1 Million Pages

Help Wanted…     
 
Advertising,Ezine Sites,Publishing
  
 
Hello again fellow publishers…
I’m looking for some help, because my Editor, and CO-Editor are MIA. (missing in action), i.e. they don’t have the time to work with me anymore.

As I’ve always believed, and still do to this day: people make time for what they really want to do, so when someone says they don’t have the time, what they are really saying is, “I don’t have time for you, or what you want me to do”, i.e. not interested.

On that note, back to why I need some assistance, and to get it I’m looking to offer space to any publisher here that helps me put together informative content, i.e. any and all of you receiving this ezine, not just limited to one.

I want us be like a dynamic organism able to change, and adapt “on the fly” according to the environment, and circumstances involved in order to stay ahead of the bell curve. Something to the effect the books “FUTURE SHOCK”, and “THIRD WAVE” did at their time in history.

JOINT VENTURE OR BUST

From my over eight years online (and publishing almost as long), and by communicating with literally hundreds of publishers over that period of time, I know for the most part many do not work joint ventures with other publishers.

I believe this is a big mistake, because from my experience 98% of publishers producing an ezine are not making a full time living from writing, or from their ezine.

JOINT VENTURE OR GO OUT OF BUSINESS (HINT: DO IT HERE)

Yes, a strong caption… maybe I’m wrong, but from all indicators, I’m probably not.

I sound like BOB O… (I left out the last name, because I didn’t get his permission to use his full name here), however I believe that’s a complement, because he’s a much more eloquent writer than I am. I just do my best to get my pin point point across. Anyway…

This may or may not be out of line, however I believe most ezine publishers are either too self absorbed to see outside the box, or don’t really see how they can work joint ventures effectively to make them worth their while.

THE FINAL POISON PILL

Many publishers think that their publication is king. That may be so to a certain extent, however why be limited by your own publication?

I think not… I think your ezine (growing at a rapid, and consistent rate hopefully), along with joint venturing with other publishers on regular, and consistent basis is a “MAJOR KEY” to success, especially for the “little guy” publisher online at this time.

Prove me wrong with your argument, however I see that the GURUS have been leading hundreds of publishers around by the nose for years, because they have “THEE” products or services that will skyrocket your profits right???

I’m still hearing crickets, because I know from experience that “show me the money” probably never happened for most of you.

GURUS KNOW THE SUM IS GREATER THAN THE PARTS THAT MAKE UP THE WHOLE (did I say that right?)

Close enough for government work as they say.

Enough said, because you’ve known this for years, but the burnt out GURUS that were saying how easy it is to make “BANK” online (most I barley ever hear from anymore), have gone and will be replaced by others who will go through the same cycle, i.e. “burn rate.”

One last thought… the law of diminishing returns (because of the beyond speed of light noise factor on the net) just keeps getting greater, and greater.

To you this means that your work is more than “cut out” for you as a publisher, and the quick bucks (if there ever was any such animal to begin with) have all blown away like “dust in the wind.” Just ask “MJ.”

Two words, “JOINT VENTURE”, and be extremely creative (i.e. give a ton to get it done) plus constantly test. Then you may have a chance to not only survive, but thrive.

Harry Fassett - Co-owner of http://www.amazines.com offers ezines, and newsletters in just about every category imaginable! Find targeted advertising for your business, great articles of interest. Plus the option to get up to the minute updates on new information added to our database!

“Seven Questions For Your Publishing Success”—Part V: What Kind of Content Are YOU Willing To Have?     
 
Advertising,Ezine Sites,Publishing
  
 
“Seven Questions For Your Publishing Success”—Part V: What Kind of Content Are YOU Willing To Have? by Rev. Richard Boeck
When we last visited, the discussion concerning YOUR publishing success centered upon the purpose for YOUR ezine. That ezine or other publication must have content. And it’s that content that’s going to define YOUR ezine.

So the fifth question we ask pertaining to YOUR publishing success is this:

—What Kind Of Content Are YOU Willing To Have?—

Once you’ve established the purpose for YOUR ezine or publication, you’re going to need to have content that matches that purpose, as well as YOUR values, principles, and beliefs.

