Phyllis Zimbler Miller's Blog: Phyllis Zimbler Miller Author, page 40
March 29, 2012
Wall Street Journal: Marketing Does Matter
The March 29th Wall Street Journal article "The Big Firms Mentor Start-Ups on Their Image" by Emily Glazer in Cincinnati and Suzanne Vranica in New York is an interesting report on companies that mentor start-ups.
For me, though, the most relevant part of the entire article were these two quotes:
Yet some tech entrepreneurs are oblivious to the importance of branding. They "would tell people about the technology rather than focusing on what problem the technology solved," Mr. Kitts said. [Tracy Kitts is acting chief executive of the National Business Incubation Association.)"Most start-ups think of marketing as 'Hey, we'll have a great URL, a funny new name and a logo and hope that word-of-mouth takes off,'" said Bob Gilbreath, who leads marketing strategy for venture capitalist group CincyTech. "The best way to do it, the basics of marketing, is understanding what the target audience need really is … doing research, talking to possible customers."
Both of these comments apply to tech start-ups as well as many other small businesses. A "funny new name" is not enough to make a product or service a great success.
Marketing needs to be an integral part of any company's ongoing operations. And keeping your eye on who are your target audiences is a key part of any company marketing strategy.
Kitts' comment about "focusing on what problem the technology solved" is exactly what potential customers and clients want to know about any product or service they are considering buying.
With the advent of the new format for Facebook Pages, companies are going to have an expanded opportunity to answer this question for their target audiences.
Marketing does matter.
© 2012 Miller Mosaic LLC
Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter and @ZimblerMiller on Pinterest) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the WBENC certified online marketing company www.MillerMosaicLLC.com
Phyllis' newest ebook – HOW TO SUCCEED IN HIGH SCHOOL AND PREP FOR COLLEGE – is now available at Amazon's Kindle store.
March 28, 2012
Are You an Author Whose Books Are Not Available as Ebooks?
If you are an author and have not yet had your books converted into ebook formats, you are really missing a huge boat.
Four years ago when I self-published my novel MRS. LIEUTENANT (right after it became an Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award semifinalist), I had to mail expensive physical books to reviewers.
Besides the expense of the book and the cost of mailing envelopes and postage, there were the time and effort involved in packing the books in mailing envelopes, addressing the envelopes, and taking the books to the post office.
Now as I connect with people to review my newest ebook HOW TO SUCCEED IN HIGH SCHOOL AND PREP FOR COLLEGE, I simply ask which ebook format they would like to receive.
(Full disclosure: I did not do the conversions myself; I hired a company because I wanted to benefit from that company’s distribution channels.)
Given how many people now buy ebooks, why would you not want to give readers the option to buy your book as an ebook?
Or, if you own a book’s ebook rights and do not want to yet make the ebook available for purchase for whatever reasons, you can still have the book converted and use the ebook to email to reviewers.
Four years ago I did have MRS. LIEUTENANT converted into a Kindle ebook, but at that time very few people could have read the ebook.
Now even people who do not have their own ereader can read ebooks via free software on their computers.
And now for my FREE ebook offer:
If, after reading about HOW TO SUCCEED IN HIGH SCHOOL AND PREP FOR COLLEGE, you want to read the ebook to consider possibly writing a review on Amazon (where the ebook should be available any day now), email me at pzmiller@millermosaicllc.com
I have two goals for this first ebook in a 3-ebook series:
1) I want this book to be an ebook bestseller at its price of $9.99.
2) I want to donate the ebook to disadvantaged high schools to give to their students.
I would appreciate help with either or both goals.
(c) 2012 Miller Mosaic LLC
Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter and @ZimblerMiller on Pinterest) is the author of fiction and nonfiction books/ebooks and is the co-founder of the online marketing company www.MillerMosaicLLC.com
Her screenplay DR. SOAPY can be downloaded for FREE at Amazon Studios at http://studios.amazon.com/projects/8259 and the techno-thriller ebook LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS she wrote with her husband can be downloaded for FREE from Amazon’s Kindle store.
March 26, 2012
Stage 1 of the Miller Mosaic Facebook Changes
In preparation for the mandatory Facebook Page changes on March 30th, here is what Yael and I have done so far for our Miller Mosaic accounts.
First, Yael created cover images for both her Facebook profile and my Facebook profile.
Next, we created a new Page — the Phyllis Zimbler Miller Page (as opposed to my Phyllis Zimbler Miller profile) — and Yael created the cover image for the Page.
Then she merged the Page for my novel MRS. LIEUTENANT and the Page for my technothriller ebook LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS into this new Page.
We made this change to consolidate the number of Facebook Pages we have so that we can give more attention to each Page.
