Archive for the 'marketing' Category

The Truth Is Constant

Published
by
Nick Rice
on November 11, 2008
in advertising, branding, management and marketing
. 0 Comments

While I thoroughly love Tom Fishburne’s cartoon essays on the state of big brand marketing, I think he’s slightly off base on this one. Just to be clear, he’s not wrong; I think he’s missing an element of truth that has always been there, but hard for traditional consumer goods companies to see.

The internet has literally changed almost every aspect of our lives in one form or another. Consumer Advocates have ALWAYS been the true driving force behind product sales. Ask anyone with a limited marketing vocabulary and they’ll tell you that word of mouth is the best form of advertising–and they’re right.

Technology drives marketing strategy to a large degree. From the days of the “traveling doctor” in the Wild West, to Coney Island hawkers, to Saturday morning network television cartoons; advertisers used technology to their advantage because they could afford to do so. The modern internet, call it web 2.0 or social media or whatever, has allowed ALL of us to express our advocacy to the masses. Tools like Blogging, Twitter, Email, YouTube, etc… have given us the power to say what we like and dislike–especially what we dislike.

Big companies are worried about using social media as a marketing vehicle because it allows the unwashed masses to say something negative about their products or brand or name. Well guess what? People have always controlled the message; not corporations. Neighbors have always talked. Hairdressers have always gossiped. Today we live in a world where experiences are no longer contained to friends and family. Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail, said it best, “the ants have megaphones.”

If you’re a marketing manager for a big company, you better get used to it because more and more power will continue to go to the customer. Pull your head out of the sand and participate in the conversation. Honesty, authenticity and real dialogue never go out of style.

Golden Nugget or Lead Balloon

Published
by
Nick Rice
on November 4, 2008
in Client Magnet Archives, business, marketing and strategy
. 2 Comments

Golden Nuggets

One of the biggest mistakes I see consultative professionals make is to offer a solution during an initial conversation with a prospective client. You may not be aware of the damage you’re doing to your ability to be hired when you offer these “golden nuggets” of advice.

Let me explain. By a consultative professional I mean someone who offers customized advice, direction and solutions to a specific problem. Here are a few examples of consultative professionals: designer, physician, architect, engineer, business coach, consultant, ad agency, chiropractor, attorney, financial adviser, accountant, etc…

They people are very knowledgeable about their given trade. They typically have years of education and experience and often a few initials behind their name. They don’t just sell “what’s in their briefcase,” they uncover problems and issues for their clients and prescribe customized solutions to those problems. And they are very comfortable talking about their solutions. Herein lies the problem.

When asked to offer advice, a consultative professional often jumps right to their solution. They mentally cull through years of experience and similar situations and offer an amazing nugget of insight. Most of the time, their advice is spot on. But often that amazing advice is never acted upon by the recipient.

One of two things usually happens; if the other party acts upon your advice they are typically missing a few key ingredients to make the solution a success on their own because they do not possess your wealth of experience and knowledge. If they DO succeed, they often wonder why people would pay you if the solution was so simple that it came out of a 20 minute conversation.

But most of the time, they will not take action on your advice. And when you check on their progress the next time you meet, there’s often an awkward moment where they feel like they have to explain why they sat on your golden nugget of wisdom. Here’s why; you never took the time to fully understand the problem behind their request for advice. Solutions, unto themselves, are devoid of value without a problem to fix.

I talk to consultative professionals every week that feel like they give away golden nuggets of information only see them turn into lead balloons, because the prospective client’s problem was never truly analyzed.

As a consultative professional, it feels good to offer advice. It’s comfortable. It feels valuable. In fact, it’s what we do best. But advice not tethered to a problem often causes more harm than good.

Offering solutions is an easy trap to fall into. In fact, almost everything a client asks of us begs for a solution. “Help us do…; We need a…; We want a better…” Most professionals respond to these questions by offering a solution. And we wouldn’t just offer any solution; we offer a golden nugget because we perceive this as our chance to shine.

Most clients would like to believe that there is a magic bullet solution to their problem; but in reality it’s often much more complicated than that. It’s easy to jump right in with a solution (even one that would work); but you must dig to uncover the real issues behind the request. If you let the client get away with the original question, it puts all the pressure on you to come up with the magic bullet. As a consultative professional, you must get the client to fully describe the issue and its implications on their business.

Here are a few questions that I use to uncover & quantify the real issue:

  • How do you know this a problem?
  • Why hasn’t this issue been addressed yet?
  • How much is this challenge currently costing you in both hard dollars & soft dollars?
  • What kind of results would occur after fixing this problem?
  • Why is the future state better for you? What’s it worth to you?

