Purple Cow Transforming Your Business By Being Remarkable by Seth Godin

Purple Cow Transforming Your Business By Being Remarkable by Seth Godin

Seth Godin is a motivational speaker about business. His focus is on marketing goods and services. He does not just talk about marketing; he also has created a social network, Squidoo http://www.squidoo.com as well as a very popular blog http://www.sethgodin.com . His focus is on being exceptional and different. He is the most popular marketing blogger on the internet.

In his words, a "purple cow" is a remarkable thing to see. Of course, it is also a Mother Goose nursery rhyme which many people remember as well from their childhood, "I never saw a purple cow, I hope, I never see one, but I'd rather see than be one."

Mr. Godin combines an ethic of showmanship with a very straightforward style. The message is easy to follow in this book; produce a remarkable unique product, find the early adopters who will sell your product by word of mouth, and try and create a strategy that others have a hard time following.

He urges people to take risks, because people are no longer paying attention to the tried and true methods of advertising. Television and radio do not catch peoples attention as easily. Most everyones basic wants and needs have been met. You must create a unique message with strong knowledge of what you are selling. His statements are quite compelling. They sound like common sense.

Seth Godin's examples are of newer companies; Starbucks, Krispy Kreme, Jet Blue, Ben and Jerry's, Apple Computer, Google, and Yahoo. His pitch seems to come right out of new media.

He consistently combines design with marketing. If you look at the cover of the book, Purple Cow, it is bright purple with white splotches and a picture of a cow on the front of the book. The book itself is well laid out with black and white pictures and very simple charts. There is a list of very prominent companies in the back of the book which would appeal to most business people.

This book is entertaining, focused, well designed, full of snappy writing, and not boring.

Marketing Without Advertising Easy Ways To Build A Business Your Customers Will Love & Recommend by Michael Phillips & Salli Rasberry, 6th Edition

Marketing Without Advertising Easy Ways To Build A Business Your Customers Will Love & Recommend by Michael Phillips & Salli Rasberry, 6th Edition

This book is how to attract and keep customers without buying advertising. It claims it is better to do your own marketing and create an atmosphere where customers will come back and use your business repeatedly. Advertising is often deceptive and can lead to bad publicity.

The book suggests that you should buy listings in places like the phone book and get your name listed in as many places as possible instead of spending money on advertisements. In addition to buying listings, you should create your own customer lists and market directly to them.

There is a focus on creating customer recommendations and testimonials. Some ways they suggest to do this are to keep a clean site, make your business conform to industry standards, and build a theme which customers can identify with. It is important to be consistent and treat people fairly.

There are tips on how to create an honest, open business which people can trust. This includes descriptions on how to identify the business you are in and make clear statements about your purpose.

A central idea is that more hand holding equals more customers and better information leads to more sales. Several examples of information which can help a business like how to create an informational video, make business labels, and make easy to read signs that explain what you do are given.

The book also covers technology. It reminds you that it is important to have an email account, join listservs, have a newsletter, build a website, and offer marginal additions like bookmarks and fliers to keep people informed.

The book taught me something new there are three types of marketing. Peer to peer marketing is where you market your business to colleagues. Direct marketing is where you market your business directly to customers, and parallel marketing is where you invite similar institutions to work with you.

This books shows how to build a business without using deception and without investing in advertisements. The pattern which is explained here is based on honesty, integrity, personal recommendations, and useful information. The publishers of this book, Nolo very much fit this mold.

There are a number of different ideas like creating a calendar of events, making brochures, and creating displays which are discussed in this book. If you want to get ideas on how to build a business based on building your own client base without outside advertising this book will be very useful. I think I learned a few things from reading it.

Ad Nauseam A Survivor's Guide To American Consumer Culture Edited by Carrie Mclaren and Jason Torchinsky

Ad Nauseam A Survivor's Guide To American Consumer Culture Edited by Carrie Mclaren and Jason Torchinsky

This book is a compilation of essays from the magazine Stay Free. These essays are critiques of American consumer cultue. They focus on various subjects in advertising covering such topics as the history of medical quackery in advertising, corporate culture, advertising techniques, and other anti-consumerist topics. Many of the essays are quite funny. There is a mix of history, criticism, surveys, interviews, photographs, and pranks.

There is quite a bit on how advertising effects our daily lives. For example the reason we cannot get free glasses of water at restaurants without asking is because of the recent trend selling bottled water. Also, advertising has moved into our schools with pictures of candy in our textbooks and jury selection being effected by television shows like Miami Vice and L.A. Law.

The book is helpful if you want to immunize yourself from impulse buying. The advertising tactics of raw emotional appeal, pictures instead of words, and convincing people consumption is automatically good are critiqued. We learn how advertisers created an emphasis halitosis and dry skin as well as many other modern maladies.

