First Word

Over the years, I've had this discussion with business owners. What privacy settings should you use when you have a Facebook page? The other question centers on who you should allow as a "friend" and should it only be people you really know? I'm going to provide my opinion to each question: Privacy Settings --people who are in business for themselves and promote any material with their actual names on it should never set privacy settings to the strictest levels, which is only friends can see your page. If you use your name on your marketing materials (and this applies to authors in particular) then your "fans" are going to search by your name. The whole point of social media (more important than using it to socializing if you're a business person) is to network and connect with others. Locking down your page and preventing others from reading your Wall puts a barrier between you and your audience. Potential connections who are trying to size up your bu...

I often joke that public relations is much too much like Tinker Bell's fairy dust. You sprinkle on the dust and hope for the magic to happen. When promoting a book, you actually have to rely more on basic analytics and measurable results to understand how and where to promote the book. I've discovered over the past several years that you have to determine which promotional channel (online, print or broadcast) will produce real sales. Here is what I've found overall about each of the channels. Radio -- lots of radio guest appearances are good for cementing the brand name. Radio appearances don't typically trigger sales. They spread the word about the book and cement brand recognition. Books that go into the bookstores will profit from this name and brand recognition. The casual Amazon browser might buy a "familiar" sounding title. Don't expect your book sales to rise right after a radio show appearance. Blogs and Online Magazines and Newspapers -- blo...

I just did a response for Blog Stampede to promote my book California Girl Chronicles . The question was why hire a publicist and not do your own PR? Yes, I could do my own PR just fine since 3L Publishing provides those services, and we use Vocus to access all of North American media. Here is why I am not doing it on my own and I hired my staff member Justine Brown to do it for me. Because I immediately become uncomfortable telling the media it's my book and this is why it's hot ... Justine, on the other hand, has no vested emotional stake talking me and the book up. It's like when you're out with a friend. It's easier and more self-effacing to allow them to share your accomplishments than for you to brazenly tell the world.  You want to put your best foot forward, effortlessly and comfortably. Also, you don't want the appearance of amateur hour. Doing your own PR makes your product or book lose credibility. Now in the case where you're a general business...

We got asked a fun question by a client, "What is your favorite part of your job." My response was instantly writing. Malia, of course, admitted the wins on the PR side gave her a charge to which I responded, "Yeah, that gives you an instant boost." I joked that it's like Sally Fields infamous Oscars speech where she cries, "You like me! You really like me." The real reason for the rise is hidden in the satisfaction that your hard work is being accepted by the media as a good job. It's really an ego boost friends. As if we need mass acceptance to know we did a good job, but you know ... it helps. I have to tell you that response is my second favorite thing about what I do. It's the "yessss" moment we in the PR business work hard to achieve. And even better -- this week I had five of those moments! "Yessss!" Want to gleefully cry, "You like me," contact 3L to start your campaign today.

Whenever I give my talks on building your marketing platform for your book or business, I get a lot folks who look at me with a grimace when the answer to, "How often should I blog?" comes back with "every day." Most people hold their groans only to replace it with an uncontrolled frown and a brisk, "Including Sunday?" Yes, friend-Os including Sunday. I know the horror, the horror. If you miss a weekend, don't despair; but I can tell you my analytics show that a decent number of readers show up on Sunday, because my weekly newsletter First Word (another horror ... "weekly" newsletter) drives traffic to my blog. Why do I blog so much? Is it that I have so much to say I can't constrain my type-hungry fingers? Not exactly. I watch my analytics (if you don't know what is analytics, Google it) and if I don't miraculously manage to make my fingers do the tapping, my readership drops. I know this is an ugly truth for the less prolific; b...

Success in business isn't arbitrary, airy-fairy stuff. No magic-wand waving and poof! You have a successful and profitable business. I see people make it. I see people try to make it. I see people who want to make it. What I know with absolute certainty is that success and making a business work takes tenacity to overcome and plow through. Wear-with-all to hold up under fire. And a whole of persistence to make it work even when it clearly looks unworkable. You maintain your passion and dream, but also be open to retool and rework and reinvent when things don't go your way. I've had my moments to be sure when I watched my often shaky house of cards get a little shakier, but I've also been open to trying something different -- something with a fresh twist on an old model. Sometimes you just have to sit back and re-evaluate the what's next. And here is something super important: Be prepared to move your fixed thoughts out of the way. Sometimes those fixed thoughts may ...

I have recently been challenged with some absurd moments or comments out the mouths of folks who should know better. I have to tell you, I think other people's absurdities -- especially when these observations are made about others -- are pretty entertaining. You can't take these things seriously, because they are so ridiculous. I thought I would throw out for your amusement some of the moments I found ridiculous or just plain absurd. Here you go. "You don't understand what it's like to have a new baby." This statement came from a primary source of the ridiculous, and might I add, the invalidating. I have two children for the record. So, before I tell you why this statement was really just a way to invalidate my capacity to understand the difficulties of young mothers, my daughter is only seven-years-old so she is not that many years passed baby or toddler. For someone to make that suggestion about a mom who has two school-age children is absolutely absurd....