It’s been proven that people (and organizations) move away from pain faster than they move towards a gain. Forget about your experience and solutions for a minute and take the time to fully understand the pain caused by the issue; or at least what type of gain they are expecting to see by engaging you.

If you continue immediately offer a solution,you’ll continue to see your golden nuggets sink like lead balloons. In these initial conversations, you will garner more respect by uncovering the pain behind the request before offering a solution. I know it’s difficult to put your knowledge and experience on the back burner for a little while, but if you’re able to do so, you will move into bigger projects and bigger fees; and you’ll be able to make a bigger impact–which is ultimately what we all want.

How 237 Of Us Are Helping Save Children

Published
by
Nick Rice
on October 30, 2008
in branding and marketing
. 1 Comment

Yesterday, we announed the 2nd Edition of The Age of Conversation–a business book showcasing how authentic conversation can be a strategic component of your marketing efforts. Subtitled, “Why Don’t They Get It,” the book delves into social media, accidential marketing, evolving business models and how the power of conversation is changing the overall marketing/branding landscape.

The first edition was such a success, more influential bloggers asked to participate this time around. You can see a list of all co-authors below. For this edition, I wrote a chapter titled When Great Isn’t Enough, which discusses how entrepreneurs often put their business at great risk by choosing not to master the marketing component of their enterprise. Many professionals believe they can be great at their trade and profitable clients will simply form a line to work with them; but that just isn’t the case.

I encourage you to learn more and buy a book (you can choose between e-book, soft copy and hard copy editions) AND note that all proceeds go to Variety, the Children’s Charity.

Full Author List For Age of Conversation 2:

Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Chris Brown, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Schawbel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Dave Davison, David Armano, David Berkowitz, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne & Todd Cabral, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, John Herrington, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kristin Gorski, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tim Brunelle, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

Think more advertising is the way to grow?

Published
by
Nick Rice
on October 27, 2008
in advertising and marketing
. 2 Comments

One of the default responses that small business owners have when talking about growth is advertising. To a lot of them, advertising is synonymous with marketing.

Let’s all get on the same page with regards to definitions. Advertising is a marketing tactic; just like PR, special events, networking, speaking or writing. Marketing, on the other hand, is a core element of your business; much like finance, operations or HR.

You cannot run a business without some form of marketing. For a lot of companies, the default marketing strategy is word or mouth or referrals. You can, however, do a lot of marketing activities without spending a penny on advertising.

You see the big Fortune 500 companies spending hundreds of millions on advertising. Let’s look at an example of an Apple advertisement making fun of Microsoft hoping to fix it’s Vista problems through advertising:

YouTube Preview Image

Advertising is costly, hard to measure and is losing effectiveness faster than the Titantic sank. Thanks to Jeff Sexton, at Future Now, let’s look at a few companies that have made a national splash by focusing their efforts on the customer experience and viral word of mouth instead of advertising:

1) Zappos
2) Krispy Kreme
3) StonyField Yogurt
4) Silk (soy milk)
5) Smart Wool

and more…

Let me ask you a question that makes a lot of people open their eyes and think:

If advertising is such a wonderful business growth strategy, why don’t you see more ad agencies actually advertising to attract new clients?

Think about it. And trust me, it’s not that they don’t want/need the work.

You want a dose of passion+reality?

Published
by
Nick Rice
on October 22, 2008
in ROI, business, entrepreneur and marketing
. 0 Comments

No one does it better than Gary Vaynerchuk. If you don’t know his story, do yourself and favor and read up on someone that’s truly learned to use web 2.0/social media for profit and fame. He’s gone from local NJ wine retailer to national personal branding powerhouse in just a few years–and he’s happy to tell you how to do the same.

Fair warning, there’s a bit of profanity but it’s just a side effect of letting your passions take the wheel for a little while. Watch, pay attention and do something different…

YouTube Preview Image

5 Ways to Leverage Technology In Your Marketing

Published
by
Nick Rice
on August 5, 2008
in marketing and social marketing
. 3 Comments

A couple of weeks ago I gave a talk to a group of technology firms about leveraging technology in their marketing efforts. I figured what better group to jump on the tech bandwagon than a group of people used to selling technology. My talk went over great. They, just like most professional firms, struggle filling the marketing funnel. And even though most were aware of these technologies, the vast majority was not using them to grow their business.

My talk was titled, “5 Ways to Pump Up Your Marketing With Technology,” and here are the five key points:

  1. Stop stressing about your marketing message
  2. Grow your professional network
  3. Keep in touch consistently
  4. Measure your progress
  5. Never forget a big idea

Let me speak to each one briefly.