In addition, with the upcoming launch of the first www.HowToSucceedEbooks.com ebook HOW TO SUCCEED IN HIGH SCHOOL AND PREP FOR COLLEGE, it made sense to create a central Facebook Page for my books and ebooks.
Check out the new Page now and I would appreciate it if you would "like" it if you are on Facebook.
(This change now means that I have to check where elsewhere online I have the link to either the MRS. LIEUTENANT Page or the LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS Page and change those links.)
Although this still leaves Yael and me with several other Facebook Pages to deal with in the light of Facebook's mandatory changes, it is a start.
What are you doing about your Facebook Pages?
(c) 2012 Miller Mosaic LLC
Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the co-founder of the online marketing company Miller Mosaic LLC and the author of fiction and nonfiction books/ebooks, including HOW TO SUCCEED IN HIGH SCHOOL AND PREP FOR COLLEGE.
Do You Have a Strategic Online Presence for Getting Internships or Jobs?
Regardless of where you hear about an open internship or job position, odds are that the person assigned to interview you will first check you out online.
And, yes, this may be true — perhaps especially true — even if you are a teen or young adult.
First, companies value personnel who understand what discretion means. In other words, what is appropriate to say or write about a company for which you work.
If a company interviewer checks you out online and discovers that you post nasty comments about people or other companies, it is unlikely that the interviewer will trust you to act more responsibly at the interviewer's company.
Second, companies can use online sources to check out what you have included on your resume.
While it is always a best practice to only tell the truth on your resume, nowadays you run a real risk of being quickly discovered if you "puff up" your resume.
Third, checking you out online gives the interviewer possible conversation "starters."
Perhaps the interviewer notes that you have a shared interest. Or perhaps the interviewer discovers that something you did not put on your resume could actually be useful at the company.
Given that any interviewer will probably check you out online, have you optimized how you strategically present yourself online?
First, are you using a good headshot consistently across the social media sites on which you participate?
If you do not include a headshot with your social media profile bios, an interviewer might erroneously get the impression that you are hiding something.
On the other hand, you want to make sure you do not share photos on Facebook, for example, that show you holding a beer in each hand.
And NEVER rely on the privacy controls of any social media site to protect such photos from being seen.
Second, are you using correct spelling and grammar on your updates?
While you could make a case that these are not needed on social media, you want to always look your best to potential employers. After all, if you are hired, you might be tweeting, for example, for the company.
Third, when you disagree with someone, are you doing this politely? Or are you name calling?
Social media offers the opportunity to have online discussions of opposing views, but it is advisable to do so with manners.
A good rule of thumb for any online activity you undertake is whether you would be embarrassed if someone you cared about (such as your mother) saw the activity.
Remember the saying "loose lips sink ships" and be protective of your online presence.
(c) 2012 Miller Mosaic, LLC
Phyllis Zimbler Miller has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founded of the online marketing company Miller Mosaic LLC. She is also the author of fiction and nonfiction books/ebooks, including HOW TO SUCCEED IN HIGH SCHOOL AND PREP FOR COLLEGE.
March 25, 2012
PTSD-Connected Wall Street Journal Article Ignites My Writer’s Imagination for a TV Drama Show
As those of you know who have read the PTSD-related posts on my blog www.mrslieutenant.blogpost.com or have read the information about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder at my website www.insupportofourtroops.com …
I am very concerned about American men and women suffering from combat-induced PTSD as well as the families and society to which these men and women return home.
I have known about special veterans courts that judge vets who break the law differently if the vet’s offense appears influenced by the symptoms of PTSD.
I have known about the extremely high incidences of spouse abuse from vets suffering from PTSD.
I have also known that many people suffering from PTSD do not know this about themselves or, if they do know, do not seek treatment for a variety of reasons.
Thus I welcomed the front-page March 24th Wall Street Journal article by Michael M. Phillips titled “Convicted Combat Vets Watch Each Other’s Backs to Stay Out of Prison” as a good overview of the special courts, spouse abuse and the long-term effects of PTSD.
The Wall Street Journal article begins:
SAN DIEGO—In Iraq, Chris Stavran relied on his buddies to keep him alive. On the streets back home, he relies on them to keep him out of prison.Two years after leaving the Marine Corps, Mr. Stavran has become part of a judicial experiment, one of a group of homeless Iraq and Afghanistan veterans convicted of criminal offenses and sent to a new veterans-only court that takes into account their wartime scars. He’s living with eight other vets and undergoing treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, anger-management and substance abuse—with a lengthy prison term waiting if he slips up on probation.
Yet, after reading the entire article, I kept returning to what I also knew:
Many, many veterans (as well as others suffering from trauma-induced PTSD) do not get the help they so desperately need.
