I seem to have a lot of friends who write books, the latest of whom is Jim Kukral. His book even includes a two-page profile of me, focused on how I branded my Ask Dave Taylor business, so it’s got to be good, right? 🙂
Actually, Jim sent me a copy a week or two ago, and it is pretty darn fascinating reading. His subtitle sort of says it all: This Book Will Make You Money: How to Use Attention-Getting Online Marketing to Increase Your Revenue.
What’s cool is that Jim’s offering up two signed copies of the book for free to you, my readers and online community!
If you’d like to be in the running, leave a comment by Aug 31st. Instead of just saying “me! me!”, however, I encourage you to share an anecdote or story about you buying a service or product based purely on your learning about it through social networks or the online world.
For me, it’s a daily occurrence. I’m a film reviewer (see Dave On Film for my reviews) and need to take notes in the dark theater, so I am constantly searching for low-illumination light-up pens. Inevitably, my search starts not with Amazon.com but with Google, and if I read testimonials from people I’m sold. How do some companies get this level of customer attention while others don’t? That’s exactly what Jim addresses in his book.
As Jim Kukral explains in the marketing material for the book: “In three parts, you’ll discover everything you need to know to get off the ground and thrive in the social media sphere, including: The tools, techniques and tricks to get attention online and turn that attention into profit; The theory behind the importance of making your mark on the Internet; and How other businesses and individuals made money from online marketing.”
It’s a good read. And you can have a copy for free. Just leave a comment…
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Wondering how I’m the first to leave a comment. If people understood the power of social networking and real relationship building, they’d be fighting for space to request a copy, signed or not!
My entire life in Colorado is filled with people I met online through LinkedIn (of course), Twitter and Facebook. People who have something to share or something to sell, I meet them all online.
As fluent as I am in the social media sphere however, there is so much more to learn. And traditional Internet marketing doesn’t do it for me because I’m not about the selling. I’ve shared some traditional Internet marketing sites with people and they always bite back!
It seems your friend and fellow author is presenting a realistic how-to guide for people just like me. People who want to do it different, who need to pay the rent, but who have trouble doing it at the cost of our relationships. I love it when people pay for my help, and I’ll sell our books and services all day long to fans and friends alike. But I want to accomplish the lifestyle with grace and I want to enhance the lives of people I touch while doing it.
Thanks for the offer. And win or not, thanks for the opportunity to share my thoughts with others!
Apparently the story required bit was enough to scare people away. 🙂
One story is a bit hard to come by – I can’t recall the last thing I bought without first checking it out online. Testimonials are great, though sometimes need to be taken with a grain of salt unless you can identify the true source behind the testimonial, as there isn’t anything to keep companies from putting out great reviews or testimonials on their own products. When you find recommendations via social networking, it’s commonly someone you know (a friend, colleague, etc.) whose opinion you feel more comfortable with than a random testimonial you found on the Internet. I can’t think of anything offhand I’ve purchased based on a social networking recommendation specifically, so I’ll share some experience from the opposite perspective, how it’s impacted my business.
In my own business, I’ve seen how social networking has grown the popularity of the free software that serves as the basis of my company. Praise via social networking goes viral over time, as one person sees someone in their network happy with the software, which leads them to try it and also post positively about it, which then spreads to another person and all of their contacts, and so on.
While it’s hard to accurately gauge the impact of social networking specifically in my scenario, it’s no doubt a positive one, so long as you have a good product. Also keeping tabs on social networking sites for feedback (or problem reports) on your product is crucial, doing so has helped turn disgruntled users into satisfied ones, by ensuring they get the information needed to accommodate what they’re trying to do. We view each user as potentially hundreds of users because of the viral effect of positive recommendations, especially for people who post to social networking sites. On the flip side, disgruntled users can leave a negative impression of your product on those in their network if not resolved. That usually doesn’t spread like positive testimonials, but we’ve found you can usually satisfy unhappy users.
Perfect timing. I’m all up in everything I can get my hands on about pursuing my idea. A business idea, with my product. A copy for me and a copy for my financial backer. Thanks WISH ME LUCK!!