1. Stop Stressing About Your Marketing Message

I see a lot of clients wringing their hands over what to say to their prospective clients.

Unfortunately, we sit in our offices thinking about these things we tend to go a little crazy over it. My suggestion was simple; stop stressing over it and ASK. Sign up for a free online survey tool, like SurveyMonkey or QuestionPro, and send out the following questions to your last 10 clients:

  1. What’s the biggest challenge we helped you overcome?
  2. How did that issue manifest itself? or How did you know it was a real problem?
  3. How would you describe our company to your colleagues and friends?
  4. If you owned a business like ours, what would you change?
  5. What groups or associations are you a member of?

In five little questions you’ve determined how they see your firm and the value you bring to the table. You’ve also tapped into what they would like to see you change about your services or offerings. And you’ve learned where other people like them congregate for future marketing efforts. Not too shabby for a free survey.

You can stop worrying about your message because your clients help write it. It doesn’t get any better than that.

2. Grow Your Professional Network

Pretty much everyone agrees that networking is a critical element of any marketing plan. But once you’ve gotten to really know everyone in your Chamber or Rotary or Country Club; how to you continue to meet new prospects?

I’ve had great success meeting and strengthening relationships with prospects all over the country using LinkedIn and Facebook. When I ask the question, “Who has a LinkedIn profile?”, typically one third to half of the room raises their hands.

But very few actually take advantage of the built in credibility tools within LinkedIn. Very few people use the “Recommend” feature to capture testimonials from clients and colleagues. Very few people also actively participate in the Q&A section LinkedIn. The “Recommendations” are a great way to highlight how you’ve helped others (in their own words); while the Q&A section is a great platform for you to share your expert knowledge with others. Like any good social marketing platform, LinkedIn shows the other members in your network what you’re up to.

Facebook is more “social” than LinkedIn, but don’t let that scare you. After all, people do business with people, not businesses. And if you still think LinkedIn is only for the college crowd, then listen up. The largest–and fastest growing–segment of Facebook users is over 25 years old. Everyone I’ve helped register with Facebook is amazed at how many of their friends, college buddies, colleagues and relatives are already on there.

My advice: if you’re not already on Facebook and LinkedIn, sign up. If you are, then start using the systems more actively. Ask people for introductions, find common ground, strike up a conversation. But fair warning, you do have to be careful what you post. No one wants to see your party pics or the drunken lake photos. Skip the things that are too personal and ignore all the silly games on Facebook and you’ll be fine.

Don’t forget to “Add Me as friend” on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/people/Nick_Rice/663866368

and Connect with me on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/nickrice

3. Keep In Touch Consistently

This may be the #1 faux pas in business today–we never keep in regular contact with our past, current and prospective clients. There are two cycles running constantly in business; your selling cycle and their buying cycle. Chances of those two cycles being in alignment when you first meet are slim to none. So how can you easily keep in touch? It’s what I’m doing right now.

Start an email newsletter. If you provide valuable information (at least monthly), when their buying cycle comes around to your service, you will already be in front of them. There’s no better way to demonstrate your area of expertise than writing. In fact, a few of the email marketing tools have a polling feature built in, so you can accomplish #1 (client survey) with the same tool.

I recommend you look into these four email marketing sites, Aweber (my favorite), Constant Contact, Exact Target and iContact. Most of these have very reasonable entry level packages (typically ~$20/month) and make it very easy for you to keep in touch with valuable information. But here’s the trick, it’s very easy to come off as a spammer; you MUST include valuable content with each email. You cannot simply say “how ya doing? ready to buy yet…?”

One of the easiest ways to come up with newsletter content is to make a list of everything you wish your clients knew; or what could really help them improve their business; or simply ask them what their top 3 “issues at hand” are (HINT: use the survey tool if you don’t have time to call or meet). This will give you enough meaty content to get started. Once you write three or four newsletters–and, you start to see the positive reactions when done well–it becomes a habit.

At the end of the day, your email list will become one of your greatest assets in your business. Each person has “opted in” to hear from you, so you know they are interested in what you have to say. Sign up for one of the above tools now and start cultivating that relationship. When they are ready to buy your services, you’ll stand head and shoulders above the competition.

4. Measure Progress

Business today moves fast. It’s easy to forget who you talked to, what they last bought, how you met them, their birthday, whom they referred, etc… There are online tools that help you get everything under control. For the client side, I recommend Salesforce.com and PipelineDeals.com (what I use). Salesforce.com is the 800lb gorilla in CRM (Customer Relationship Management). There are modules to automate all aspects of your marketing effort–including email marketing and surveys. It includes a full dashboard to track your progress against business goals. It’s a great reminder during the last week of the month to get out there and shake the bushes to bring in a little business.

