Successful Reads

The New Rules of Marketing & PR by David Meerman Scott – Book Review

Leisa Watkins — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 07:00:03 +0000

The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly is a roadmap to navigating the world of online marketing. Author David Meerman Scott provides tips and techniques on how to market your product, your idea, or your services using the power of social media, blogs, news releases, online video, and viral marketing to reach your target market directly. And reading this book could help you outline an online marketing campaign for your business. Perhaps, you are doing quite well at creating compelling content for your website, but could learn from the section on using press releases to get your business found.

Unless you are a well rounded online marketer you’ll quite likely learn some important tips from this book. However, if you are looking for step-by-step detail on how to use video to market your business online than this is not the book for you as it doesn’t go into great detail about how to implement each phase of that campaign. It does however, help new marketers understand basic tools such as RSS feeds and YouTube videos.

It starts out coming “How to Web Has Change the Rules of Marketing and PR.” That section provides valuable insight for those who do not fully understand how marketing online differs from offline marketing, and how trying to use the old marketing methods can really hurt your business online.

The next section talks about how to use “Web-Based Communications to Reach Buyers Directly.” It covers using social media to reach your target audience, the benefit of blogs, the benefits of using audio and video to drive action, how to use press releases, the importance of creating a content-rich web site, and how some marketing campaigns spread throughout the interent.

Section three is designed to help you develop an action plan. It covers:

Building your marketing and PR plan.
Using thought leadership to develop your organization into a trusted Resource.
How to write for your specific audience.
How internet content influences the buying process and how to help that process along.
The importance of using social networking sites as part of your overall marketing campaign.
How to reach your buyers through blogging.
How to use video and podcasting as part of your overall marketing campaign.
How to use news releases. The benefits of having an online media room and best practices in creating one.
How reaching the media has changed. Use that information to create a new media relations plan.
Search engine marketing and why it is important.

And tips on how to make it all happen.

Each of the topics above are covered in one chapter. But let’s face it, entire books have been written about each one of those topics. So this isn’t a step-by-step how to guide, but it is a good overview of how to make it all work for you and your business.

I have been marketing online for years, and I learned some new tips that I will use to market online. I give this book a four star rating and overall recommend this book to anyone who needs to develop an online marketing campaign for their their services, their products, or their ideas.

The New Rules of Marketing and PR is available at Amazon.

Genre: Marketing
Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Wiley (June 4, 2007)
ISBN-10: 0470113456
ISBN-13: 978-047011345

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The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz – Book Review

Leisa Watkins — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 17:32:02 +0000

The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz is a classic self-help book that sets out to show how success is determined by the size of your thinking – and not the size of your brain. But it does more than introduce the concepts – it demonstrates how one can get more out of life and enjoy it more. It teaches one to live big in all areas of life - career, relationships, business, and finances by expecting more out of life.

David helps one determine which thought patterns are trapping us in a smaller existence. One way he does that is by illustrating each “primary concept” with real-life examples that we can parallel with our own life and see if we can find a way to think bigger.

The book covers a lot of success principles – but coming in at only 188 pages it only briefly touches on many of those topics. So if you are expecting to find details on how to implement every one of those principles of success you’re not going to find it in this book. But if you look at it as a way to inventory the thought patterns you currently use in your life and discover those those thought patterns you could do better at than this book could be of great help to you.

But keep in mind that many books could, and have been, written on the theme of each chapter:

Believe You Can Succeed and You Will
Cure Yourself of Excusitis, The Failure Disease
Build Confidence and Destroy Fear
How to Think Big
You Are What You Thin You Are
Manage Your Environment: Go First Class
Make Your Attitudes Your Allies
Think Right Towards People
Get the Action Habit
How to Turn Defeat Into Victory
Use Goals to Help You Grow
How to Think Like a Leader

Originally published in 1959 there has been lots of material written on all of the topics covered so many people will find their isn’t anything really “new” here. But keep in mind that much of it was fairly new then as the self-help industry was just starting to grow.

With those words of warning, I do have to say I enjoyed the book when I first read it over twenty years ago and I still enjoy reading it now and again to help me inventory those areas of my life that could be keeping me from achieving a higher level of success.

For example, today I read…

“You will discover that excusitis explains the difference between the person who is going places and the fellow who is barely holding his own. You will find that the more successful the individual, the less included he is to make excuses.

