Tag Archives: Success

The Beast and I

The Beast and I

 

Keeping track of each of the 20,200 or so people who follow me on Twitter would be a 24/7 job if I had a couple of assistants. I don’t, so, naturally, the ones who stand out tend to get the most attention.

Drew Williams up in Toronto stands out.

Maybe it’s his “avatar”. It looks like this:

I vaguely wondered what it represented and I didn’t find out until just recently. It’s his Beast.

I found out the usual way – accidentally.

One day, I was ranting about problems with my so-far-unwritten new book. My agent had retired and everyone at my last publishing company was brand new. Help!

Drew, whose Twitter bio says “Happy to help you any way I can”, actually did help. He and his writing partner, Jonathan Verney, are nursing their new book through the publishing process. He told me they were working with McGraw-Hill; after some emailing back and forth, he sent me his editor’s name.

How nice is that?

I asked him about his book and he sent me a Preview, and I’m looking forward to getting a real copy when it comes out in July. The title is Feed the Start-Up Beast. A 7-Step Guide to Big Hairy Outrageous Sales Growth.

Drew and Jonathan write about patience, persistence and a Plan, all of which entrepreneurs (like me) need. Even better, though, is that the book provides a roadmap to success.

Feed the Beast isn’t theory. It’s real business through and through. But this is about how the Social Media world, especially Twitter, is a great place to meet new friends, like Drew Williams. And if you’re not involved yet, on a personal level, you probably should consider it.

The Power of A Great Letter

The Power of A Great Letter

People underestimate the power one great letter can have for their business. I’ve had several people call me or email me, to ask for my opinion on a direct mail campaign. Most of the time, they’re so worried about how it looks, that they don’t bother to really worry about the offer.

I recently spoke at the Coral Ridge Country Club in Ft. Lauderdale for a group of entrepreneurs, at an event called BIG Breakfast. When I explained to them, that 40% of the success of a direct mail campaign is the offer, they looked at me as if I had two heads. I continued on to tell them that another 40% is the list they’re mailing to, and the final 20% is the creative. What do most people spend their time on? Of course, the fun stuff… the creative.

A common problem we encounter is that most businesses don’t understand the science behind direct mail.

To a critical and untutored eye a great direct mail letter doesn’t look like much. It looks simple, which is much more difficult to achieve than something sophisticated – a word that in this context usually means corporate gobbledygook. The critic reading the direct mail letter is rarely a member of the target audience so, naturally, the letter doesn’t resonate.

If you’d like to read some great examples of how simple letters work very well, visit my recent Forbes article:

Hope you’ll pick up an idea or two for your own business. Let me know how it works out.

The Power of the Strong List

The Power of the Strong List


(The people are spelling out “Strong”)

I was reading an article the other day about “The Social Network” movie (“How Facebook Really Won the Social Media War…“) and it said something that I’ve been saying for years! There is Power in the List.

The movie was nominated for an Oscar, not because of the genius directing or their brilliant acting, but really for the depiction of how Facebook went from being an idea to a phenomenon that affected 500 million people!

The key to their success was in the power of their list! Being a Direct Marketer I’ve always known the value of having the right list. Remember, the 40-40-20 Rule. 40 percent of the success of a campaign lies in the list! When you have the right audience, you are more likely to be a success.

In “The Social Network” Mark Zuckerberg had to make decisions that were crucial to his success. He knew that in order to make “The Facebook” (It’s then name) a success, he had to get Eduardo Saverin’s (friend and co-founder) email list. His idea was that if he could get the emails of the Pheonix (a prominent social club at Harvard) it would make all the difference. Sending it to his personal list wouldn’t get them very far.

Zuckerberg was smart in that he knew if he got to the “popular” crowd first, the rest would follow their lead.

Are you targeting the right list? If you’re not too sure, then call us at our office 646.723.3231 or email me for some ideas at loisgeller@loisgellermarketinggroup.com.