Over the years, a common theme in my life is that people call me a "work horse." For some reason my mind flashes to a Clydesdale humping the farm field, dragging a heavy plow. I shake my head and return to reality now. Since I'm no fan of the idea that one must pull a heavy plow to get a lot of work done in a day, I thought I would much rather give you some tips on why it is that most people seem to associate the Clydesdale with yours truly. The real reason is that over the years I have learned some important lessons on how to get a lot done in a day. I thought you would appreciate my insight. Organization first and routine second -- when I first got into business, I set up my paperwork and got all my primary documentation stored and on-the-ready. I have central contracts, invoices and legal documents pre-written and on stand-by for when a need rises. I recently had a very unappreciative former business associate who worked with me and asked for assistance in this area...

I recently answered a questionnaire about marketing for small businesses. I thought I would share my answers with the rest of you to help other businesses.  1) How important is having an organized and successful marketing plan? What key areas should one think about when developing a marketing plan?   My personal opinion is that a marketing plan is your roadmap really toward your tactics. I think your overall strategies and goals are important but really drive what you are going to do tactically to take action to drive your marketing campaign. The strategies lay out your intention to reach what markets and why -- your goals are your milestones toward results. Your tactics, however, state what tools and techniques will you employ to reach those goals. Without a clear plan, marketing leaders will pursue their marketing campaigns in a much more haphazard and random way -- and stumble toward success or not achieve success at all. 2) What are a few easy online mark...

I read on the airplane the book "Built to Last," which inspired me to reinforce some of our core business values. I've been beating the internal drum at 3L Publishing that everything we do results in high-quality products and customers beyond satisfied. What this book showed me is that companies that look beyond the bottom line toward a greater organizational value endure through the years as great institutions. I want my company to grow and endure through great vision and innovation. So, I got to thinking about our core value and those three thoughts -- excellence, high quality products and services and superior customer service -- resonated with me. I shared my thoughts today with Malia, our account and operations manager, and inspired her to think about it too. So as we as a full-service team build on those values and grow, I hope to leave a legacy of endurance -- and one we can all be proud to be a part of.

This statement came from my operations manager -- and I was so tickled by it, I thought I would blog about it. Cheating on your homework or asking your buddy if you can use her homework to copy is the same as asking an associate for her contract, forms and spreadsheets for your business. The answer should always be, "No, you can't have my homework," and that answer also applies to school-yard politics too. Friends should not allow friends to cheat. Business associates should not allow business associates to cheat either. It's also called taking advantage of someone -- and that's not nice either. You should never be disrespectful to another person's hard word and ask to "borrow" their "stuff" -- and you should most assuredly not be asking to take their stuff without paying them either -- that's called slavery. And in case you had not heard, that was abolished in 1865. So for the record if you're asking to use/borrow or steal (that if...

Where's your passion? What motivates you? Answers to these questions applied to your business are not all sappy and sweet -- the answers are meaningful to your success. When we do things motivated by either greed or a shallow need for attention, our success doesn't always follow. I'm not saying that greedy people don't get what they're seeking. Just look at the crash of Wall Street and those greedy souls. They got what they sought all right. I am saying that when we run our business without heart, it may not go as well as expected. In my business in particular, it can be a lot of flash in the pan. You can get a lot of attention as a publisher. You get to attend parties. You can a lot of media attention. You get to meet famous people. While that all sounds interesting and good to stroke someone's ego, it's not the reason we're in business. But for those who are attracted to this business with a desire to stroke their egos, it's always going to fly in ...

No better way to learn not to do something than to see what others blunder or blooper. I've seen some really funny bloopers as of late. I've also seen some shameful and sloppy blunders. Almost all of it, though, has to do with a lack of thoughtful attention to detail. The key to business and life, for that matter, is to slow down, think about it, and then do it. Business people who don't take enough time to slow down or give something its due, make often egregious and embarrassing errors. I thought I would share some of the whoppers I've been privy to. Brochures, websites and press releases with the wrong company name . How does this one happen? you ask with complete confusion, as I did. I mean, really ? You couldn't stop long enough to get the name of the company, product or service correct on someone's brochure, website copy, press release or any other collateral piece. What does this tell the client? Here are some not-so-good choices: A. You're too hur...

Week after week, I am awed by some people's sense of entitlement. Just when I think it couldn't get anymore ridiculous it just goes to the next level. In fact, some people feel so entitled, I almost feel like I should just get it over with and hand over my ATM card with my PIN. When did this happen to our society? Or has it always been that way and I was just happily going along with my head shoved in the sand. I recently encountered a situation where even though we had already spent thousands of out-of-pocket dollars, the associate continued to press for more. Even when it was put in writing and demonstrated how much money had been poured into the project, it didn't seem to make any difference. The associate was still committed to the idea they we somehow owed her more. Here is the truth. "Give an inch take a mile" was made up because the person quoted experienced what I just described. You are not entitled to anything. Even those most privileged people are not e...

Yesterday I devised this unique rating system. It's called the "Hand-Slap" system. I decided that for every silly or ridiculous thing I saw someone do with their marketing, PR or book, I would rate it based on how many hand slaps I thought it deserved to let them know a measure of how "bad" it was. And when I say, "bad," I mean bad for business, bad for your image, bad for your brand, and just an all-inclusive bad! A version of this will appear in my newsletter too. So here is the rating systems decoded: 1H = moderately bad; 2H = bad enough to mention; 3H = not good; 4H = should not do it; and 5H = what were you thinking? So, here are some recently reviewed acts that require the slap-down. True Confessions in Memoirs that Include Terrible Deeds = 5H True confessions are salacious and draw people in. They are titillated and want to hear what you're going to confess. It's OK to "confess" stories where you learned an important and val...