in iTunes and download them.

2. There are GREAT marketing podcasts out there. There are over 200 podcasts on iTunes that are some how related to marketing, business or PR. You can only choose a few and still keep up a sane listening schedule. Here are a few good ones:
.....Joseph Jaffe's podcast
.....Duct Tape Marketing with John Jantsch
.....any of the other 200 or so podcasts in iTunes that trip your fancy

3. The AMA Marketing Matters Live radio show and podcasts. Great guests, a great host and solid interviews. Always timely and always helpful. A must listen!

(04/04/08 09:00 PM)

Purchase the Marketech '08 Marketing Technology Guide!.

$19.99

Marketech 08: Using Emerging Media in Marketing - eBook - $19.99

Today's service industry organizations depend on deeper and more relevant customer connections to drive loyalty, retention, referrals and reactivation within their coveted client base. These companies don't just need technology however, they need a systems perspective on how to integrate the ever changing world of social media, social networking and Web 2.0 into their core business infrastructure to meet their customers in their medium, now and in the future.

Purchase Now to Discover:

2008 Emerging Media Vehicles

How to Use New Media Vehicles to Your Advantage

The Latest Internet & Marketing Technologies that can Impact Your 2008 Marketing Plans

Your copy of the Marketech 08 Guide PDF will show you how to put these technologies to work for you.

This guide includes a service-organization perspective that will help you:

Utilize relevant marketing & customer service technologies that today's leading service organizations employ to connect with their customers. This includes an overview of tools from social networking via Facebook, organic corporate networks and customer community programs to communication vehicles like blogs, online video and podcasting.
Integrate with existing common customer loyalty, retention, referrals and reactivation initiatives.
Identify benefits and risks associated with these techniques and technologies such as lower cost to service and increased referrals vs. loss of central control and the increasing customer control of your brand reputation.
Discover who's doing this already examples and how is it working for them. We'll look at a myriad of case examples with learning's and action items than any organization can apply.

This eBook is available as an Instant Download in Adobe PDF *** Full disclosure: I wrote the e-book as part of a project for the AMA in late 2007 and retained the rights to publish. The response to the guide in my TechnoMarketing sessions and other speaking engagements has been so positive that I've decided to offer the item for sale.
(04/04/08 09:00 PM)

It's Done.

I finished my book proposal. Actually, it's not totally "my" proposal, since the book (if it ever comes about) will be written by me and a long-time colleague and friend. So we worked on it together and sent it off yesterday. We thought it looked pretty good, but what do we know? Neither of us has ever written a book proposal. It will be interesting to see what happens. I suspect it will be a while before we hear anything

This is a really busy time of year for us proposal people. The government's fiscal year ends on September 30, so agencies are often in a rush to spend their money. Thus, the release of many RFPs. I am getting numerous e-mails every day from people who need proposal help and, as usual, they are waiting until the last minute to get that help. I am already swamped with work, so I'm taking on very few new projects. In addition, I'm still waiting for three RFPs from two clients that I've committed time to. Plus, in a couple of weeks I'll be starting on the next phase of my workplan project. In the middle of all this, I'll be taking a few days off to go to Maine with my husband who will be attending a conference there. Lobster!!

Yesterday, a client who I haven't heard from for about 5 years called. In fact, she called four times. I wasn't answering the phone because I was working on the book proposal and didn't want to be interrupted. But she left messages. Apparently she needs a proposal done for a local government agency here in Maryland -- pretty much the same kind of thing that I've helped her with before. But she is somewhat difficult to work with, and with my current workload I don't know if I will really have the time. Still, I hate saying "no" to existing clients, although I'm not sure I would consider her an existing client after a gap of 5 years.

I just need to have more hours in a day.

(02/21/08 09:01 PM)