But the fellow who has gone nowhere and has no plans for getting anywhere always has a bookful of reasons to explain why. Persons with mediocre accomplishments are quick to explain why they haven’t, why they don’t, why they can’t, and why they aren’t.

Study the lives of successful people and you’ll discover this: all the excuses made by the mediocre fellow could be but aren’t made by the successful person.”

So I used that as an opportunity to inventory my own life and I found one excuse I have been using way to much lately is “lack of time.” (I need to work on a plan to outsource more).

So what will you get out of this book?

If you are looking for some “new secret” that will catapult you to to success than you won’t find it here.

But if you are looking for some insight into your life and for tips you can use to level up your success than this book can help you do that. No doubt, if you’ll gain a new perspective each time you read it.

Naturally – the Magic of Thinking Big isn’t in the book – but it is within you. This book will do nothing to improve your life if you don’t look for the lessons and apply them to your own life.Similar Posts:

Little Red Book of Selling by Jeffrey Gitomer

Leisa Watkins — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 20:48:46 +0000

The Little Red Book of Selling book by Jeffrey Gitomer is full of bite-sized pieces of sales information all designed to inspire and encourage the reader to become more of an expert in sales. In it Jeffrey answers the question that a lot of people in sales ask all the time:

What’s the difference between failure and success in salespeople?

It’s not usually technique. But rather attitude.

Jeffrey outlines the fundamentals that successful sales people do as well as the way successful people think.

The basic fundamentals outlined are:

Believe you can.
Create the environment.
Have the right associations.
Exposure yourself to what’s new.
Plan for the day.
Become valuable.
Have the answers your prospects and customers need.
Recognize opportunity.
Take advantage of opportunity.
Take responsibility.
Take action.
Make mistakes.
Willing to risk.
Keep your eyes on the prize.
Balance yourself.
Invest, don’t spend.
Stick at it until you win.
Develop and maintain a positive attitude.
Ignore idiots and zealots.

In the introduction he touches briefly on each of those then he outlines additional principles necessary for true sales success.

But…

He does it in that “in your face” style that Jeffrey is know for. Just take a look at the titles of the twelve principles he covers:

Principle 1: Kick Your Own Ass.
Principle 2: Prepare to Win, or Lose To Someone Who Is
Principle 3: Personal Branding is Sales: It’s Not You Know, It’s Who Knows You.
Principle 4: It’s All About Value, It’s All About Relationship, It’s Not All About Price.
Principle 5: It’s Not Work, It’s NETWork.
Principles 6: It You Can’t Get In Front of the Real Decision Make, You Suck
Principle 7: Engage Me and You Can Make Me Convince Myself
Principle 8: If You Can Make Them Laugh, You Can Make Them Buy!
Principle 9: Use Creativity To Differentiate and Dominate
Principe 10: Reduce Their Risk, And You’ll Covert Selling To Buying
When You Say It About Yourself It’s Bragging. When Someone Else Says It About You, It’s Proof.
Antenna’s Up!

There is a chapter devoted to each of those principles. They aren’t chapters full of fluff and sales stories. But rather, simply full of sales principles and tips. I say sales principles because some people will believe that this is more of a book on self-improvement than on sales. If you are looking for a step-by-step how to sales book. This isn’t the book for that.

But..

If you are looking for a book that you can pick-up and study for a few minutes every day to help you become better at sales than this is great for that purpose. You could think of it as a daily sales devotional.

The layout of the book makes it quick and easy to read. It’s printed in full color with key points in bold, and plenty of graphics .

For example, the sidebar contains “red whine” the term he uses to identify the excuses for failure people use all the time. He counters that with a red selling response. The solution that great sales people use to deal with those excuses. One such “red whine” is “Nobody knows me.” The “Red Selling Response: If you brand yourself people will know you.”

I’ve noticed that people who read this book either hate it or love it. There doesn’t seem to be much middle group. Me I really like it.Similar Posts:

I Love To Blog, I Love To Read, So Why?

Leisa Watkins — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 02:32:03 +0000

I love to blog. And I love to read. So why do I find it so hard to peck out a book review on this blog? I’ve been asking myself that for some time.

During the past few years I’ve devoured book after book. I have a stack here of success oriented sitting here on the shelf books waiting to be reviewed. But those blog posts are something I so easily put off.

