Monday, October 7, 2013

How Do You Get Others To Recommend Your Book Or Brand?


There are many, many books written about how one harnesses the power of social media and word-of-mouth promotions. Everyone, it seems, needs or wants to build a brand, sell something, and influence others. We all want to be seen and heard. We are in the look-at-me era. So how does one get the attention they desire?

A new book from McGraw Hill Education, Highly Recommended, purports to tell readers everything one needs to seize the competitive edge and grow one’s company. As authors, you are the company and the brand. Your book is you product.

This book acknowledges that customer recommendations in the digital space have radically transformed the way people buy. New methods to reach and influence customers are being hatched as we speak.

The author, Paul Rand, the president and CEO of Zocalo Group, a leading digital marketing agency, has served as the president of World of Math Marketing Association. He provides five key lessons for influencing others and shows how to implement these principles. Interestingly, he notes, a study conducted by his firm that shows which online source for recommendations actually is claimed by consumers to influence them.

46.5% said YouTube videos reviews worked for them. 46.1% cited a friend liking a brand page on Facebook. 45.5% said an online review worked for them. 44.4% said a news article influenced them. At the lower end were banner ads (18%) and a tweet that mentions a brand (17%).

Perhaps his most obvious statement is the one you need to rally around: “Word of mouth success doesn’t happen by accident. It’s the result of a deliberate strategy and consistent day-to-day – and year-to-year – execution.”

Here are his lessons:

1.      “Develop a clear and purposeful story of how you want people to talk about and recommend both you and your brands.”

2.      “Live your brand.” Act and live the way you want to be seen.

3.      “Be human, be transparent, and live up to mistakes quickly.”

4.      “Stay engaging and interesting.”

5.      “Regularly evaluate and evolve --but stay true to your core.”


So start to get others whispering loudly about you. The sound waves may just echo far enough for others to hear.



Is Samsung Trying To Buy Success?

Nothing wrong with a company investing in a healthy advertising campaign, but one has to question the strategy of Samsung to sell its gadgets via its advertising blitz.

On Sunday, October 6, it took out 10 full-pages ads in The New York Times. It had done a similar thing on Friday the 4th, both in The New York Times and USA Today.  Is it overkill- or does it show desperation- or does it mean it expects to bring in so much business that it can afford to do these ads? In any case, consumers have this advertising cost passed onto them.

But could this be a sign that Samsung wants to buy its way into America’s consciousness- past Apple,  Google and other competitors?

Maybe it’s a good strategy-- it got me to write about them, right? 


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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2013

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