jessiemac.com

Very recently I temped for a market research company working on behalf of a retail company famous for their jeans. We were paid to interview customers in the client store, track customer behaviour outside the store and record customer buying behaviour within the store of the client and competitor.

These weren’t clothe stores I would normally go in.

So normally I would not have anything to say about them – bad or good.

But after the first day, we were informed that we were not allowed to go into our client store, to work or to have lunch in their staff room. Perhaps it was too inconvenient for a few of us to use the staff room to shelter from the cold and rain during lunch break, I don’t know – but the store manager’s message via the market research company did not sound welcoming. The market research company was not good at conveying the reasons why and actually moaned about it. That’s not good marketing – bad mouthing your client.

A market research company? Shouldn’t they know better?

And when we did congregate outside the store, the store manager’s out-of-habit robotic ‘hello’ to customers stopped when she realized it was us, which then followed by ‘oh, it’s just you guys’. It wasn’t said in a less-than-friendly tone but it might as well sounded like it because hours before we were told we weren’t welcome there. It was not only me who felt slighted.

It could have been for legitimate and common sense reasons.

We didn’t hear them.

We could have been potential customers.

We could have loved the company’s products before.

If I did, I wouldn’t go into that store.

Would you be impressed?

I may have been working on behalf of the retail company but if their name came up in a conversation, I know I will have nothing good to say about them.

What am I trying to say?

Just because we work for you – no matter how briefly – don’t forget we have mouths and we can tell people how bad your company treat people in general. Just because we’re there to work for you for the day doesn’t mean we weren’t one of your regular customers shopping on the weekends.

Everyone who comes in contact with you is a potential customer or know someone who could be a potential customer.

You know, in dating, you normally get an idea of someone’s character by the way they treat service staff such as waiters etc – it’s the same with companies.

How are you treating your staff?

What do you think?

Leave a comment. It’s good to know.

So, how have you been?

“Dwell not on the past. Use it to illustrate a point, then leave it behind. Nothing really matters except what you do now in this instant of time. From this moment onwards you can be an entirely different person, filled with love and understanding, ready with an outstretched hand, uplifted and positive in every thought and deed.”

Eileen Caddy

CURRENT STATUS: Reminder, Motivator and Review Meeting (Read on if you want to join me in my Corporation of One meeting)

What l have learnt:

• I’m sure I’ve learned something. I’m just not able to put my finger on anything specific. Ah well. I learned something, I’m sure of it.
  

What I am doing or have done/decided:

• Read The Road by Cormac McCarthy
  
• Still reading Kiss of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig.
• Still reading The Associate by John Grisham.

WORD COUNT:

Night Walker 159,000 words. Finished. Leaving to marinate.

Insomniac Foetus Ready to edit.

~ GUEST POST ~ I’m delighted to introduce author and marketing expert Phyllis Zimbler Miller at my blog today ~

Use Videos Posted on YouTube to Attract Readers to Your Books written by Phyllis Zimbler Miller ~

If you’re a book author, it’s important to realize how helpful videos can be to promoting your book.

Let’s review the situation:

There are zillions (perhaps I’m exaggerating a tiny bit) of books competing for attention online and in book stores.  How are your books going to stand out – especially with the people most likely to want to read your books?

Book trailers similar to movie trailers have become popular.  Often these short trailers (2-3 minutes) cost a lot of money and are done by a professional.  The cover of the book, other graphics, quotes from reviewers, etc. may slide in and out of the screen.

But after I paid to have such a video created for my novel “Mrs. Lieutenant,” I realized that the video (while done quite well) perhaps didn’t resonate with my target market.

Instead, I wanted to tell book clubs why “Mrs. Lieutenant” would be an excellent choice for them to read and discuss.

Yes, I already had downloadable book club questions on www.MrsLieutenant.com, but I wanted to personally share my thoughts with potential book club readers.

The solution was to have my business partner, Yael K. Miller, video me talking about the reasons why I thought book clubs would enjoy discussing “Mrs. Lieutenant.”  This video did not require any fancy graphics – just me talking.

