I got sucked into a project
in July
and did not commit the marketing time
I should have
to promoting my novel.
My sales sunk like a stone.
Marketing for a fledging venture
is NOT a nice-to-do,
it is a must-do.
Don’t do it
and you’ll see the reflection
in sales.
Make time for marketing.
Tackling challenges are a have-to-do
for all entrepreneurs
but some love it.
“Every time we have had a serious challenge,
looking back,
it was an opportunity for great growth
that would not have happened
had we not had that challenge.
So I welcome challenges today.
I really do.
Consider it pure joy,
that’s how I feel about challenges.
They give us character.
They help refine us and give us strength
and make us better.
And if we’re not having challenges,
we’re not trying hard enough.
We’re not pushing.
We’re not growing.”
Are you having challenges?
On one of the big romance blogs,
there was a recent round of posts
on why the bloggers
(often publicity seeking authors)
are no longer interested
in reading romance.
Did I mention this was a romance blog?
A blog where romance lovers gather?
The response was not favorable.
Yes, being in your face
and confrontational
is a way to sell products.
However, this approach works best
with young males,
not female romance readers.
Don’t fight with female fans.
I held a contest
promoting my novel.
Some of the winners
were contest hounds.
Do I mind?
Not at all.
Yes, they enter any contest.
Yes, they don’t care particularly about my novel.
However, when they win,
they like to boast about it.
They post my book title with author name
on websites and forums.
They tell their friends.
They show off their win.
Great advertising.
I received an email today
with To: line
one hundred emails long.
I was ticked.
Why?
Because my email was sent to 99 strangers.
Because my connection to this person
was broadcast to 99 strangers.
Because I felt she disrespected our relationship.
She immediately got dropped from my contact list.
I will hesitate to do business with her again.
Contacts are fragile.
Protect them.
An author has been complaining bitterly
about her publisher
on all the public forums and blogs.
She wonders now
why her publisher won’t return
her emails.
It should be no surprise.
Public complaining
is one of the worst things
a business partner can do.
It signals the end of a
professional relationship.
It could signal the end of ALL
professional relationships
as partnering
with the complainer
means a very real risk to the brand.
Think before you complain in public.
Sean Diddy Combs
in an interview on Ellen
explained why he has a portfolio
of ‘jobs.’
Coming from the Bronx,
he said
“we’re like hustlers
and we always have five or six jobs.”
“That’s the way I was raised.”
Most entrepreneurs
apply the lessons in one field
to others.
They also work hard.
Are you a hustler?
A study by
Martin Holzwarth, Chris Janiszewski,
and Marcus Neumann
shows that websites with avatars
(virtual characters)
have a higher satisfaction rate
than websites without.
As with real salespeople,
the better looking the avatar,
the higher the consumer satisfaction.
Consider adding a virtual salesperson
to your team.
Magazine Baron Felix Dennis
believes that within every successful entrepreneur,
there is a ‘sliver of ice’,
a ruthlessness
that allows his/her company to survive.
“There is only so much pie to go around.
If you’re going to take more
than your fair share of pie,
as socialists would look at it,
then someone else is not getting his.
That means you’ve got
to take it away from them.”
I know every sale I make
takes away a sale from someone else.
That is part of the game.
Baby boomers
(individuals born from 1947 to 1966)
as a target market
is tempting.
They are in their peak wealth building years
and aren’t afraid to spend money.
Do NOT treat them as seniors, however.
Boomer expert Lina Ko
cautions marketers to watch
their language when talking with boomers.
Older boomers are NOT senior citizens.
They are leading edge boomers.
They do NOT retire.
They reinvent themselves.