The reason, I believe is this…

I believe to much in “Perfection.”

I’m not sure why, but I tend to look at a book review a little differently that the other blog posts I make on other sites. I feel that I can’t write a book review unless it is an in-depth, and well-researched book review.

You know the kind…

The ones like the critics post on places like Amazon.

Well I’ve decided that I am tired of feeling like a book blogger failure.

So here is what I have decided to do…

I’ll share with you a few of the concepts I learned from the book. Perhaps something about how the book helped me to solve a specific problem. I’ll share my insights on who the book may help. I’ll share with you a few of my favorite quotes and passages. And I’ll leave the long-winded book reviews to others.

So expect more posts.

After all, I’ve got this big stack of books here just waiting for me.Similar Posts:

Words That Work by Dr. Frank Luntz

Leisa Watkins — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 21:16:08 +0000

Would you like to learn how to better communicate your ideas? Would you like to learn how to motivate others with your words?

Yes?

Well, you’re sure to find more than a few ideas on how to communicate more effectively in the book Words that Work: It’s Not What You Say, It’s What People Hear by Frank Luntz.

You see, Frank’s books goes to the core of how the words you use persuade. It contains useful information on how to best organize your words to enable your message to get across, how the meaning of words can change, and how carefully replacing just a single word can change many peoples view on a certain subject.

Dr. Frank Luntz recommends these rules to create more effective communication

Simplicty: Use small words.
Brevity: Use short sentences.
Credibility is as important as philosophy.
Consistency matters.
Novelty: Offer Something New.
Sound and texture matter.
Speak aspirationally.
Visualize.
Ask a question.
Provide context and explain relevance.

Not only does the book provide you with some rules of communication, but Words that Work is full of examples that demonstrate how simple words can make a huge difference in politics, business, and relationships.

You’ll find that many of those examples are taken from politics. But as you read, carefully looks at the examples and ask yourself what you can learn from it. Using these methods you’re sure to further your communication skills.

Trickery and Deceit?

No doubt, some people will say to avoid the book as these methods are a form of trickery and deceit. If you are using words to sell snake oil, than the methods could easily become a form of trickery or deceit. However, if you are using words to help sell noble ideas and values than how could they be?

So, increase your chances of success, focus on how to be understood, and learn skills to further your success. After all, the words you use can mean the difference between success and failure.Similar Posts:

The Intellectual Devotional by David S. Kidder and Noah D. Oppenheim

Leisa Watkins — Sun, 03 May 2009 18:55:22 +0000

I love to learn, but often find it difficult to fit in as much educational time as I would like. David. S. Kidder and Noah D. Oppenheim have come up with an easy way to easily increase your knowledge. Simply read a page a day from their book The Intellectual Devotional.

Each day of the week is devoted to a specific topic:

Monday – History
Tuesday – Literature
Wednesday – Visual Arts
Thursday – Science
Friday – Music
Saturday – Philosophy
Sunday – Religion

Of course there will be plenty of topics in the The Intellectual Devotional that you already know about, but chances are that you will learn something new on that subject. For example, during the first week you’ll learn about…

Monday – Day 1 (History) The Alphabet

Did you know that the Egyptians developed the alphabet as an easy way to communicate with their slaves, and when these slaves eventually migrated back to their home country they took the writing system with them?

Tuesday – Day 2 (Literature) Ulysses by James Joyce

Did you know the novel Ulysses by James Joyce was banned from the United States for nearly twelve years due to the sexual imagery.

Wednesday, Day 3 (Visual Arts) – Lascaux Cave Paintings

The creators of the painters made use of perspective, they painted the figures high on the wall, and a manner that would not be distorted to the viewers below.

Thursday – Day 4 (Science) Cloning

You’ll read about Dolly the Sheep. However, did you know that Dolly’s
telomeres (a thin strand of protein at the end of the chromosomes) are the same as the mothers. A newborn sheep would normally have much longer telomeres. Telomeres seem to help protect our cells and get thinner as we age. So there could be some truth to all those science fiction stories of clones aging quickly.

Friday – Day 5 (Music) The Basics of Music

I played the Viola for many years so I have some musical background. However, I did learn that in India the musical pitches are chosen from a collection of twenty-two possibilities, and the distance between the steps on a scale are sometimes are larger and sometimes smaller than those used in the Western world. This makes the differences between the pitches in Indian music very subtle.