Then I read something about Suzanne Collins, author of the immensely popular YA trilogy “The Hunger Games,” getting her ideas from putting together two disparate subjects.
I also thought about how fiction can sometimes get across ideas much more successfully than nonfiction can.
The light bulb went off! And the idea for a TV drama series based on a TV drama pilot script that my husband and I wrote years ago popped into my head.
The original TV drama was “Solomon’s Justice” with the first episode titled “The Wisdom of Solomon.” This drama concerned a children’s court judge in San Diego. (Years ago when my husband was a law student – thanks to the GI Bill – at Temple University in Philadelphia, he had a summer clerkship with a children’s court judge.)
The idea occurred to me now of taking that same drama series title/setting and transposing it to a TV drama about people dealing with PTSD.
A couple of hours after the light bulb went off I had mentally developed the main characters as tweaked from the original characters my husband and I created for “Solomon’s Justice.”
Now here is my challenge:
• I know that much more has to be done to help people suffering from PTSD, and a weekly TV drama could help get out the information — and keep that information — in front of the public.
• I believe that my idea for a TV drama could be very successful as a show on network television or on cable television or even on sites such as Netflix that are starting to develop original TV series.
• I need help to connect with the people who can make this project happen.
I am going to start writing the treatment for this proposed TV drama.
And if anyone reading this post has contacts to help move this project forward, contact me at pzmiller@millermosaicllc.com
Let’s do more than nod our heads after reading about this terrible problem of PTSD – which affects so many Americans and their families. Let’s try to actually do something for these people.
Are you able to help with this project?
(c) 2012 Miller Mosaic LLC
Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter and @ZimblerMiller on Pinterest) is the author of fiction and nonfiction books/ebooks and is the co-founder of the online marketing company www.MillerMosaicLLC.com
Her screenplay DR. SOAPY can be downloaded for FREE at Amazon Studios at http://studios.amazon.com/projects/8259 and the techno-thriller ebook LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS she wrote with her husband can be downloaded for FREE from Amazon’s Kindle store.
March 19, 2012
Figuring Out Your Facebook Page Strategy
This is not going to be a post with the answers but rather a post with the questions that you might want to consider when figuring out your new Facebook Page strategy.
Why a new strategy?
Because the changes that will be mandatory for Facebook Pages on March 30th (can be voluntary until then) will require some strategic planning on your part.
"Cover" photo:
First, the large photo at the top of your Page should be something about your brand.
Warning: The photo can NOT be promotional. You may NOT say "like our page" or "click below for a free gift" or anything similar.
Highlighting a post:
You can highlight a post on your Page, which will make the post double width. This can be a good way of making a post stand out.
Pinning a post:
You may also pin a post on your Page to stay at the top of your timeline (no longer called wall) for seven days. If this is a special offer, you may want to remember to pin it again after seven days.
Tabs:
Those tabs that are on the left-hand side of a Page will now be at the top under your Page's cover. The width of these new tabs is much larger than the former tab width.
Different Pages for different focuses:
I am rethinking all the Miller Mosaic Pages, considering deleting some and adding one or two new ones.
I want to take advantage of the "cover" photo as well as the ability to highlight and pin. These advantages may require different segmenting of our Miller Mosaic offerings.
Yael has just created a Facebook Page for our new online program Understand French Like a Native.
Check out this new Facebook Page now and then leave comments below this post as to what you plan to do with your Facebook Pages.
P.S. And if you are working on your website from which to link to your Facebook Pages, you might like to read this Indie Times guest post "9 Tips for an Effective Website for Artists" (the information is relevant not just for artists).
© 2012 Miller Mosaic, LLC
Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter and @ZimblerMiller on Pinterest) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the WBENC certified marketing company www.MillerMosaicLLC.com, which has launched the program www.UnderstandFrenchLikeANative.com
March 13, 2012
My Trials and Tribulations With Triberr
I first heard of triberr.com in connection with very successful Kindle author Rachel Abbott, and I thought having tribes (groups of people) who would tweet links to my blog posts sounded good.
When I arrived at triberr, though, I could not understand what to do. In fact, I apparently started my own tribe ("Authors Using Online Marketing") without really meaning to.
Lucky for me, in an email exchange with social media guru Kim Castleberry about her excellent video training on the new Facebook Pages, I mentioned my inability to understand how to effectively use triberr.
Kim sent me the link to a video blog post of hers that explained everything very clearly (except did not talk about invites). Here is the link to the video post -– http://just-ask-kim.com/getting-started-with-triberr-com/
(Note: Kim recorded the video in December and some things on the site work a little differently now but the basic video info from Kim is very valuable.)
I am somewhat saved from embarrassment about my cluelessness on triberr because Kim mentions in her video that triberr works differently than many other social media sites.