As for your website, Google Analytics offers amazing reporting to tell you what’s working and what’s not–and it’s free. This tool is so powerful that most Fortune 500 businesses use it to track their own corporate website. Once you copy a little bit of code to each page on your website, you’ll be able to see how many people are coming to your site, how long they stay, what pages they visit, how they navigate, where they live and more data than you can use. You can use this to see where you’re site is working and where visitors are leaving. There is also a complimentary service for A/B split testing. In essence, you design two versions of a given page, Google automatically displays both to various visitors and you can gauge which performs better. I use this to test headlines and call to actions on my site. It works great.

There’s an old saying, “what you pay attention to, gets improved.” If you want your website and your marketing efforts to work harder for you, start measuring them.

5. Never Forget A Big Idea

Here’s a fun little tip. An IT/Business Development consultant friend of mine, Bill Dotson, turned me on to this free service; Jott.com. With Jott, you can call the toll free phone number and leave a message that is automatically transcribed and emailed to you or an email distribution list. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been on the road or woke up with an idea I didn’t want to forget–but couldn’t write it down. Now, I simply hit my speed dial Jott #, leave a message, and when I’m back in the office, I have the full message perfectly transcribed waiting for me in my Inbox to take action on. I also know of people using this to notify a high school baseball team if practice is canceled. The coach has a distribution list of players and parents (all you need is their email) and when the weather turns inclement, he “Jotts” them to let them know practice will be canceled.

Okay, there are the five ways to pump up your marketing efforts with technology. The world has changed. Obviously, we’ll never get away from face-to-face as the best form of communication; but when we start to leverage technology, it can free us up to more of what we do best.

I’m loving the Volume Fairy

Published
by
Nick Rice
on July 16, 2008
in management, marketing and strategy
. 0 Comments

Tom Fishburne is a genius. His cartoons are always spot on.

I see this all too often with clients that are overly dependent on referrals & word of mouth. I’m beginning to believe that the old business adage, “feast or famine,” is simply a signal that the business is poor at marketing their services/product. I know there are seasonal/circular patterns to some businesses, but good marketing helps to offset these normal variances. And marketing done properly (ie. planned, tied to measurements, evaluated, tweaked and relaunched) can become a system to generate predictable results.

For instance, I know that everytime I publish a blog article on Fast Company I’ll get a spike in web traffic. Google Analytics shows me that ~10% of those people sign up for my email newsletter, Client Magnet. Once they are on my newsletter, it typically takes six to eight months for them to call/email me about working together. Publishing articles has become a system for me.

If you’re still counting on the volume fairy, you need to know that generating consistent sales isn’t rocket science. Consistent sales comes from consistent proactive marketing. Pure and simple. You cannot leave it solely up to your word of mouth stream which is too unpredictable from month to month. You may be great at what you (and probably are), but you need to become a better marketer to grow your business.

Finding Your Niche

Published
by
Nick Rice
on June 9, 2008
in Client Magnet Archives, business and marketing
. 0 Comments

I hear variations on the following comment all the time from prospective clients & colleagues:

“I can’t really market my business until I know what my niche is. Until I know who my ideal clients are, I can’t start with my marketing; so I really can’t afford to spend anything on marketing until I’m clear about this.”

Feel free to substitute your own concern: “I don’t know what my services are yet,” or “I don’t really know what value I provide for my clients,” or “I don’t know what makes me unique.”

And with this declaration of what you don’t know, your marketing grinds to a screeching halt.

My answer is typically the following:

“You don’t find your niche. Your niche finds you. And this goes for your services, ultimate outcome, uniqueness, etc.”

What I mean by this is that you can’t really figure it out in your head. You need to discover it. And the way you discover it is to jump into the process of marketing.

I know this might not makes sense to you, but stick with me here, because this is really one of the biggest issues service professionals face.

I’ve seen it hundreds of times. I’ve seen people completely stuck because they can’t figure out their elevator pitch or perfect marketing message. And they “know” that when they figure it out, all their marketing will fall magically into place

Utter nonsense, I’m afraid.

Here’s the big secret that nobody has told you:

You take your best guess, give it a shot and see what response you get. That’s all, really. You don’t get it right. You get it wrong - maybe for a long time - until it finally falls into place.

Here’s an example, a prospective client is confused about which clients she should go after. But she doesn’t have to decide-not just yet. All she has to do is take a mad stab at it and say, for the time being: “These are the clients I’ll work with for now.” And then build a marketing message around that.

She’ll discover soon enough if it’s the right niche or not.

