Our team recently provided branding and publishing for speaker Brian Dennis. We guided Brian through the process of self-publishing his second book while at the same time created his brand, built his website and designed his marketing toolkit within a 4 month period. The expedited schedule was precipitated on an important upcoming speaking opportunity for Brian. My publishing team members edited his book, designed the book interior, finished the cover, converted it into an ebook and uploaded the files to Kindle, Barnes & Noble and Apple within 3 months. Meanwhile, other members of my team created his brand and marketing toolkit with a new…
My team is always finding ways we can cut costs and time yet retain high quality in website design. Recently I’ve been telling my clients and prospects, “A DIVI Theme Website Looks Custom But Costs Less.” Most websites are built in WordPress now, and my website design team found a third party template called DIVI by Elegant Themes that integrates very well with WordPress. We’ve found it has the robust capability and features to deliver on this promise. It is very flexible and responsive with lots of premade layouts and content elements, saving hundreds of hours of laborious coding. The flexibility allows us…
Before you produce a marketing piece you may want to consider the following steps to save time and money. For over 25 years I have been helping solopreneurs and small businesses with brochures, postcards and campaigns. We guide our clients through these steps to produce stunning designs with compelling content in a timely fashion within their budgets. Here’s how we do it: Produce a Marketing Piece by Starting at the End! Ask yourself, “What is the final format that I need?” Is it printed piece, a slide show, postcard, e-mail blast, etc.? Consider the time frame for each phase of the job. How much…
New speakers often ask me how to write a speaker one-sheet. This is a good question since the speaker one-sheet is an important component of a marketing toolkit. One of the most valuable members of my team is editor Barbara McNichol, who is a whiz at writing and editing speaker one-sheets. Long ago she shared with me the crucial questions you must answer before composing the content and headlines for your speaker one-sheet. Answers to the following questions will help you write a speaker one-sheet introductory paragraph and hook: What are the key problems you can solve? Exactly what do you do? (One sentence only – this is…
In February Google announced that on April 21, 2015 Mobile-friendly Websites(also known as “responsive” websites) will get preference in Google’s search engine results. This means if your website has NOT been optimized for mobile devices you may see it fall in Google’s search rankings. Google states this change in their algorithm will have a significant impact on search results. Google is adding this criteria because they have determined that more and more people are using mobile devices to search the internet and these folks will return to mobile-friendly websites over sites that have not been optimized. Mobile-friendly Websites reconfigure graphics and content on mobile devices such as tablets and smart phones so…
Most authors and entrepreneurs know they need some kind of a marketing plan but few actually create one! Perhaps it just sounds like a big, complicated project that they just don’t have time to do. Or, they really don’t know what a marketing plan looks like. Even though we’re a month in to 2015, it’s not too late to get your marketing plan together for this year. In the free video class “Creating Your Marketing Plan for 2015” social media guide Mary Walewski offers a simple 3 step process that you can use to create a simple marketing plan that…
Book marketing guru Brian Jud spoke at the September CIPA (Colorado Independent Publishers Association) meeting about ways to sell books to other markets besides bookstores. He published the book Beyond the Bookstore back in 2009, and has a new updated edition, How to Make Real Money Selling Books. These books show you how to reach unique retail and non-retail market segments, where you can sell mass quantities of self-published books at a time. Many independent publishers have realized the unfortunate impact of returns when working with bookstores. Returns are shipped back to the publisher at the publisher’s expense and often arrived…
Here are the Details of Our 7-Step Brand, Marketing and Website System Are you a new speaker, author, or consultant? Perhaps you’ve been in business for a while but want to raise your presence in the marketplace. We can guide you through the process of branding and marketing your business online. Our experienced team of branding experts, graphic designers, copywriters, website designers, programmers, and search engine specialists will create a dynamic brand and powerful website to help you meet the marketing goals you’ve set for your business. We’ve developed a seamless 7-step system that builds on and leverages the content…
Testimonials, endorsements and case studies are such an important part of marketing yet most small business owners just don’t take full advantage of their power. We all know that referrals from others are our best prospects. Why is that? When a prospect hears good things about you from people they know and trust, they get a sense of confidence you can deliver. In that sense a referral is like an endorsement. How to Get Endorsements Endorsements and testimonials are the bedrock of any marketing program. As a business owner you should ask for endorsements and testimonials immediately after any job…