The best thing about this book is the humor. There is a very funny article on the history of "Subliminal Seduction" debunking it. The article makes reference to the book, The Clam Bake Orgy by Wilson Brian Key one of the silliest books I have ever read.

There are black and white pictures throughout the book. Some of the better ones are the Marlboro baby and a tattoo of the Nikes logo on a persons ankle. In addition to pictures there are quizzes at the end of some chapters.

This was an entertaining and informative book to read. It might turn off some people with its anti-suv, prank lovng, privacy oriented, remove all ads from school political correctness, but if you want to convince your dog to love your ipod this is the book for you.

The Visible Librarian Asserting Your Value With Marketing And Advocacy by Judith A. Siess

The Visible Librarian Asserting Your Value With Marketing And Advocacy by Judith A. Siess

This book is about marketing, public relations, and advocacy for libraries. The author uses examples from all types of libraries to show how marketing can improve the visibility of libraries and librarians. If libraries are not visible and do not speak up they do not get funded.

Judith A. Siess includes customer service and community relations as part of marketing. It is up the librarian to market their services because they know the library best. The book gives many examples of different forms of marketing including brochures, newsletters, business cards, open houses, surveys, press releases, websites, email, bulletin boards and display cases.

The book is an introductory text. It is the first steps in promoting a library. Not enough libraries promote themselves well. If you are just begining it would be very helpful. The writing is very concise, but a bit dry. There is an index and footnotes. I was hoping for something a little more creative.

Twitter

Twitter

I am finding twitter to be an excellent marketing tool. Tonight I went through some of the more popular blogs which follow me and checked to see if there were followers of their sites which I might want to follow. I know, it seems indiscriminate, but I think of twitter as a way to announce yourself to the world.

I also took a few minutes to subscribe to all the batman characters on twitter. DC is doing a marketing campaign for the Dark Knight. I found a few other comic book characters mixed in with the batman characters, Superman, Green Lantern, and Tony Stark. The batman characters talk to each other on twitter.

Some of the things which I use twitter for are:

1) Write short haiku or poetry.
2) Post quotes from famous people.
3) Announce what I am reading.
4) Put links to my blog posts.
5) Put links to sites which I find interesting.
6) Discuss which conventions or events I am going to.
7) Subscribe to news services like AP, CNN, or LISNews.
8) Subscribe to publishers of books.
9) Subscribe to publishers of graphic novels.
10) Find new blogs and websites to visit.
11) Send direct messages to sites which I like.
12) The @replies keeps track of who you have talked to.
13) Send private messages about different things.
14) Be entertained by other peoples posts.
15) Find new reading material; books, magazines, and websites
16) I often find many of the people on twitter also have blogs which I follow elsewhere. Cromely on Twitter has a very nice blog. http://cromely.blogspot.com/
17) There is a twitter group on Blogcatalog which I am a member of.
http://www.blogcatalog.com/group/twitter

Fast and Foreign Fiction Writing Contest (June 2007)

As writers we have a wonderful array of locations to set our fiction in. This month Echelon Press challenges you to step outside your comfortable neighborhood and take us to someplace foreign. We want you to send us your stories of the unique and exotic, the bold and adventurous, the mystical and romantic. Take us far away. We want to read your stories that take place anywhere outside of the United States. For some this may mean where you live, but not where live!

Every author at every level should be committed to keeping their name in front of readers. Are you looking for your first publishing credit? Are you between books? Looking for a way to revive characters from books that have been out for a while? Want to introduce new characters for upcoming books? Looking for a way to build your readership? Have we got a promotional opportunity for you!

Echelon Press would like to publish your "Fast and Foreign" June story. The fast part means you have until June 11, 2007 to submit your story of 3000-6000 words. The winner will be notified by June 12, 2007 and have 5 days to edit/revise the story. Echelon Press will publish your story in its e-book division on June 18, 2007. Simple!

Send your submissions as a Word (doc) attachment to contest@echelonpress.com. Your cover letter should be in the body of an e-mail. Cover letters that do not adhere to professional standards will disqualify the submission from further consideration.

Our only real request is that the setting, anyplace outside of the United States be the catalyst for your story! You pick the genre. Stories must adhere to the following guidelines.

Standard Manuscript format:
 File saved in Word format (.doc) or (.rtf)
 8 ½ x 11 page
 Times New Roman 12pt font/black
 1-inch margin on all sides/ 1.5 line spacing
 Align text left, do not justify (aligning text both left and right)
 Header containing title, author name, and page number
 Capital letters at the beginning of sentences and proper nouns
 Indent new paragraphs .3. Do not add blank line between paragraphs.
 Show scene breaks with * * * * centered in the appropriate line.

All cover letters must include:
 Name (and pseudonym if applicable)
 Mailing address
 Phone number
 E-mail address (required)
 Web address (required)