Honesty and integrity are reflected in the content of the articles you publish, the tips you share, and the things YOU write yourself.

Are YOU going to place the articles of others in your ezine? If so, then what criteria are you going to use to determine whether such articles meet the standards you wish to uphold?

If your intent is to make lots of money, and you believe that to do so you’ll have to do Joint Ventures with other publishers, then you’re going to be accepting articles for possible publication, written by people whom you may not know. Having a plan in place to investigate the claims these JV partners make concerning their product or service is essential for the integrity of your publication.

Whatever YOUR intent is for your publication, remember that whatever you publish needs to be in keeping with that intent. Don’t allow yourself to be sidetracked by the latest fad or “whim of the day.” If you do you can bet you’re not going to be a successful publisher.

—What Kind of Content Are YOU Willing To Have?—

To answer this question further requires some conception as to whether or not your going to have a niche or a general publication.

Each of these types of publications can be useful and successful.

Niche publications place their focus on a particular type of information. Perhaps YOU want to cater to those who want information on marketing techniques. Or, YOU may want to reach those who are interested in search engines and their viability for website traffic. Maybe YOU believe in “blogging” as an effective means of reaching a large, focused audience.

Whatever niche it is that you wish to fill, your ezine content is going to have to focus on that niche. Your articles, information, and tips should be the best and the newest you can find. Remember to exercise all of YOUR standards for integrity, truthfulness, service, and quality.

As you assemble information that will fit the needs of your niche readers, you’ll want to ensure that the content is in fact viable and accurate. Much of what you’ll want to share will come from YOUR own pen, because you’re going to be the expert YOUR niche readers seek out. That means YOU need to become an expert in that field, which means hard work researching, testing, and writing.

—What Kind Of Content Are YOU Willing To Have?—

A general publication may appear easier to publish than a niche publication, but looks can be deceiving.

A general internet marketing ezine, for instance, can be a grab bag of content. One issue might talk about search engine optimization for a website, the next issue might discuss email advertising. Another topic might be Google Ads, while another might talk about Classified Advertising.

Such a general approach, however, lends itself to inaccuracies and fallacies concerning certain subjects. As the publisher, it becomes very difficult for you to check out every piece of information that comes your way. There’s so much that it can be utterly overwhelming. If you publish something you haven’t checked out thoroughly, you leave yourself open to criticism and, ultimately, losing your readers.

A general publication will quite frequently also attract Joint Ventures that you’ll not be able to check out as well as you’d like. Remember the old saying, “If something appears too good to be true, it probably is.” If your publication reflects that you’re a “jack of all trades” and a master of none, you’re leaving yourself open to becoming irrelevant and useless to your readers.

Too many ezines go to content sites and use the same articles a thousand other ezines are using for publication. In the end, subscribers to general content ezines end up seeing the same content over and over again, and they eventually drop their subscriptions.

In short, YOUR content has to be top-notch. If YOUR content is going to be of a general nature, then publish your ezine less frequently. That way you’ll have the time to research each edition, check out all articles submitted for publication, and test out any offers that might be presented to your readers. Keeping to a specific theme for each edition can also be a way to ensure the integrity, truthfulness, service, and quality of YOUR publication.

—What Kind Of Content Are YOU Willing To Have?—

A final item that should be of concern to every ezine publisher is advertising. It’s as much a factor to YOUR success as a publisher as the articles you publish.

As I noted in Part I of this series, I usually subscribe to at least a hundred ezines because I’m an “information junkie.” I love ezines with great content, that inform me of current trends, analyze how those trends are affecting the internet, and provide resources which will allow me to further investigate new ideas and concepts. Since there’s always something changing on the net, ezines which inform me, in a timely manner, about those changes are of great value to me.

In the past couple of months, my ezine subscriptions have declined markedly. The main reason for this is that so many of them stopped being sources of information and became, instead, sources of advertising.

