I’ve been listening to Howard Stern since I was 15.

Growing up in New Jersey, it wasn’t uncommon to have the radio tuned to 92.3KROCK while I was dressing for school. College was the same as my dorm-mates, some as far away as Georgia, Texas and California, were introduced to the highly controversial, animated yet entertaining Howard Stern.

The battles with the FCC and Howard’s radio competition, were both fierce and entertaining, including Mark and Brian from L.A. and the Zookepper from Philly

In 2006, Howard and his crew signed a mega-deal with SiriusXM radio, a subscription-based, satellite radio service where paying customers could tune in so long as they had the necessary hardware and were paying their subscription.

In late 2011, NBC and its new and popular t.v. show, America’s Got Talent, announced it would be signing Howard Stern as the judge to replace Piers Morgan.

This caused some controversy as some pundits all over the country stated that Howard would ruin the show because of his ‘bad-boy’ image and on-air antics.

I disagree.

If anyone has ever listened to Howard, they would observe that Howard has some of the most loyal audiences in radio history. Throughout the years Howard fans have endured contract battles, complaints from the FCC and threats to cancel the shock-jock’s radio show.

So, what does it matter for you or your business?

Simple: The genius behind Howard’s radio show is not the stripper segments or fart jokes but the intimate nature in which Howard connects with the audience.  Howard was “opening’ up to his audience even before there was reality television.

Open up and share a little about you. Tell your customers that you care and more importantly, show them you care.

As Seth Godin says, “Your audience is smarter than you think.” Go ahead and cut a quick video to show your clients and customers what your service means to them.

If you can get a following like Howard, you can do anything, even get signed by NBC, the same company that infamously fired the same man over 25 years ago.

This video is a hit on several fronts, appealing to Star Wars fans, and family audiences.

It is known as America’s Pastime because because during the late 19th and early 20th century the game of baseball was the most widely played sport in the U.S.

But for so many, it is a difficult sport.

Think about it, for a minute. If a baseball batter bats .400 in the Major Leagues, he will go to the hall of fame.  But, looking at it another way, that means that the batter has failed 6 out of 10 times at bat.

Our school systems have taught us that marking 4 out of 10 correct answers is a failure.

So, what is the real lesson.

It is ok to fail and fail often as long as you can take some lessons away from the bruises, you’ll be stronger and better in the process.

On Monday, December, 26th, I presented to our local networking group, Insider Secrets to Sensational Marketing, where I offered some free tips on growing your business using a proven marketing system.

Download the entire presentation for FREE Here: www.themarkarcher.com/content/marketing2.ppt

Our networking group is located in Eastlake, California, a well-established master  community of Chula Vista, California and suburb of San Diego, CA.

We meet every Monday at 11:30 in Eastlake, free-of-charge and discuss strategies and tactics to improve our businesses and pass referrals when appropriate.

You can find more details about our group here on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/eastlakebusines/

The presentation I made was well-received and I’ve setup a link here to view the entire presentation. www.themarkarcher.com/content/marketing2.ppt

I also promised the group that I would provide some additional resources to learn:  In no particular order, here ya go: (I’ve broken the sources in categories to aid the reader)

Marketing (General)
Seth Godin is absolute genius when it comes to marketing and you need to start stacking your library with his books.
You can find him all over Amazon or his marketing blog here: Seth Godin

Jay Conrad Levinson has some great strategies on marketing. Go there and tell me what you think.

Copywriting-Using Hypnotic Words that Sell.
John Carlton is the best teacher when it comes to copywriting.  Everything you will ever need to know about copywriting (well, not everything, but you get the point) you can get by purchasing his workshop or home-study course.  In fact, many of the other marketing teachers that I mention below were once students of John’s.
Get on his list and learn as much as you can from him. http://www.john-carlton.com/

Eben Pagan also known as David De’Angelo, (fellow San Diegan and in the dating advice niche) sells information products, dating advice and is an expert marketer, and copywriter. His workshop, Altitude at: http://www.getaltitude.com/ sells out quickly but is worth every penny. (I have his home-study course and the information is fantastic) You can generally find some of his products for much less expense on ebay.

Frank Kern retired as an internet marketer sometime between 2010 and 2011 and now consults with high-end businesses for high end paychecks. His products like Mass Control are hard to find, but are available on ebay (if you are lucky) He does (occasionally) open his doors to Mass Control product launches every so often. My suggestion is to do a Google search and get on his list.  If you see a Mass Control product for sale on ebay, buy it.

It is worth every penny.

Internet Marketing
(Caution: You can really get lost here stuck in tactics. My advice: take one or two strategies and implement into your business quickly)

Stompernet: I used to be a paid member when the doors first opened and was paying over $800/month. I hear they dropped the fees down to $200/month and back in 2006-2007 the information was pretty good. Check them out here at Stompernet:

Andy Jenkins has a pretty good course on using video with your marketing. You can check him out here: Video Boss (It is currently sold out, but frequently he does open the doors to resell his products)

Trey Smith is one of Frank Kern’s cousins. He has some decent material and has really carved out a neat niche in the iPhone app niche. My advice is to get one or two of his products and see if it is something worthwhile.

Ryan Deiss has some pretty killer programs out there. He offers wide and varied products from using social media to using paid and search traffic tactics. You can find more info. about Ryan here:  http://drivingtraffic.com/

The Warrior Forum is one of the largest (and oldest) forums around in regards to internet marketing. While there are many “haters” out there who just like to bash the gurus or people teaching the stuff, there are also lots of helpful folks who are just starting in the IM world (and have good, effective products) You can also get good, effective advice and decent affordable downloadable products if you have a limited budget.

That’s all for now, go ahead and check out these resources and tell me what you think.

Happy Holidays, Everybody

Check it out and tell us what you think of the video.

Taking the small steps that will equal Big Results.

Nothing.

But really cool video.

We went from an ordinary blog:

Ordinary WordPress Blog

adjective
1.of no special quality or interest; commonplace; unexceptional: One novel is brilliant, the other is decidedly ordinary; an ordinary person.
2.plain or undistinguished: ordinary clothes.
3.somewhat inferior or below average; mediocre.

To hip,  Cooler than cool, the pinnacle of what is “it”. Beyond all trends and conventional coolness.

Tell us what you think of the new look and feel.