Laying The Base First

I am busy loading a year’s worth
of posts on my photo travel blog.
Last week, I loaded half a year’s worth.
This week, I will load the second half.

I’m in the home stretch
and I’m tempted to add bells and whistles,
the fancy stuff
that adds value
but isn’t entirely necessary.

I’m resisting.
Why?
Because I have to lay the base first.
THEN when or if
I have time,
I can go back and add features.

Build your basic product.
Do your basic marketing.
Get the job requested done.

THEN add the special little touches
that will wow and amaze your customers.

Sharing Your Name With The Infamous

Tungsten Branding Blog
has a great post
on when you should consider rebranding.

One of the signs?

Bad company
(When You Share Your Name
With Unsavory Subjects)

One of my romance writing buddies
shares a name with a school trustee.
This school trustee recently got arrested
for unsavory acts with minors.
My buddy is being flooded with
hostile emails, comments,
and internet traffic.

She has a choice.
She can either stick it out
or
she can change her name
(i.e. rebrand).

In her case,
it makes sense to stick it out.
Her infamous other will only
be in the spotlight for a short duration,
and the notoriety is limited
to a small geographic location.

The world is small.
You will eventually share your brand name
with another person/event/object
that hits the news.
Think now how you would deal with it.

Published
Categorized as Marketing

Gene Simmons, BBC, And History

One of the many things
that separates Gene Simmons Family Jewels
from other reality celebrity shows
is the home movies shown.
The lives of the kids
have been documented
since birth.
This history can’t be duplicated.

The BBC has been showing
animal documentaries
for… well… for forever.
They have thousands of hours
of quality content.
What to do with it?
Some very creative people
have added hilarious voiceovers
to the animal videos.
It is one of the hottest clips on YouTube.
Same video, new content.
(Notice the branding)

Another hot trend on YouTube
is the premakes
of current movie trailers
using classic Disney content.
Why Disney content?
Again, because of the years of history.
This is NOT done by Disney
but it should have been.

You don’t need a hundred years of history
to reuse content.
I have a photo blog with over 8,000 photos.
Clearly when I need images,
I reuse the old content
on the photo blog.

The past doesn’t have to stay
in the past.
If you have history,
dust off those old products,
images, content,
and see if you can reuse it
in a fresh, creative way.

What You Should Be Doing

Psychiatrist Edward Hallowell states
there are five steps to peak performance.

The first step is Select.
What is select?

“A person needs to first figure out
what it is they should be doing.
It is the intersection of three elements
—what they’re good at,
what they like,
and
what adds value to the organization or world.
All of the other steps are based
on this first pivotal step.”

When I first contemplated writing romances,
I was wary.
I knew I LIKED writing romances.
I didn’t know if I was GOOD at writing romances.
So I entered a contest,
and, in that first contest,
I placed second.

I had two of the three.
I was good at it,
and I liked it.
That left
“Would my romance writing
add value to the world?”
In other words,
would people perceive my writing
to be of such value,
that they’d pay for it.

My first product,
traditional romances with a business slant,
flopped.
Sales were low.
They didn’t add value.

My next product,
steamier paranormal romances,
sold.
They DID add value.
Now I have the three.
I love what I do,
I’m good at it (and getting better),
AND what I do adds value.

Do you love what you do?
Are you good at it?
Does what you do add value?
If the answers to any of these questions are no,
your present role may not be the right one
for you.

The Art Of Conversation

An author sent out a message
to a bunch of reader loops,
saying that she was on a chat
by herself
and wanted some company.

I didn’t know her,
but I thought it would be a nice thing
to stop by and chat with her.

I asked questions
(the usual questions that many readers ask me)
and received one word answers.
I didn’t get any of the normal
“what do you think of my answer/genre/hero?”
reply questions back.

So I left,
which is likely what the other readers/writers did,
leaving the author to talk to herself again.

Conversation is give and take.
You answer a question,
and then you ask the other person a question.
“How are you?”
“Fine, and how are you?”
If the questions all flow one way,
then it becomes an interview,
rather than a conversation.

There’s a reason why
we call conversation an art.
It takes practice and effort and skill.
Master it
and you’ll never be sending emails,
begging for people to show up at your chats.

Published
Categorized as Marketing

Invest More Upfront

Cosmopolitan has an article
on what to say
to get what you want.

Their advice for getting special treatment
from a bartender?

“Overtip for your first drink,
be sure he/she sees what you’re handing over,
and say with a smile,
“Be good to me.”
By the time you order your second round,
your tipping will even out
but your service will be so much better.”

I do this with new business gigs.
I work like a demon
those first few months.

I do this while traveling.
I’ll leave a good tip EVERY morning,
not just when I’m checking out.

I even do this while blogging.
I’ll start a new blog
with a few dozen posts or more.

Invest MORE at the start
of your relationship
with your boss, prospect, reader.
First impressions do count.

Published
Categorized as Marketing

Negative Comment Spam

Comment spam is a given with blogging,
and most of it
is very easy to spot.

The comments go something like this…
“Nice Job.
I’m been looking for this information for a long time.
Many posts are difficult to read
but the way you write
makes it easy to understand.”
blah, blah, blah.

It is usually flattering and positive
and even I get tempted sometimes to approve it.

The latest trend in comment spam
I have no temptation to approve
and that is negative comment spam.
It goes something like this…
“I know what you are trying to say
but I disagree.
You have your facts wrong.
The real information is
(unrelated link).”

It is negative,
and puts down the blogger’s post
and I have NO inclination
to approve that spam.

I understand what the spammer is trying to do.
She is hoping to capture
the readers who are looking for another viewpoint.
The problem with this strategy
is that the comment won’t get past the gatekeeper.

Gatekeepers ARE important.
They can either squash or support
your marketing strategy.

Published
Categorized as Marketing

Looking For Reasons

A loved one doesn’t like to travel.
Her husband loves to travel.
Two years ago,
this loved one ‘dreamed’
that if she traveled,
she would die.
She told the husband
“If I travel, I’ll die.
Would you rather
we travel now,
or we live a long life together?”
Of course, the husband said the latter,
and they haven’t traveled since.

That’s the thing.
If you want a reason
to do something
or a reason
NOT do something,
you will find one…
even if it is based on a dream.

Stop with the reasons/excuses already.
Figure out what you want,
plot out how to get it,
and then GO for it.

It sounds simple,
because it IS.
The only thing stopping you is YOU.