10 Elements of Sustained Greatness. Last week I attended and spoke at the Word of Mouth Marketing Summit hosted by WOMMA in Las Vegas (get the presentations here). The conference this year had great energy. Keynotes by Richard Tait of Cranium and Jeff Bell of Microsoft Xbox were inspirational. And it was much more executional-focused than previous years’, perhaps because of the focus on social technologies / online. Many conversations -- which I get very interested in -- were around the cultural aspects of word of mouth. What does it take to succeed years beyond ‘the launch’? One night, in the Rio hotel room, I watched a documentary on Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini (boxer), a champion boxer. He said, “It is very hard to get to the top, but it is even harder to stay there.” I would assert that the hype of ‘being on top’ or the ‘coolest new thing’ for a person, topic or company usually lasts no more than 2 years. Toys is the best example. Think of Cabbage Patch Dolls, Pet Rock, Tickle Me Elmo…the hype for these lasted less than two years. It is the rare entity that can sustain greatness. But it happens for companies like USAA and Costco who keep a watchful eye on customer satisfaction. Or for entertainers, like Madonna, who sustain their visibility and music through reinvention every two to three years. Or books like Blink and Good to Great stay on the best sellers list because of their timeless wisdom and application. The ingredients to... (11/19/07 09:01 PM)

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A Great Book Recommendation for Anyone in Sales. Excerpted from Selling Power's Sales Management Newsletter, 9/4/2007, Fifty Experts Share their Secrets, by Heather Baldwin - "Wouldn't it be great if you could tap into the expertise of 50 top sales gurus without the cost of hiring them all?... (10/12/07 09:01 AM)

Five Classic Business Books and Others Worth Note. Todd, over at 1800CEOREAD offers this great post called, Five Business Book Classics - The Essay. Those five should certainly be on all our bookshelves. What, no cheese? (See below) On a somewhat related note - books - Dwayne offers... (08/30/07 09:01 AM)

Middle Management Same Old Same Old?. I have been digging into some of my older books this week - mostly from the 70s and 80s. And you know what? Not much has changed. Sure, sure, HOW we communicate has changed. Have we changed WHAT we communicate?... (08/30/07 09:01 AM)

Organizational Culture. I am writing a chapter on organization culture and I thought I would share two interesting quotes from Edgar Schein's book, Organization Culture and Leadership. Schein is a pioneer in the field of Organization Development.“I will argue that the term... (08/30/07 09:01 AM)

Free Pens Anyone?. *** UPDATE ***** With the inquiries I have gotten this morning, I think I can find loving homes for all my excess pens. Thanks so much!I over did it when I ordered pens to give away during my motorcycle book... (08/30/07 09:01 AM)

XPLANE reprints Robert Horn’s classic book, “Visual Language”. http://xplane.server101.com/product.php?productid=4&cat=1&page=1 (08/29/07 09:00 PM)

Links for 2007-08-16 [del.icio.us].

Hitwise Intelligence - US: New York Times Select Rumor - Data Perspective
Data showing traffic to NYTimes Select declining and drawing a less desirable demographic than the free NYTimes.com.
Tech Trader Daily - Barron’s Online : Dell Confesses It Was Cooking The Books
Makes you wonder of this is why former CEO Kevin Rollins stepped down.

(08/17/07 09:01 AM)

Disruptors Video: Not Your Typical Rental Car (Zipcar). Most people associate rental cars with airports and travel. But Boston-based Zipcar is trying to turn the car-rental equation on its head. It targets urban dwellers who need a car for a few hours at a time to run an errand, go out on a date, or get groceries. Using the Web, the cellular data network, and RFID cards for entry into the vehicles, Zipcar has created a self-serve car rental business that is targeting not so much the Avises of the world as it is the very concept of car ownership. Since Zipcar members, who now number more than 100,000 in 23 cities, book and pick up their own cars, the company can manage its fleet of cars much more efficiently than incumbent car-rental agencies. (Zipcar can manage nearly twice as many cars per employee as Avis, for instance). It is on track to make $60 million in revenues this year, and says it is profitable in its four largest established markets (Boston, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.) The downside to Zipcar's distributed network of cars sprinkled throughout residential neighborhoods is that there might not be a car available on the weekend when you want it. Or if the car you reserved is broken or dirty, you might be stuck without an alternative. Zipcar is trying to mitigate against such scenarios by clustering its cars together in denser packs. I visited Zipcar CEO Scott Griffith to learn more in this week's episode of the New Disruptors (video).... (08/02/07 09:00 PM)

The Way To Wealth: The best business book is also the shortest. http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/503-the-way-to-wealth-the-best-business-book-is-also-the-shortest (07/06/07 09:00 AM)

