December 2015 – Page 3

Disasters And Outsourcing Promotion

One of my buddies,
not having time to promote,
outsourced the promotion
of her latest release
to a marketing company.

She was horrified to discover
that this marketing company
promoted her book
on Facebook and Twitter
the morning after the Paris attacks.

She received hundreds of messages
from readers
accusing her of being insensitive.
They vowed never to buy her books again.
She lost many more readers
than she gained.

The world is connected.
We might live in the U.S.
or Russia or wherever
but we feel for the people
in any disaster area.

Disasters WILL happen.

As business builders,
we need to know
a) when marketing is scheduled
to go live
and
b) how to stop this marketing
in case there’s a disaster.

Don’t outsource promotion
and then forget about it.

Timing Of Product Releases

The days between
US Thanksgiving and December 25th
are terrible for eBook sales.
Most people are spending
their disposable income
on presents for others
and eBooks are difficult to wrap.

Knowing this,
my last eBook release of the year
happened in early November.
I promoted the pre-orders heavily
for two months
before my release date.
This release sold well.

One of my buddies,
in contrast,
sells mostly in print.
Print books make excellent presents.
She released her print book
shortly after Thanksgiving
and has been promoting her heart out.
Her release is also selling well.

WHEN you release a product
has an impact on your sales.
Put thought into it.
Know when your competitors are releasing,
what distractions your customers
might be experiencing.

Timing is an important part
of every product release.

Contributing Vs Spamming

Facebook has been cracking down
on posts in groups.
If you post the same message
in multiple groups,
you’ll likely end up in Facebook ‘jail’,
prevented from posting in groups
for X number of days.

Because you’re spamming these groups.

Writers argue that they aren’t.
They’re sharing news
about their book releases.

But they aren’t addressing the specific group.
They aren’t referring to pinned posts
or commenting on what other people have shared.
They aren’t saying hi to the moderator
or starting conversations.
Often they don’t even respond to comments.

They’re sharing the same message over and over.
That’s spam
and it should be treated like spam.

It really isn’t that difficult
to move from spamming a group
to contributing to a group.
It can be as easy as
adding another line to the post,
a line that means something to the group.

Make that extra effort
to contribute.

Being Overlooked

A writer recently wrote an article
for a high profile blog,
the topic being my niche
in romance.
She mentioned every prominent
(and many not-so-prominent)
book in that niche
except for mine.

It was a deliberate oversight.
Whenever I’ve post something
in the past
to a new-to-me group,
she hops on the horn
and rants about
‘newcomers’ to the genre
(not realizing that,
although I took a break from that genre,
I have many more books published
in it
than she has.)

What did I do about the oversight?

I posted a comment on her article,
mentioning several more
lesser known stories in the niche.

I was her only commenter.

Clearly hoping for more comments,
she posted in some groups.
No replies.
I then posted a comment on those posts
about how it was a great article
(other than the oversight of my story,
it truthfully was).
This boasted the visibility of the posts.
Many more people then commented.

Two things happened
— I ensured my name
was linked to the article
and to the niche
and I showed her support
when no one else did.

I doubt I’ll be overlooked again.

You and your business
will only be overlooked
if you allow you/it to be.

The Power You Hold

One of my marketing buddies
truly believes in tolerance.
She shows mixed race
or mixed culture families
in most of her advertising campaigns.

It can be as subtle
as a photograph on a desk
or seating two children of different races
at a family table.

At first, it was shocking.
Now, many marketers do the same,
and very few people complain.
(there’s always someone complaining
about everything)
It is seem as ‘normal.’

You have this power also.
You’re marketing your product
AND making a difference
in society,
merely by the images you choose.

Are your models a mixture of body types?
Then you’re communicating
that all body types are acceptable.
Are your actors always wearing suits?
Then you’re communicating
that white collared jobs are ‘normal.’

You’re making a difference in the world.
Ensure it is the difference you want
to make.

The Appeal Of Star Wars

Kathleen Kennedy,
President of Lucasfilm,
shares
in the November/December
The Costco Connection,

“I think that really great storytelling
emanates from a single point of view.
I think when George created Star Wars,
it was deeply personal to him
and he was drawing on things
that really mattered to him
at the time.
Then, over time, as he got older,
those ideas began to expand
in the touchstones
that he was trying to incorporate
in the storytelling.”

“When we look for
other filmmakers to come in,
I’m usually looking for somebody
who has got that strong personal connection
to Star Wars.

And they bring
their own personal point of view to it
and their own personal passion.
Because if you don’t have that,
then the decisions you’re making along the way
aren’t authentic.”

Hmmm… that sounds like traits
all business founders should look for
in both management and employees.

Hire for passion.

Commenting As The Other

I was reading a business blog
written by a male.
He talked about
an employee being emotional.
Although it was a vague example,
he made that employee female,
using ‘she’ instead of ‘he’.

He’s male.
His default should have been
and often is male.
(We all have met
some over emotional men.)
I felt he deliberately
made the employee female
because the issue dealt with emotions.

That’s sexism.
Pure and simple.
It is reinforcing a harmful stereotype.

As a woman,
I can share brutal truths
about my gender
that men cannot.

I can say things like…
“Don’t wear skirts
if you work for
a manufacturing company.”
If a man said that,
he’d be accused of being sexist.

If we make a comment or judgment
about a group we don’t belong to,
we set ourselves up
to be viewed as
one of the ‘ists
(sexist, racist, ageist, etc).
We’ll be perceived as having an agenda
and not one that is supportive
of that group.

Be very careful
about using negative examples from
or making negative comments about
another group.

Being Lost

You will never know
everything about
anything you do
or any decision you make.
There will always be gaps
in your knowledge.

However,
if these gaps are HUGE,
if you realize
you don’t know what the f*ck
you’re doing,
if you are facing an adversary
who DOES know what the f*ck
she’s doing,
enlist help.

If an experienced someone
volunteers to help,
that’s super.
If she doesn’t,
consider paying for
or bartering for
her help.

There are billions of people
on this planet.
Some of these people
are experts
in whatever it is
you’re struggling with.

You don’t have to face this
alone.

Messy First Drafts

My first draft of any piece of writing
(blog posts, novels, marketing copy)
is messy.
It has everything I can think of
in it.
It is complicated, convoluted,
uses three words where one would do,
might be over the top emotional.

I dump everything on the page
(or screen).
My thoughts.
My emotions.
It is raw and harsh.

Then I simplify.
I look at the core message,
the core emotion,
and carve away anything
that doesn’t belong.
I make it as simple as possible
without losing that message,
that emotion.

Why do I craft my writing
this way?

Because it is easier
to dial it back,
to remove things and thoughts,
than it is to add them.

It’s okay if your first draft
of any writing
is messy.
It is merely the start.

Involving Others In Disagreements

One of my upper manager buddies
is battling Human Resources
because a co-worker complained
that he called her ‘hon’.

This buddy didn’t know
this bothered her.
He would have stopped
if she had addressed it.
(I know because he stopped
when I, as a friend, addressed it.)

Their relationship would have changed
but it would have survived.
This friend would likely have
respected her even more
for standing up
for what she wanted.
(This happened with us.)

Instead of talking to him directly,
however,
she went to Human Resources.
This destroyed not only
her relationship with the manager
but it will likely destroy
her relationship with everyone else.

Everyone now knows
that if she has an issue with anything,
she’ll involve Human Resources
(and, by doing that,
the rest of the company).

Once you involve others
in an issue or disagreement
(without first talking to that person),
you’re destroying relationships
and trust.
Forever.

Think before you do this.