There's a marketing rule that you build your business first locally, then regionally, then nationally. Here are three steps to successful, small business local marketing:
1. Target your marketing efforts, beginning with the neighborhood level
2. Participate in community events and fundraisers to generate visibility and goodwill
3. Know your clientele. When possible, meet and greet your customers. Get to know them on a one-to-one basis.
Bonus tip: Share web site links with local and area businesses. This will increase search engine positioning for your web site.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
And Now A Word From Aristotle...
Okay...I'm a philosophy wonk...I admit it. But those early guys had a lot of good "stuff" (their word, not mine.
Aristotle’s Approach to Plot - The Basic Three-Act Structure
Act I: Beginning (Setup) -- introduce the reader to the setting, the main characters, and the situation (conflict) they find themselves in.
* Plot Point 1 is a situation (a first turning point) that drives the main character (protagonist) from their day-to-day life toward some different conflicting situation.
* Here, too, the main character is thrust into the dramatic situation
* The inciting incident at the end of the first act, complicates the story, ensuring life will never be the same again for the protagonist. This incident also raises the dramatic question that will be answered in Act III.
Act II: Middle (Confrontation) -- story develops through a series of complications and obstacles as the protagonist attempts to resolve the problem initiated by the first turning point. The character’s actions lead to a mini crisis and inevitably to an ultimate crisis—the Climax. As the story progresses, there is an overall rising tension as we approach the second turning point, or Climax. The second turning point is the scene or sequence in which the main tensions of the story are brought to their most intense point and the dramatic question answered.
* The resolution of the Climax is Plot Point 2.
Act III: End (Resolution) -- Climax and the loose ends of the story are resolved during the dénouement, when the story and the sub-plots are drawn together and matters are explained or resolved.
* Coward finds his courage, losers win; sinners lose; sinners are redeemed.
Aristotle’s Approach to Plot - The Basic Three-Act Structure
Act I: Beginning (Setup) -- introduce the reader to the setting, the main characters, and the situation (conflict) they find themselves in.
* Plot Point 1 is a situation (a first turning point) that drives the main character (protagonist) from their day-to-day life toward some different conflicting situation.
* Here, too, the main character is thrust into the dramatic situation
* The inciting incident at the end of the first act, complicates the story, ensuring life will never be the same again for the protagonist. This incident also raises the dramatic question that will be answered in Act III.
Act II: Middle (Confrontation) -- story develops through a series of complications and obstacles as the protagonist attempts to resolve the problem initiated by the first turning point. The character’s actions lead to a mini crisis and inevitably to an ultimate crisis—the Climax. As the story progresses, there is an overall rising tension as we approach the second turning point, or Climax. The second turning point is the scene or sequence in which the main tensions of the story are brought to their most intense point and the dramatic question answered.
* The resolution of the Climax is Plot Point 2.
Act III: End (Resolution) -- Climax and the loose ends of the story are resolved during the dénouement, when the story and the sub-plots are drawn together and matters are explained or resolved.
* Coward finds his courage, losers win; sinners lose; sinners are redeemed.
Monday, February 2, 2009
More From The Writer's Block...
Point to keep in mind:
Every genre of writing answers questions and has moral value.
Every book has Content (duh!), but Content requires structure or form to shape it.
STRUCTURE is the organization of these events.
Beginning – set up the story, get the reader’s attention, establish the situation/goal
Middle – conflicts (Growth/life lessons) that lead to crisis (need for change, action, decisions)
End – resolution: Works with stories that reflect back over periods of time
SET-UP - create a sense of unity. Lay undertones that guide the reader, set-up for what will happen or influence.
SPINE – another big event that motivates reader to achieve a goal; when the character becomes fully committed. Includes Conscious objective and Unconscious desire – (more powerful, durable – reaches down to innermost self.)
Catalyst - (a turning point, yes) sparks the reader’s goal, mission, need, problem, desire
Resolution - Climax
Every genre of writing answers questions and has moral value.
Every book has Content (duh!), but Content requires structure or form to shape it.
STRUCTURE is the organization of these events.
Beginning – set up the story, get the reader’s attention, establish the situation/goal
Middle – conflicts (Growth/life lessons) that lead to crisis (need for change, action, decisions)
End – resolution: Works with stories that reflect back over periods of time
SET-UP - create a sense of unity. Lay undertones that guide the reader, set-up for what will happen or influence.
SPINE – another big event that motivates reader to achieve a goal; when the character becomes fully committed. Includes Conscious objective and Unconscious desire – (more powerful, durable – reaches down to innermost self.)
Catalyst - (a turning point, yes) sparks the reader’s goal, mission, need, problem, desire
Resolution - Climax
Saturday, January 31, 2009
From The Writer's Block...