Saturday – Day 6 (Philosophy) Appearance and Reality

I learned about a group of philosophers called the Presocratics. While I had heard of each of these philosophers before I didn’t know they believed the world was vastly different from what the experienced. For example, Thales held the belief that all reality was ultimately composed of water, while Heraclitus believed the world was built from fire.

Sunday – Day 7 (Torah)

Torah scrolls are written in Hebrew by hand. They contain 304,805 letters and make take more than a year to produce. If a single mistake is made, the entire scroll becomes invalid.

I recommend this book for several reasons.

It’s a great way to expand your knowledge about a wide variety of subjects.
Each day’s reading is a quick read – just one page.
The things you learn can be a great way to start a conversation. This is a lesson I learned from my teenage son.
can always tell when he has been reading the book as he uses the things he learned to start a conversations with me. He just revealed to me that one of his major motivations to reading it is to find something interesting to talk about, and interesting ways to start a conversation. Personally I think that is brilliant, but then I think he is brilliant most of the time. Interestingly the 2nd and 3rd book in the series uses the words “converse confidently” in the title.

One thing that would have improved the experience for me would be additional illustrations, particularly for the art subjects. For example, when reading about the Lascaux Cave Paintings it would have been wonderful to have an illustration to look at.

Genre: Daily Lessons/Devotional
Published by Rodale in 2006.
Hardcover; 364 pages.
List price is $24.00
ISBN: 1-59486-513-2

>>Currently available at Amazon.com for $16.32

Also from David. S. Kidder and Noah D. Oppenheim

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Readers Choice Poll: What is the Best Novel of All Time?

Leisa Watkins — Sat, 02 May 2009 17:37:07 +0000

In a previous post I ranked novels into a list called The Top Novels of All Time. I did this by referring to six different best-seller lists and averaging the score to determine each books placement on the list.

Referring back to that list only, I thought it would be interesting to see what our readers think should be the ranking of the books on that list.

So take the poll below and tell us which books would be in your top ten.

Also…

I know that many of you will have many books in your top 100 that aren’t even on this list. After all, this list doesn’t have many of the modern books on it so click here to add your book to a readers choice listing. Eventually your favorites will go head-to-head with the Top 100 Book listing in the Ultimate Book Showdown.

To review: vote for your favorite in the poll below then tell us which books you would like to see on that list by clicking here.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

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What! This Book Isn’t On The 100 List?

Leisa Watkins — Sat, 02 May 2009 17:36:26 +0000

Image Courtesy of bensonkua's Photo Stream

Many of you have favorite books in your top 100 that aren’t on the The Best Books of All Time listing. After all, that list didn’t include many of the modern books on it. So here’s your chance!

What book do you think should be on the list?

Share them in the comment section below. Books that receive a lot of votes (via comments) will be added to a poll that includes the The Top Novels of All Time listing in the Ultimate Book Showdown.Similar Posts:

Best Selling Advice Books May 1st

Leisa Watkins — Sat, 02 May 2009 14:52:05 +0000

New York Times Advice Bestseller List
Published May 1, 2009 for the week ending Apr. 25

Hardcover – Advice

Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man by Steve Harvey with Denene Millner - Relationship tips from the comedian and host of the “Steve Harvey Morning Show.” (13 weeks on the New-York Times Best-seller list)
The Ultimate Depression and Survival Guide by Martin D. Weiss. Strategies for protecting your money in the worst of times. (2 weeks on the New-York Times Best-seller list)
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow. Thoughts on “seizing every moment” from Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon professor who died of pancreatic cancer at age 47. (55 weeks on the New-York Times Best-seller list)
Master Your Metabolism by Jullian Michael with Mariska van Aalst. A plan for removing toxins and rebalancing hormones to lose weight, by a trainer and coach from “The Biggest Loser” on NBC. (3 weeks on the New-York Times Best-seller list).
10-10-10 by Suzy Welch. Evaluating decisions based on how they will affect your life in 10 minutes, 10 months, and 10 years. (2 weeks on the New-York Times Best-seller list)
B Is For Beer by Tom Robbins. Lessons, pleasant and unpleasant, about beer, as taught to a kindergartner named Gracie. (1 week on the New-York Times Best-seller list)
The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. The law of attraction as a key to getting what you want. (120 weeks on the New-York Times Best-seller list)
Think Like a Champion by Donald J. Trump with Meredith McIver. (Vanguard, $24.95.) Informal essays on success in business and in life. (1 week on the New-York Times Best-seller list)
The Deen Family Cookbook, by Paula Deen. Recipes from the extended Deen clan. (3 weeks on the New-York Times Best-seller list)
In Praise of Stay-At-Home Moms, by Laura Schlessinger. Advice, support and compassion for mothers. (3 weeks on the New-York Times Best-seller list)