One publication stopped being creative in its approach and started publishing the same articles everyone else was publishing from the content sites. A few months later, only two articles even appeared in the weekly publication. All the rest of the space was devoted to classified advertising, with repeated solicitations for the readers to advertise in the ezine. I dropped it.

Another publication had been very effective in researching the effectiveness of the various forms of advertising on the internet. Over three years of subscribing, I had gained a great deal of respect for the information the publisher printed. Most of it he had researched himself and could speak from personal experience as to the value of each form of advertising.

Six months ago, in an attempt to bring in more revenue, he stopped researching his topics, started using content site articles exclusively, and he began sending solo ads five times a week, in addition to loading the ezine with at least three pages of classified ads, in direct violation of a principle he had advocated a year earlier. Not only didn’t this change bring in the revenue he desired, but, as a result of the ezine’s loss of integrity, it folded two months ago after losing half of its subscribers.

The lesson is clear. YOUR content also includes what you do with advertising: How YOU handle it, and what its purpose is in YOUR publication.

Just Imagine!     
 
Advertising,Internet Marketing,Website Promotion
  
 
[EMAIL] [FNAME] [LNAME]
Imagine, just for a minute that the real world started operating like the Internet does.

First, we’d have a choice of two brands of everything. Instead of dozens or even hundreds as we do now. Want soup, it’s either brand A. or brand B. Need a new car, again, A. or B. (feel free to substitute IE for brand A. and N for brand B.)

Sure sounds like things would be simpler, and if things went as they should, both A. and B. brands would be doing everything in their power to make their product/services better and less expensive then the other guy. WOW! Can you imagine, a gas war over everything. (For those readers who have never experienced a gas war, it was when 1 gas station dropped it’s price to 40 cents per gallon which was 2 cents less than the station across the street. The station across the street then went to 38 cents. This went on until we were buying gas for 20 cents per gallon)

Some other very interesting side effects would also occur.

1. If you received a phone call you hadn’t requested, you could notify the phone spam police and they would disconnect the offending callers telephone.

2. If you opened your snail mail box to find anything addressed to occupant you would be entitled to $50.00 per piece of offending mail to be paid by your postal delivery person.

3. If your electric utility company decided they weren’t making enough money or they just got tired of being, your utility company, they could, without warning, close there doors and shut off all their customers leaving them totally in the dark, and without recourse.

4. There would be people on every street corner giving away just about anything you can name, homes, cars, groceries, medical insurance, swimming pools, and on and on and on. Of course, if you want to live in the house you’ll need to purchase the “Pro Version” that actually includes the lot to put it on. If you really want to enjoy living in that house you might consider the “Super Pro Package” that includes your choice of 12 different furniture packages. And then there’s the Mega Super Pro Package that will locate your house, your lot and the furnishings outside, of Siberia.

How about that great sounding health insurance that guy in the clown suit is hollering about, it really sounds like something we could use. Well, it sounded good until I needed to use it for something besides ingrown toe nail surgery. After I got the above the neck plugin, the below the neck upgrade and the respiratory package I was paying $100 a month more for my “free insurance” than I was for the insurance I had to buy.

Yup, just Imagine!

Should you fire your ad agency and hire a pr firm instead?     
 
Advertising,Business News,Marketing
  
 
by Allan Gorman (www.agcd.com)
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I recently read Al and Laura Ries’ newest book, “The Fall of Advertising and The Rise of PR”.

In it, the father and daughter marketing gurus try to build an argument that advertising as a brand-building tool has outlived its effectiveness.

Their perspective is that clever ads — and many of the ads done today are extremely clever — are merely created as art for art’s sake. That the ad agencies creating them have become blinded to the task of effectively promoting client’s products and services, and have instead become consumed with impressing themselves and their peers with witty, award-winning creations. Also, that the more creative and startling the ads are, the less effective they become.

They indict the ad community for losing sight of its purpose and suggest that the billions of dollars marketers spend annually on paid media is no longer worth the investment.

Instead, Mr. and Ms. Ries try to make the case for good public relations, and that the “buzz’ created by third-party endorsements is the primary tool we should be using to build today’s winning brands.