And then Yael optimized the video for keywords when she put it on YouTube before embedding the YouTube code into the “Mrs. Lieutenant” website.  Now people could find the video on YouTube and come visit the book’s site, while others already visiting the site could access the video directly.

Compare my two book videos:

Here’s the one with just me talking — http://www.mrslieutenant.com/book-discussion-questions/

Here’s the one done professionally — http://www.mrslieutenant.com/fiction-teaches-us-history/

While the professional one is interesting, it doesn’t encourage a social media relationship with me – and it cost money to have produced.

You can do your book promotional budget a favor and use a video of yourself talking about your books – it’s your passion that can help “sell” the books.

FYI – Writing this guest post reminded me that I should make a video for my brand-new book – FOUR COMEDY SCREENPLAYS.    I’m hoping that using social media to promote this book will connect me with Queen Latifah, for whom I wrote the fourth screenplay in the book – “Dr. Soapy.”  (You can read about the screenplays at http://www.millermosaicllc.com/four-comedy-screenplays/ )

© 2010 Miller Mosaic, LLC

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the co-founder of the social media marketing company Miller Mosaic Power Marketing.  Download the new FREE tips booklet HOW TO USE SOCIAL MEDIA TO INCREASE YOUR BUSINESS at http://www.millermosaicllc.com/tips-booklet/

Thanks Phyllis ~

As it’s a Friday, I’ll try and keep my bit short.

I’ve watched Phyllis’s trailer and video. Personally, I think if you could have both, then have both.

Youtube is one of the biggest search engines on the web, almost every product that is launched these days has accompanying videos from the product makers and bloggers are embracing it more and more as a way to communicate with their readers. Read more at ProBlogger.

A professional book trailer is the norm now so having one done if you can afford it makes sense. A video with you talking to the camera about your book is easier to achieve and if you have the time to create one, do it. As Phyllis said, who would show more passion and enthusiasm for your book than you?

A book trailer works well when it stimulates all the senses by using visuals / images, music, written words or a voice commentary for example. Some people are more taken in by the visuals, others are affected by music, others prefer to listen to a voice or read words. Interest is created when you can combine all these factors well or excel using a few. Anything less, it helps if it’s humorous.

This is not to say that a video of the author talking about the book is not as valuable.

After seeing the book trailer, people may want a closer connection to the author and the book – that’s when the video would give them the opportunity to have that experience. This is especially true for someone who wishes not only to read the book but also to discuss it in a book club or class.

How do you feel about videos and book trailers?

What do you think? Are they worth it?

Have a great weekend.

“You gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face. You must do that which we think we cannot.”

Eleanor Roosevelt – Social Activist and First Lady of the United States

CURRENT STATUS: Reminder, Motivator and Review Meeting (Read on if you want to join me in my Corporation of One meeting)

What l have learnt:

• When to withhold suspense in a novel and when it shouldn’t be done (via Edittorrent).
• 10 Steps to a better story (via The Blood-Red Pencil).
• Boost your book sales with the magic of niche marketing (via AlanRinzler.com).
• 10 Important Things I’ve Learnt About Indie Publishing by editor and publisher Alisa Krasnostein.

What I have done:

• Created Twitter accounts for @insomniacfoetus which focuses on science fiction and fantasy; and @jessiemacnovels which focuses on adult fiction and crime thrillers. Not sure how this will go but I thought I’d give it a try. Whilst my main Twitter account @jessiemacwriter will focus on general fiction, writing, marketing, blogging and films.

WORD COUNT: Night Walker 144, 000 words in total. Monday 2 August 1,000 words; Tuesday 3 August 1,000 words; Wednesday 4 August 2,000 words; and Thursday 1,000 words.

As a writer, when it comes to building your writer’s platform, social media is one of the easiest way to interact and build your brand. Everywhere you look it’s sell, sell, sell and you’re encouraged to promote you yourself.