Last summer, a friend who had read my novel Painting The Invisible Man offered this compliment: "I enjoy a writer who knows her way around a thesaurus."
Admittedly, at first, I prickled. And although I tried, I could not rein in my response. "I do in actuality have a very good command of language."
"I didn't mean that as an insult," she replied with just enough of a hurt-filled tone, I felt an immediate need to do penance.
Truth be told, I do rely on a thesaurus...and I proudly own a superb Thomas Y. Crowell Company edition of Roget's International Thesaurus. I use it as a trigger when I am trying to recall a word I know conveys just the right connotation. For example, I may want to describe the rather staid Englishman's reaction, not as prudish, but....(here's where I may turn to Monsieur Roget, for I know the better word exists, but at the moment it refuses to break through my middle-aged brain)...Ah, yes! The word I seek is not 'prudish,' but rather 'priggish'. A much better choice of word for a male character.
But, the use of a thesaurus merely to impress will more than likely render language that sounds pretentious or just plain wrong.
Use your thesaurus wisely and your writing will have substance and style.
Admittedly, at first, I prickled. And although I tried, I could not rein in my response. "I do in actuality have a very good command of language."
"I didn't mean that as an insult," she replied with just enough of a hurt-filled tone, I felt an immediate need to do penance.
Truth be told, I do rely on a thesaurus...and I proudly own a superb Thomas Y. Crowell Company edition of Roget's International Thesaurus. I use it as a trigger when I am trying to recall a word I know conveys just the right connotation. For example, I may want to describe the rather staid Englishman's reaction, not as prudish, but....(here's where I may turn to Monsieur Roget, for I know the better word exists, but at the moment it refuses to break through my middle-aged brain)...Ah, yes! The word I seek is not 'prudish,' but rather 'priggish'. A much better choice of word for a male character.
But, the use of a thesaurus merely to impress will more than likely render language that sounds pretentious or just plain wrong.
Use your thesaurus wisely and your writing will have substance and style.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Remember the KISS Principle
When writing radio ads, remember the KISS Principle — Keep It Simple Stu--- (you know the rest).
A radio spot flies by fast. It can't be reviewed or replayed at will. So, your radio ad is no place to recite a laundry list of product features or business blather. Your ad must grab the listener's attention, make a relevant offer, and generate a phone call or visit. Focus on one idea and drive it home.
When there's a choice between 30 seconds and 60 seconds, opt for 60 seconds. You'll have twice as long to establish your scene, sell your product, and repeat your phone number at least twice. And a 60-second spot doesn't cost much more than a 30 second one.
A radio spot flies by fast. It can't be reviewed or replayed at will. So, your radio ad is no place to recite a laundry list of product features or business blather. Your ad must grab the listener's attention, make a relevant offer, and generate a phone call or visit. Focus on one idea and drive it home.
When there's a choice between 30 seconds and 60 seconds, opt for 60 seconds. You'll have twice as long to establish your scene, sell your product, and repeat your phone number at least twice. And a 60-second spot doesn't cost much more than a 30 second one.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Support Your Local Independent Bookseller
During the past few weeks I've been visiting independent booksellers trying to drum up some book signings for Painting The Invisible Man. During the reconnaissance phase of my visit, I was struck every time by the owners and staff members depth of book knowledge and their remarkable attention to personal service.
So, before you buy that next book from Amazon.com, shop locally and support your local independent bookseller. If the book you want isn't already on their shelves, in almost every case they will order it for you.
So, before you buy that next book from Amazon.com, shop locally and support your local independent bookseller. If the book you want isn't already on their shelves, in almost every case they will order it for you.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
January 13 on "Talk To Me..." Erica Ferencik
My guest on "Talk To Me..." Tuesday, January 13 is satirist Erica Fenercik, author of Cracks In The Foundation.
After 39 years of digging for paydirt in Squamskootnocket, New York's famously feeble real estate market, Ginger has again struck...dirt. Her newest listing? A "starter" outhouse with water views of weed- choked Squamskootnocket Lake. With no closings in a year and the wolf at the door, Ginger will stop at nothing to seal a deal — she'll even team up with her 93-year-old Aunt Maxie Kanadoo ("the World's Oldest Living Realtor!") Meanwhile, Ginger's own badass, newly Wiccan daughter Harvest is eager to pitch in with a naked rite or two. Then there's Tandy Brickenhausen, the cleavage- wielding rival out to poach every listing in the greater Squamskootnocket Valley.
Will the outhouse find a buyer? Will Harvest's potions conjure a sale, or wake the dead? Will "the World's Oldest Living Realtor" retain her coveted title? Will somebody let the air out of Tandy's bra?
Cracks in the Foundation is a hilarious, dead-on send-up of the wild wild world of real estate, small towns, white zinfandel, black magic, outhouses and the American Dream.
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