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ADVERTISING VS. P.R. IS THE WRONG ARGUMENT

I’d like to put a slightly different spin the Reis’ logic. The argument shouldn’t be about which marketing tool to use (and that’s what ads and p.r. campaigns are — just tools).

In reality, there are still plenty of effective ads done; and public relations is for certain an important and effective way to impress prospects, too. Both are important to your marketing effort, and each should be considered by how effective it will be at any given time.

But if you’re a marketer truly concerned about the success of your product or service, deciding whether to fire your ad agency and hire a great p.r. practitioner instead is probably not your first — or best — solution.

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WHAT’S OF PRIMARY IMPORTANCE IS A LOOK INTERNALLY FIRST

The real issue is whether or not your audience sparks to your product or service’s value proposition.

At base, what makes an advertisement work (or not), or what makes a good p.r. campaign successful (or not) is whether (or not) the audience perceives genuine distinction and real value from your offering.

Both paid advertisements and free press coverage are great ways to tell your brand’s story — provided there’s a good brand story to tell.

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IT’S THE BRAND STORY THAT’S THE KEY TO BUILDING LOYALTY AND SUCCESS

Earlier today, I passed a highway billboard with a chair hanging off its side.

The face of the board was painted to resemble an IKEA product hang tag showing a price of $29.

To my mind, this is a great advertisement. If I saw a news headline that said: “IKEA sells chairs for $29″, it probably wouldn’t have stuck with me, made me smile, or compelled me to embrace the IKEA brand as effectively as that ad does. (So much for the Ries’ theory).

But really, what makes this ad work so well isn’t so much its award-caliber creative. What makes this ad click with me is that it successfully tells and reinforces a unique IKEA brand story that people can care about and can relate to.

On the other hand, Starbucks got a lot of p.r. “buzz” and was built into a mega-brand without the use of a giant ad budget. But not because its p.r. firm came up with a strategy that was particularly brilliant. It’s because the Starbucks concept and follow-through is so wonderful. Its brand story is one that people can care about and can relate to.

We recently talked with a religious institution looking for help. After doing a little research, we came to the conclusion that what was at issue wasn’t so much a marketing communications campaign, but that the brand itself has outlived its relevance.

We could have created great and clever ads and milked the media for lots of press exposure, but since relevance is the issue, would either really fix the problem?

They need to find or create a new and fresh brand story that people will care about and can relate to.

Compelling ads and great press can create curiosity and get you a look, but if what your audience sees isn’t appealing, neither your advertising nor your public relations efforts will work very well.

But, if your brand story is great — one that people care about and can relate to — won’t it automatically get the “buzz”, and won’t your paid messages be so much more effective?

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IF THE NEWS ISN’T GOOD DON’T KILL THE MESSENGER

The best marketing people — advertising and p.r. professionals — are great story tellers. When they create fiction from their heads — as entertaining as it might be — it’s just an empty suit.

But when there’s something sunstantial to say — when there’s true distinction and appeal — both advertising and p.r. team up to become powerful allies in building your brand’s success.

Before any marketing, you and your agency (or agencies) should work together to…

- Do some research to understand your audience(s) better. Find out whatthey need, how they perceive you vs. the ideal, and what you need to do to more closely resemble their ideal.

- Find ways to distinguish your brand better and deliver your promise in a unique, memorable and compelling fashion.

- Develop a distinct brand story that people will care about and can relate to.

- Help you and your entire organization take pride in knowing that your product or service is superior to every other alternative and develop new ways to more consistently deliver your brand’s promises above and beyond just what’s expected.

- Determine the right mix of marketing mediums that make the most sense for an effective return on your investment.

REMEMBER THAT THE TOOLS YOU USE TO TELL YOUR STORY ARE EFFECTIVE ONLY TO THE EXTENT THAT YOU HAVE AN EFFECTIVE STORY TO TELL

“Why? Why you? What’s in it for me?”(Offering a solution-based answer)     
 
Advertising,Business News,Marketing
  
 
by Allan Gorman (www.agcd.com)
I got a call recently — someone got my name out of the Yellow Pages. He asked if I did Graphic Design and then asked: “How much do you charge for a brochure?”