Building a writer’s platform means marketing yourself. And with any form of marketing, there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it. You may not like the idea that you’re an internet marketer but you are. Unless you stay totally off the Internet, you have to get used to the idea that in your Corporation of One – you as writer, novelist, author – you have a marketing department (yes, it’s just you) and one area of that marketing department gets to work on the social media marketing side of the brand that is you.

Marketing is the process by which companies create customer interest in products or services. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business development. It is an integrated process through which companies build strong customer relationships and create value for their customers and for themselves. (Philip Kotler, Principles of Marketing – via Wikipedia)

The most important thing to remember is you’re not ‘selling’ as such but building relationships. Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin are just three popular ways to do that amongst the many other options open to you as a writer. Although all three social media platforms are on the Internet does not mean you should treat them the same. Think leaflet, newspaper and magazine. They may seem similar – all paper-based with text and image but they’re very different and you should approach them differently.

Lucky for us writers, there are many articles out there that give us an idea of what to do and what not to do.

Be aware that people are no longer ignorant about the marketing tactics used by internet marketers anymore. They are tech-savvy. Everybody knows what you’re doing – and it’s not a crime to self-promote – but at least do it in a way to avoid alienating the very same people you’re trying to connect with. Because there is a fine line. They know what you’re doing; they understand you’ve got to do it but what they don’t like is you spamming, and screaming down their necks about your book, your blog, your product, you, you, you all the time. The emphasis is on ‘all the time’.

Be aware that not only is there a right way to involve yourself but also there is the level of involvement. There are some people out there who think the term ‘self-promotion’ is like being accosted by a salesman who knocks on your door on a Sunday afternoon when you least want to be disturbed. And with so many internet marketers doing it the wrong way ie spamming, it’s not surprising that digital marketing gets a lot of people fuming.

Some people get very involved whereas others may involve themselves by just doing the minimum. There is no right or wrong way when it comes levels of involvement; just be aware and don’t get upset when people do not respond or get as involved as you do or if they seem to interact too much in your opinion. There are the extreme lurkers (nothing wrong with that – lurker is not a nice word – let’s call them readers and everyone has been one at one time or another – you know days when you think you’ve got nothing to say) and the extreme participators (nothing wrong with that) but be aware you’ll meet the extremes and the ones sprinkled in between.

For example, when commenting on other blogs. Some people only read. Some people read and comment. Some people don’t read, don’t comment and just spam. People take time and effort to write blog posts – if the post helped you or you were inspired, comment and let them know. Every blogger appreciates relevant comments, relevant to the post. If you are going to comment, say something specific about the post so that the blogger knows that you’re not a spammer. I don’t mind people linking back to their own websites to relevant posts. But some people do mind that.

The best way to self-promote that doesn’t offend anyone?

Just hang out, be useful, participate and learn to really know your subject and be an authority on it. If you comment and provide something useful people who are interested will find you, your website and your articles.

What things do people do that irritates you? What advice would you give to aspiring writers so they don’t offend you?

[pic taken from here]

Similar Posts ~

Why Spamming Social Media Won’t Get You Very Far by Jennifer Mattern.

Social Media Etiquette 6 Lessons Learned From One Japanese Company’s Major Twitter Mistake by Neal Schaffer.

8 Twitter Habits that May Get You Unfollowed or Semi-followed by AugieRay.

What is a Writer’s Platform by Jessie Mac

How to Twitter by Jessie Mac

“Each indecision brings its own delays and days are lost lamenting over lost days. What you can do or think you can do, begin it. For boldness has magic, power, and genius in it.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe – Poet and Novelist

CURRENT STATUS: Reminder, Motivator and Daily Review Meeting (Read on if you want to join me in my Corporation of One meeting)

What l have learnt:

• I saw a website offering a PDF, email and print options for their blog post. Great idea.
• You can still be rejected even if you’ve published many books before says Rachelle Gardner – The Learning Curve that Never Ends.

What I have done:

• Read ‘Darkly Dreaming Dexter’ by Jeff Lindsay - watched some episodes of the TV series and then read the book. Enjoyed it.

