First Word

Did you know that whether you’re an author or business professional that you are the “storyteller” of your product or service? Yes, it’s a unique way of looking at it, but you are the person charged with either the oral or written history – whether it be a book or a widget. As Chief Storyteller your job is to inform the world about your product and share it. When you consider it as a “story” vs. “marketing” it puts it in a whole new light, doesn’t it? Marketing and public relations is about spreading the “message” about your product. What “story” are you trying to tell the world? It’s like you’re the oral tradition of your company and it’s being passed down only it’s not to your ancestors it’s to the masses. Your job is to craft a story that is: 1.     Targeted to the right audience and what they want to know about or hear. 2.     It’s compelling and demonstrates the benefits and value. 3.     Most of all it’s ...

Hello First Word Friend-Os. True to the words of Mr. Chris Carter, what a difference a day makes. It also proves my theory that "outflow gets in flow". Just last week I was considering driving Uber to supplement my projects since it had been slow the last month or so. Of course when I told my daughter I was going to drive Uber she objected. "Mom! Someone will kidnap you! You're too pretty!" LOL ... Okay, well I'm fairly certain there are many "pretty" Uber drivers out there who are safe and sound. You have to give it to Cambria for her dramatic flair. I may just drive Uber anyway here and there for fun. Chris said I could write a book of stories about the people I meet. So back to 3L Publishing and books not driving...   So while marketing my little heart out my theory and Chris' sage wisdom all came together. I went from 0-100 in one day . My marketing and promotional efforts paid off. I'm sharing my story to teach you a...

The Daily Cup: Issue 3 ​ Q: What's the worst mistake people make on their websites? A: They either forget to include contact information or they put the information somewhere difficult to find. Many of you might be surprised by that answer. It's true. Businesses and individuals commonly forget to include contact information or a way to contact them. Your contact information should be easy to find, easy to understand, and easy to use. Do not make the mistake of not putting it right on your menu of information. I do not recommend burying it at the bottom of your website either. Many people put a contact link in small font at the bottom of the homepage. Avoid that method. Put it right on the end of the your menu bar items. Always include a phone number and email address. You might also include a submission form. However, do not only provide a submission form. If you have someone's attention you want to capture it. It's only a matter of second before their...

I'm starting a daily blog written exclusively to help business leaders and owners learn more about marketing and public relations tips to grow business. Q: Do you know what your media kit should contain? A: A press release That sound basic enough. Yet many professionals don't know what should be in a media kit. A press release is the most obvious answer, but not everyone knows what a media kit is or what it's for much less what it should contain. A press release is written to give your service, product or business exposure to the media. What does the media want to see? Most media is for entertainment or news. Whether it's broadcast, print or online, every press release should have a "news hook" and the news hook should relate to the headlines of the day or be relevant to something going on in the world. For more information, contact us at 916-300-8012 or send email to info@3LPublishing.com.

Common mistakes I see business owners make are valuable lessons for the rest of us. Here are the most common mistakes I see all of the time. No follow-up mechanisms . Most business people know they need to relationship build and network. They go out and network and/or speak to groups. They take business cards, enjoy a few conversations, find some prospects, and then what? About 75% of the time they return to the office and fail to follow-up. Do you realize that is like throwing money away. Creating opportunities and failure to follow-up is the same as walking to the nearest trashcan and tossing money in. Always make sure you have a follow-up system whether it's a pledge to email or call the person right after the meeting. Spending money on marketing tools and then not using them . Is your signage being used? Are your information sheets being passed out? Are your brochures given out? Do you hand out business cards or leave them in your pocket, wallet or purse? Do you have a news...

The biggest failure I see entrepreneurs do is fail to promote effectively at key moments. If you have a newsletter, blog or website you should have links and information about it on every promo piece. You can't drive traffic to your website simply by having one. You have to advertise and promote it. Blog -- same thing. You have to promote your blog to increase readership. Keywords and social media are not enough. Your blog is designed to market your business and increase visibility and therefore exposure to your brand. You have to spread the word about it at every opportunity. Also, if you're doing speaking engagements, make sure you're either bringing a sign-up sheet to capture audience contact information for a newsletter or to promote an upcoming product or service. Make sure you ask permission (naturally). Again give the audience a business card or postcard to promote your other marketing material. You often have to continually touch your audience until they remember,...

Are you an author? Are you trying to sell your books. I have some unconventional, hands-on tips for you today that come directly from our success at the Tucson Festival of Books . Author Scott D. Roberts whose book Vengeance is Now was being sold from the Author Pavilion - West joined me. We worked as a team to sell his book. All of the authors, who sold virtually nothing that day, all looked at Scott in amazement as he had lines of readers buying his book. Now you want to know what we did that the others didn't do? Here you go... One-Sheet Flyers : We made up one-sheets with reviewer quotes and Pavilion-signing information. Then we did two critical things with those one-sheets: 1) Scott and I got in line for the Scott Turreau signing (author of books like Presumed Innocent , which is also a thriller and in the same genre as Vengeance). Two important points: 1. the people in that particular line like thrillers (obviously) and 2. we had a captive audience of readers who were bor...