Now it’s perfectly understandable why he would approach me this way — he doesn’t know me, doesn’t know my company, doesn’t know our work, and has nothing to base his decision on other than price.

In other words, to him I was just a graphic designer — a commodity service.

So my reply was, “Well, it depends on the brochure. But tell me first, what do you want to do with this brochure? Why do you want it? Who will receive it? And what do you want them to do as a result of receiving it?”

We then entered into a ten minute discussion where I was able — by asking questions and sharing some information — to learn much more about his business and what kind of marketing issues he’s facing. Turns out his purpose for the brochure is to introduce his furniture line to retailers (who might not know him).

At issue here, then, isn’t really designing a brochure at all — it’s helping him develop a good tool to get his furniture line into retail stores.

Now, I don’t know enough to advise him wisely yet. But for sure, we will have some more conversations about this; and I promise I’ll do my very best to help him achieve his goal.

What I did in this conversation was to drill down to gather enough information so that in the end we might be able to solve his issues with a better solution than just a brochure done as inexpensively as possible (which, in the long run, is much more costly — but that’s a topic for another discussion).

Now, in his eyes, I’m not just another graphic designer. I’m a valued marketing communications consultant.

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But enough about me, what’s in it for you?

Admittedly, so far this little story might seem like a “so what” to you.

But is it? Isn’t this story really the basis for all successful sales… and all successful marketing?

It demonstrates that for every successful transaction there needs to be a trading and sharing of enough information to ultimately provide the answer to the buyer’s burning question: “Why? Why you? What’s in it for me?”

In the story above, I did this by making myself more than just a commodity. instead I was an interested consultant; and my concern for my potential client and his marketing issues makes my services far more valuable than just “how much?”

And then, should we do business together, my lesson for him will be showing how to get better sell-in by taking into consideration the needs of his client (the retailer). I will help him distinguish himself as more valuable by making sure all his communications efforts answer his buyer’s burning question: “Why? Why you? What’s in it for me?”

And now you’ll always do your best to answer your client’s “Why? Why you? What’s in it for me?” questions too, won’t you?

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But enough about you, what’s in it for them?

Here’s a little something to help you get started on the “solution-based answer” road.

Work on your “audio logo”.

This is what you say to someone when asked what you do. Instead of answering “I’m an accountant” or “I have a packaging company” or “We make glass vials “, try to create a message that’s more solution-based. It should be a simple phrase that identifies your audience and and answers the question: “Why? Why you? What’s in it for me?”

My own audio logo is usually a variation of:

“I help small- to mid-sized companies who want to crank it up to the next level, find better ways to distinguish themselves.” (Thisis what I told the furniture manufacturer during our chat.)

A good audio logo works better because it hits a nerve.

It helps people identify themselves as a potential customer (”small- to mid- sized companies”), the nature of their problem (”who want to crank it up to the next level”) and it offers a compelling solution (”better ways to distinguish themselves”).

The closer to home it is for the person hearing it… the more he can identify with it… the more desireable and memorable it makes you. It then distinguishes you in his mind as something other than “just a commodity”. It makes you a valuable resource for solving his issues.

Here’s a formula you can use to create a good audio logo for yourself. Try it now… (You fill in the blanks).

“I help (your target audience), who want (what’s their problem), get (what’s your solution).”

This is a very easy-to-use formula that can work for any service or product, but your audio logo doesn’t have to follow it exactly. The part that’s important is that it provides the promise of a solution to a problem that they might have. It answers: “Why? Why you? What’s in it for me?”

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The audio logo does more than just answer their question. It helps you too.

The audio logo is a powerful tool. It works because it clarifies who you help and what problem you can solve for them.

But it does more than that — it clarifies your product or service for you too. Because the audio logo conveys a clear promise, you are now committed to delivering what you say you will — a better solution.

And from that moment on, you won’t perceive yourself — or allow yourself to be perceived — as just a commodity ever again. You’ll become a valuable ally and solutions provider who can always answer each and every customer’s burning question…

“Why? Why you? What’s in it for me?”