WORD COUNT: Night Walker 128,000 in total. Friday 16 July 1700 words.

Continuing from the previous post What to have on your website (part 2)?…

~Decide what you want to change often and learn how to do it

As I said, consider your future needs when it comes to adding information. What information would you need to add once you get your agent; once your book is published; once you have a book tour; once you’re invited to give a speech; once you have 20,000 fans etc? After checking lots of websites and blogs out, I wanted something simple and easily updated. For instance when I started I didn’t have ‘Recent Comments’ because I didn’t have any comments. Now I do, so I wanted to showcase them and I’ve got space to add it to. And that’s what great about this template compared to my old one. This one can be easily added to. Things I may change often is something I want to learn how to do and make notes on. For example, the RSS Feed and Twitter icon, I’ve learnt how to add my own icons so that one day in a few months time, I might revamp my blog by adding new icons. Same goes for the header (the header is not perfect yet) and the social media icons.

~Decide if you’re going to do it yourself or get a professional to do it for you.

Once you’ve decided on how many columns, and what information you want on there, go out and find a template that would suit you. And when you have settled on one, there is a lot of help from professionals out there if you search. I find that searching using ‘video’ on Google helps when I’m trying to do something and I don’t know how. I recently found TutVid.com; they’re a company that provides video tutorials so you can watch, pause and go through the process step by step with them. There are so many out there – go to YouTube and check them out. Once you find a company or individual you find helpful, check out their other videos. I get confused with too much code writing and find videos better as it’s more visual – that’s how I’m learning how to do things with Photoshop and Dreamweaver. It can seem overwhelming if you’ve never done it before and there’s so much information out there it can get frustrating. But take one task at a time. If it’s a task I may need to do again; I usually make a note of how to do it for next time.

If you do decide to pay for someone to set up your site for you; you still need to figure out what you want first before you approach a professional web designer. And I would suggest choose someone who is willing to teach you how to update the most basic things. I guess that would depend on if you have the software they used. But if you do have access, when they do teach you, make sure you have a notebook with you to write it all down step-by-step. Finding a professional web designer to do it for you can still work even if they update for you. The information on the website pages tend to be static information. For example, your book once it’s out is not going to change much. Reviews, Biography, Contact etc aren’t going to change every week so an update with your web design once a month would be fine but when it comes to your blog, it’s better if you learn how to navigate around it because you will be updating that more often. If you can’t afford a web designer, find a wordpress template that allows you to add pages such as ‘Contact’, ‘About’ and any other pages you want.

Carolyn Kaufman’s post Building Your Book/Author website and How to Make Your Personal Brand Visible with Social Media at jeffbullas.com give you more information on branding.

It’s not easy but it’s not impossible.

So what can you do today to get one step closer to getting the website and blog that you want?

[pic taken from here]

Similar Posts ~

What do you need in a website?

What to have on your website (part 1)?

What to have on your website (part 2)?

“Keep away from small people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” Mark Twain – Writer

CURRENT STATUS: Reminder, Motivator and Daily Review Meeting (Read on if you want to join me in my Corporation of One meeting)

What l learnt today:

• Need to sort out my Facebook page. There is nothing on it. And as BubbleCow has rightly reminded me in the post Why Have a Facebook Fan Page?
• Read this article 7 Essential Steps to Creating Your Content Masterpiece at CopyBlogger.com. Amazingly inspiring. Shows how you can provide tips and inspire at the same time. Definitely something I want to dip back to at a later point to remind myself that it takes hard work but it’s worth it.
• You can tweak your blog and website forever; so decide what you want to do, do it and then stop.
• I’m not alone when it comes to the MBISB phase of writing. Gregory Frost says it’s normal in his post The Literary Aperient. I have My-Book-is-So-Boring-itist. But you’ve got to push on right?

What I have done today:

• Added some more information to my Linkedin account.
• Joined Website Grader (via jeffbullas.com)

WORD COUNT: Night Walker 122,000 in total. Tuesday 6 July 500 words.