114 Reasons Austin is Great. So I'm on Facebook now -- which I highly recommend...but that's a separate post -- and saw a new group called Austin, TX is the shit. I was compelled to click through. I'm already a member of the Austin, TX group so I'm not sure I'll join this one, however, in the description for this group they host listed reasons that, in his words, Austin is the shinizzle... I liked the list and it's a good to do list of things to go, where to eat, things to do in Austin: 37th street milto's sandy's hut's mangia auditorium shores taco cabana the paramount rounder's south congress guero's town lake barton springs thundercloud juan in a million the omeletry dobie deep eddy ken's spiderhouse adams park mrs. johnson's hyde park (bar grill) vulcan dan's/fran's austin's pizza waterloo zilker park stubbs little city acl town lake the bats the hook up (now smoke n o's) magnolia toy joy book people the chronicle leslie how are you sxsw mount bonnell kerbey lane the alamo drafthouse amy's hancock golf course the heart hospital the capitol the railroad tracks sno-beach freebird's the arboretum jim-jims casey's 6th street cheapo texicali crazy maria's 360 bridge pretty much any city park the drag threadgill's el rancho the ut tower your high school the oasis hamilton pool mr. natural el azteca lake travis the velveeta room austin java company mozart's texas french bread antone's saxon pub the restaurants on barton springs road freddie's las manitas whole foods central market... (07/05/07 09:00 PM)

Review of The New Influencers. I just finished reading The New Influencers by Paul Gillin. The book is best summarized by Seth Godin's quote on the cover: This is essential reading for anyone who missed the blogging train when it left the station. The book gave a good overview of the market dynamics, current state, and principles of blogging. I enjoyed the case studies, examples, statistics and stories. I'd suggest this book for any manager or senior executive who doesn't get social media. It is probably too basic for those in this space, but the stories and statistics are helpful references.... (06/24/07 09:01 PM)

Favorite interview questions to ask?. I'm getting ready to interview some people and was wondering what are some of your favorite interview questions? Ones that I really like to ask are: 1.) Tell me about the last 3 books you read 2.) Tell me how you handled a difficult situation at work? 3.) What moment are you least proud of? 4.) What moment are you most proud of? Sort of typical, sadly, however I'm looking more at generating a conversation... (04/27/07 09:01 PM)

Portable e-Book Reader To Be The iPod For Books. If you are at all like me you consume books quite voraciously. Books, and education in general I believe are part of the key to a successful life and meeting goals. When it comes to small business books have taught me some of the most important lessons and provide me with a lot of motivation. If you are a fan of Star Trek like me (go on, admit it) you will be quite familiar with the little pads that have replaced the paperback book we know currently. Paper books still exist in the Star Trek universe but for most everyday... (04/06/07 09:01 AM)

Free download of ONE chapter. Author Stefan Engeseth today made the first chapter of his upcoming book ONE (about consumer power) available for download. It's well worth a read -- Stefan mixes high and low, deep and shallow. He's the kind of writer that makes you think, whether you agree or not. (04/06/07 09:01 AM)

Career Tip #15: Never Eat Alone. Stealing the Keith Ferazzi's book title and principle by the same name, Never Eat Alone is a great principle for career growth (in addition to personal growth). Early in my career I took inter-office relationships for granted, eating lunch at my desk during those busy dot com days in South-of-Market San Francisco. However, one of my peers always ate lunch with others, and was inviting groups of people to lunch. I had two or three key relationships and she had 20. The relationships she built mattered made a difference in her ability to get things done with others. The better relationships you have inside your organization, the more you can get done…and the more people will talk about you (see Sound bytes tip) or defend you. In addition to inter-office relationships, consider eating with people outside your work. Get new perspectives. Network with people in your industry, and in your city. Your career, whether inside your company or out, is highly dependent on who you know and who you GET to know. Lunch, even if you pay, is worth the investment. I’ve had lunches with former colleagues who wanted to network outside their company. However, very few of them take action on this idea. They get stuck networking within their own company. Yet when they’re ready to move to the next game, they realize they don’t know anyone. Experts believe only 10-20% of jobs filled are ever publicized. Most jobs are placed from relationships. Over half the people hired into... (01/27/07 09:00 PM)

Snowflakes. The other day, I heard a parent wistfully point out that kids never act just the way they say they will in all those parenting books. What to Expect? Not really. Sort of like snowflakes, they're all different. Organizations are... (01/09/07 09:01 AM)

Big and small. I just finished the last pass on my new book, which is out in May. I'm not going to talk about it in public for a while, but I'm creating two lists for people who might want advance word on... (01/08/07 09:01 PM)