She’ll talk to a lot of people. She’ll use her newly created message, ultimate outcome, etc. She’ll get responses or not. If not, no problem, back to the drawing board.

If she gets a few clients in this niche, she’ll soon discover if they are ideal or not. She’ll learn as she goes, and fine tune her message along the way. After a while the niche will find her. She’ll stumble upon it. And ah ha! That’s it! And her next version of her marketing message will be right on target.

Let me give you an analogy in another field.

A new music student says: “I can’t learn music until I know what composers I’m going to play. I’m really conflicted. Will I play Mozart and Bach, or Beethoven and Brahms? Difficult choice. But when I’m clear on who, then I’ll start to learn music.

Wouldn’t we roll our eyes if we heard this? Then why do we take the declaration so seriously that someone can’t find their niche? It’s nuts.

Sadly, the chance of the above person ever becoming a musician is pretty slim. And the with this approach, the chance of my customer ever becoming a successful entrepreneur is pretty slim as well. The good news is she’s willing to try.

And starting is easy.

Get a book, manual, or tape program, or attend a course. Start with the first lesson. Do the homework. Apply it the best you can to your business.

You won’t be a marketing genius right out of the gates, but you’ll be way beyond where you are now. So get out of your head, let go of the need to have things perfect, be willing to fail fast and most importantly, just do it! Nike would be proud.

(originally published by Robert Middleton of Action Plan Marketing)

Age of Conversation 2nd Ed. in the works

Published
by
Nick Rice
on May 16, 2008
in marketing and social media
. 0 Comments

The first edition of Age of Conversation was a revolutionary book penned by the top 100 marketing/branding/strategy bloggers around the world. I was proud to be part of that original collaborative effort.

To step it up this year, we’ve added additional authors (275) and we’re focusing on eight primary topics:

  1. Age of Conversation Manifestos
  2. Keeping Secrets in the Age of Conversation
  3. Moving from Conversation to Action
  4. The Accidental Marketer
  5. A New Brand of Creative
  6. My Marketing Tragedy
  7. Business Model Evolution
  8. Life in the Conversation Lane

I selected #4, The Accidental Marketer, as my topic of choice. This comes after working with professional service firm owners who are great at their technical specialty but struggle with marketing their business.

Here’s a snippet of my chapter:

“…the future of the web is built to allow anyone to take advantage of these marketing strategies. Web technology like webinars and online video sites allow you to easily share your knowledge and expertise via speaking. Today, the barriers to publishing are virtually non-existent…”

And here are the authors contributing to the next evolution of Age of Conversation. I know it’s a long list, but this group of bloggers have some amazing insight to share:

Adam Crowe, Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob Carlton, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Bradley Spitzer, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Clay Parker Jones, Chris Brown, Colin McKay, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Cord Silverstein, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Goldstein, Dan Schawbel, Dana VanDen Heuvel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Darryl Patterson, Dave Davison, Dave Origano, David Armano, David Bausola, David Berkowitz, David Brazeal, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Emily Reed, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, G. Kofi Annan, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Graham Hill, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, J.C. Hutchins, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, Joe Talbott, John Herrington, John Jantsch, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Flowers, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kris Hoet, Krishna De, Kristin Gorski, Laura Fitton, Laurence Helene Borei, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Barnes-Johnston, Louise Mangan, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Marcus Brown, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Mark McSpadden, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Hawkins, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Monica Wright, Nathan Gilliatt, Nathan Snell, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul Marobella, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Beeker Northam, Rob Mortimer, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Cribbett, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tiffany Kenyon, Tim Brunelle, Tim Buesing, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Longhurst, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

Many thanks to Drew McLellan and Gavin Heaton for continuing to organize this effort. More than once it’s been referred to as “herding cats.”

LAST CALL - Free Marketing Breakthrough Webinar Today

Published
by
Nick Rice
on May 7, 2008
in marketing
. 0 Comments

Just a FINAL reminder that I am hosting a free webinar this afternoon to show you what it takes to have major breakthrough in your marketing efforts.

If you currently struggle with marketing, don’t worry, you are not alone. Most business owners/entrepreneurs are great at what they do, but marketing can seem like a mystery because no one ever showed you the rules of the game. If you want more clients with less effort, this webinar could be exactly what you’ve been waiting for.

In this webinar, you will learn the 7 Secret Marketing Principles that are proven to take your business to the next level when you understand and implement them.

Reserve your seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/911433377

Date: Wednesday, May 7 (TODAY)
Time: 4:00pm Eastern
Location: Log on from the comfort of your desk

And if you cannot attend, I’m going to attempt to record the webinar.