Marketing
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Wednesday, January 16th, 2008
Ever read a James Patterson novel? I have. Every one.
And, every time I do, I curse the bastard!
Not the character, but Mr. Patterson himself. Why? Because…I don’t want to stay up until 4am to finish, really I don’t. But, he grabs me with the opening line, hurls me in, then greases the slide thoroughly-enough to render me powerless to stop my screaming descent to the last page.
He makes it un-put-downable.
Is he a master of story-telling, plot-development and suspense? Sure. But, he’s also a master of a handful of literary techniques that appear in the world of direct-response copywriting. They’re the ones that compel you to read long after you’ve decided you really don’t have time to devote another second to the book, blog or ad.
And, once you know them, they’ll give you the near-magical ability to make almost everything you write, from ads to blog-posts and letters to books, a giant step closer to un-putdown-able, too.
How to get featured in magazines and newspapers with no connections…and turn it into mega-bucks
Monday, January 14th, 2008
My first-appearance in The New York Times freaked me out…
In November 2001, I launched a yoga studio in the heart of New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen. It was a strange, moody time in the city, just 6-weeks after the collapse of the twin-towers. But, for yoga studios, or pretty much anyone else in the healing profession, the demand was huge.
This led to an odd scenario…
How marketing kills innovation
Monday, January 7th, 2008
As a guy who lives and breathes marketing, I really hate to admit this.
But, it’s all a big, fat lie!
Here’s a simple fact-all too often, marketing is where you put all your energy when you’re too lazy to innovate. That goes for bloggers, entrepreneurs, manufacturers, service-providers, actors…and, it even applies to your love-life!
In fact, for far too many, here’s what marketing really stands for…
- M - March
- A - Around
- R - Ranting &
- K - Kvetching
- E - Enough to
- T - Trick
- I - Impulsive suckers into
- N - Needing your
- G - Garbage
Marketing is what you do when your product, service or content isn’t self-evidently unique and impactful enough to sell itself.
Attack of the digital crickets: a lesson in life and business
Tuesday, December 11th, 2007
It was about 11:30 at night. I was sitting on my couch, notebook computer melting my lap when my six-year old daughter wanders out leary-eyed, fuzzy-blanket in tow and burrows in next to me.
“It’s late, sweety,” I say, “what’s the matter?” “I’m scared, daddy,” comes the reply. “What’s scaring you?” “The crickets.” [we live on the 9th floor in the city, ain’t no crickets, here] “I’m scared they’re gonna jump out and get me,” she continues.
Oh man, I made a big mistake…
Networking on steriods: gatekeepers and influencers
Friday, November 30th, 2007My weekly column on freelancing and marketing is up now over at FreelanceSwitch.com. This week’s topic is networking and it’s all about how how to best allocate your relationship-building energy to cultivate optimum returns.
Here’s the opening paragraph:
Everywhere you go, people tell you the secret to packing your client list is networking. Schmooze like there’s no tomorrow, befriend everyone, hand out your cards, trade e-mails, IMs, IDs and CVs. Go to conferences, buy everyone within a 100-foot radius a beer (or non-alcoholic organic vegan hemp-nut smoothie).
How to get prospects to take you seriously
Thursday, November 22nd, 2007My weekly column is up over at the always fabulous FreelanceSwitch.com. This week, it’s time for my monthly “Ask Jonathan” advice column and it’s a real nail-biter! A 22-year IT guru asks how to get prospects to take him seriously at such a young age. He’s got the chops, now he needs to figure out how to get the clients.
The Diggbait Diet: How Digg helped me lose 5-pounds in 5-hours
Monday, November 19th, 2007
Atkins, diuretics and rubber suits, you’re so five-minutes ago. I was only three-weeks into my journey to the core of the blogosphere when I discovered the astonishing slimming power of Digg.com.
Ignite your career, business and life with the power of differentiation
Thursday, November 15th, 2007Happy Thursday, all! My weekly column on maverick marketing and business-building is now up over at FreelanceSwitch.com.
This week’s article–Differentiate Or Die: Marketing’s Magic Bullet–reveals one of the single biggest failures in building career or business, failure to differentiate, and shows you how to fix the problem and win more business instantly.
Authentic marketing: weekly column at FreelanceSwitch gets deep
Friday, November 9th, 2007Hey gang, so my weekly column is up over at FreelanceSwitch.com and it’s a doosy. This week is all about the intersection between being authentic and using conversational strategies to market yourself. Go check it out now!
What a slice of pizza taught me about small business marketing, pitching clients and getting gigs
Thursday, November 1st, 2007Learn how to jumpstart your small-biz or freelance-biz with this unusual lesson learned from a guy and a slice of pizza. It’s all at this week’s column over at FreelanceSwitch.com. Go check it out now.!
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