Odds and Ends. New blogging platform Terapad.com - Beyond Blogging.New book: Duct Tape MarketingHUB roundtable on innovation (PDF)Only 9 slots left in my next seminar. Great cheap novel (should be a movie): Geek MafiaHappy anniversary to the Moleskinerie. Maybe not so odd...... (01/08/07 09:01 AM)

Working Smart: The Death of Traditional Book Publishing. Link: Working Smart: The Death of Traditional Book Publishing. You've way over-specced your hypothetical device. Ipod isn't a general purpose palmtop! A book reader device should be as simple as could possibly work. Reads HTML, PDFs, DOCs and TXTs, displays... (12/12/06 08:47 AM)

Invest an hour. It'll pay big dividends. Ben and Jackie's new book pubs today: Church of the Customer Blog.... (12/12/06 08:47 AM)

iPod Garage : iPod, iTunes, and Music : News, Commentary, and Reviews : Switch to the iPod Garage - So you Wanna Start Video Podcasting. Link: iPod Garage : iPod, iTunes, and Music : News, Commentary, and Reviews : Switch to the iPod Garage - So you Wanna Start Video Podcasting. Thanks to all the people who have bought my new book and downloaded the... (12/12/06 08:47 AM)

The Book Proposal.

So the lady from the book publishing company (see my previous entry) asked me to submit a book proposal. Specifically, she said I needed to include a working table of contents, information on my background, the perceived audience for the book and their needs, and any marketing promotional activities I would undertake to promote the book. She ended the e-mail with "well, you know how to write a proposal, so..."

OK, yes, I do know how to write a proposal. But somehow, a book proposal seems very different and more intimidating. A friend who wrote a book recommended that I purchase a book called "Write the Perfect Book Proposal" by Jeff Herman. So I picked it up at Borders. It's a very good book and it includes 10 sample book proposals.

But yikes! All of the sample book proposals include quite a bit more info than what the book publishing lady told me. Specifically, they all include fairly detailed summaries of each chapter of the proposed book. Some even include an actual sample chapter. I have come up with a fairly detailed table of contents for the book, but now I have to prepare chapter summaries! And the book I bought says that these should be 1-2 pages each. Since "my book" has 18 chapters, that's maybe 27 pages of text. How do people get time to work on stuff like this in between their other work?

Plus, I need what the book calls a "catchy title" and "catchy chapter titles." I wonder how long it will take to think those up.

All I can think of now is "why did I ever agree to do this?"

(12/12/06 08:42 AM)

It's Done.

I just need to have more hours in a day.

(12/12/06 08:42 AM)

In a Funk.

I haven't been blogging because I've been bogged down with things to do -- both work and home-related -- and I've been in sort of a funk about it. On the home side, we've been doing some major decluttering of one of our bedrooms. Up to now, my husband the packrat has refused to get rid of his zillion or so computer and hobby magazines, old college textbooks and who knows what, that he kept in that room and never looked at. Finally I convinced him, and it has taken us weeks to get rid of all that stuff. We now have to get the windows and lighting in the room replaced, and it is not easy to find home contractors that are willing to do small jobs.

On the work front, yes, I've been working on several different projects, none of which is really worth blogging about. I am still waiting for three RFPs to come out for two of my clients, and I'm waiting for my workplan client to return from overseas so that I can get going on the next phase of that project. And I've barely begun on the book proposal because I can't really seem to get excited about it. But I did promise to submit it, so I'm planning to spend the next couple of days and the weekend working on it.

It's just one of those in-a funk periods that seem to creep up on you every so often.

(12/12/06 08:42 AM)

Culturally Customized Website. I read a very interesting book on my flight yesterday - 'The Culturally Customized Website' (website | Amazon). I almost wanted to call the book an eye opener, however, I knew that I know very little about localization, which is why I wanted to read it, and this book reinforced that. This is the first of 3 books that I'm reading on the subject about internationalizing websites. The other two are: Beyond Borders: Web Globalization... (12/12/06 08:04 AM)

Interaction Design... and... . Just got done reading Designing for Interaction: Creating Smart Applications and Clever Devices. The book, as stated in most of the comments on Amazon, is a "wonderful introduction to the field of Interaction Design". The book is great and if you're interested in learning more about how to create a great product OR service (that's right, you can design services as well - think process design, redesign, reengineering, etc.) I highly suggest checking this book... (12/12/06 08:04 AM)