Paperback – Advice

The Love Dare by Stephen and Alex Kendrick with Lawrence Kimbrough. A 40-day challenge for spouses to practice unconditional love. (31 weeks on the New-York Times Best-seller list)
Hungry Girl 200 Under 200 by Lisa Lillien. Two hundred recipes under 200 calories, for breakfast, lunch, dinner or snack time. (2 weeks on the New-York Times Best-seller list)
Naturally Thin, by Bethenny Frankel with Eve Adamson. Rules and recipes of escaping the diet trap, fro a start of “The Real Housewives of New York City.” (7 weeks on the New-York Times Best-seller list)
What to Expect When You’re Expecting by Heidi Murkoff and Sharon Mazel. Advice for parents-to-be. (408 weeks on the New-York Times Best-seller list)
The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman. How to communicate love in a way a spouse will understand. (91 weeks on the New-York Times Best-seller list)
Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin. Vegan diet advice from the world of modeling. (94 weeks on the New-York Times Best-seller list)
The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren. Finding meaning in on’es life through God. (47 weeks on the New-York Times Best-seller list)
Twilight by Mark Cotta Vaz. A behind-the-scenes look a the film based on the vampire romance for young adults by Stephanie Meyer. (28 weeks on the New-York Times Best-seller list)
The Power of Now by Eckhart Toole. A guide to personal growth and spiritual enlightenment. (67 weeks on the New-York Times Best-seller list)
A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. A spiritual teacher prescribes letting go of the ego to help end conflict and suffering.

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Tips For Starting a Successful Book Club

Leisa Watkins — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 23:58:04 +0000

Image Courtesy of wander.lust

The first step in starting a new book club is to decide on a theme of the club. If you enjoy mysteries you may want to start a mystery book club. If you enjoy personal development you may want to start a self-improvement book club.

You’ll then want to set a date and time for your first meeting and invite prospective members to that first meeting. Keep in mind that we often tend to look for people that have the same views as us, however that can lead to boring discussions. A book club can be much more interesting if you have people with various attitudes and viewpoints.

The first meeting should be used to decide the clubs guidelines or rules, and to decide which book you will be reading first.

Some of the things you may want to discuss are:

What are the prospective members expectations?
What type of book club would they like?
What types of books do they like to read? Ask each member to come up with two or three book suggestions.
Determine who is responsible for what. Each member should take on some of the responsibilities.
Decide if people who haven’t finished the book would be allowed to attend.
Determine what will be done about potential problems. Many of these should be decided on ahead of time so everyone knows what is expected of them. Some potential problems that can arise is smoking, allergies to pets, cell phone usage, and tardiness.
Determine what size your group will be.
How will membership be selected?
Can people bring guests?
When will you meet? Set-up a schedule.
Where will you meet? Some clubs will meet at a specific location such as a club house, other clubs will rotate meetings between members homes.
Decide what you will do if your club meeting falls on a holiday, and who makes the ultimate decisions on whether a meeting is cancelled, or moved.
Is it up to the group leader, or does the group decide by vote? Decide if you would like to limit books to a certain dollar amount or less.
Determine the meeting format. Will there be food at the meetings? If so, who will be responsible for providing food? What kinds of food will you serve? Do you want to limit it to snacks, or is this a brunch type of meeting with complete with a lunch. Determining a price limit as well is usually a good idea.
How will the book discussions take place?
Will one specific person lead the book discussions? One possibility is the person who recommended the book in the first place. Or it may be a permanent leader who is great at getting people to talk about the book.

Finally, set up a schedule of the books you’ll be reading and determine who will host, who will lead the discussion, and who will provide any food or snacks if you are using them.

Have your first book discussion and reevaluate anything that isn’t working.

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