Rachel Abbott then sent me an invite for her tribe – "Helping Indie Authors" – that I gladly accepted even though I had to pay 15 bones to accept the invite. (I later learned that Rachel, too, had to pay 15 bones to invite me if I accepted the invitation.)
Somehow I became a member of "My Tribe." Every time I see "My Tribe" in triberr it confuses me because I think it means the tribes to which I belong. (I even tried to change the tribe name until I realized it wasn't my tribe.)
And after seeing an announcement from tribe "Writers and Writing" about the new tribe members this tribe was seeking, I did apply to become a member of this tribe.
As suggested by Kim Castleberry in her video, I try to go on triberr at least once a day to approve the posts by others in my tribes whose links I want to have triberr automatically tweet through my account on Twitter.
I continue to find the different triberr nav choices somewhat confusing if I do not remember what Kim said in her video: you spend most of your time on "Home" on triberrr.
Why do I bother if triberr does not seem very intuitive (at least to me)?
Because once I really get the hang of the site, I think triberr can be a very valuable social media tool for getting my blog posts in front of more eyeballs.
In conclusion, I encourage those of you who have blogs and want more readers to watch Kim's video and then try triberr for yourself. And let me know what you think.
© 2012 Miller Mosaic, LLC
Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter and @ZimblerMiller on Pinterest) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the WBENC certified online marketing company www.MillerMosaicLLC.com, which has just launched the innovative online program www.UnderstandFrenchLikeANative.com
March 11, 2012
"How to" Digital Distribution: Understand French Like a Native
French native Angelique Glennon came to the U.S. several years ago already fluent in English. The only problem was that she was fluent in what she calls "school knowledge" English.
Watching American television, she thought American newscasters were very rude because they kept saying "asshole." Finally Angelique realized the newscasters were saying "hassle." But because the "h" is not pronounced in French her ear was not attuned to hearing the "h" at the front of the word "hassle."
While teaching basic French to Americans, Angelique set out to find a program that would teach English-speakers who were advanced beginners in French how to understand everyday French spoken in France, which is not the "school knowledge" French learned in American schools.
When Angelique discovered there was no such program, she created one herself and taught it to her students in Los Angeles. But Angelique wanted to bring her program to a wider audience.
Then Angelique met me through a women's networking group. Although I had been a mediocre high school and college French student, I love the language. What is more, I thought Angelique's program extremely innovative.
The result is that Miller Mosaic collaborated with Angelique to create a digital delivery system for her unique program.
Our brainstorming took some time and eventually produced this working arrangement:
Angelique would write the examples in English, French and a phonetic system. Then Angelique and I would go over these examples and explanations to ensure that what she meant in English was what English-speakers could understand.
(There are concepts in the French language that are not easily translatable to English language concepts. We had to find a bridge over these differences.)
I also created separate modules of the material and practiced with Angelique her English pronunciation of the explanations.
Then Yael recorded Angelique for the separate modules. We did have microphone issues so there were re-recordings and much editing on Yael's part.
(Yael used Gotowebinar plus Camtasia Studio to create these digital recordings.)
Next Yael put the edited modules on our Miller Mosaic Amazon S3 account (the modules live in the cloud so the downloads do not slow down our MillerMosaicLLC.com website, where we put the information for this French language program).
Meanwhile, together Yael and I created on our website a differently formatted page for "Understand French Like a Native" and redirected the URL www.UnderstandFrenchLikeANative.com to that page. We also made sample recordings of the program and a recording of Angelique talking about the program that we added to this website page.
We set up our shopping cart vendor to automatically take credit card payment for the program (we have a 30-day money-back guarantee) with an introductory price.
When people buy the program, they have 24/7 access to all the modules. They can watch the videos online or they can download both the audio part of the videos as MP3s and the written part of the videos as handouts.
In conclusion, while now the "Understand French Like a Native" digital program is very professional, there was much trial and error until we got all the digital pieces to work well together.
(c) 2012 Miller Mosaic LLC
Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter and @ZimblerMiller on Pinterest) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the WBENC certified online marketing company www.MillerMosaicLLC.com, which has just launched the innovative online program www.UnderstandFrenchLikeANative.com
March 9, 2012
Marketing and Social Media Lessons from the Trenches
At an event for women-owned businesses with Women's Business Enterprise National Council certification (which Miller Mosaic has) put on by WBEC-West, I spoke to a woman about her company's innovative product.
She described the resistance she was getting about using social media for the product. If I recall correctly, her colleagues thought a luxury product could not find its target markets on Twitter. (I disagreed.)
She was pleased to tell me that just that day the company had started on Twitter.
Back at my computer I looked at the company's Twitter account. Pretty background tiled photo and nice bio except, if she had not described the product to me, I would not have known what the product is or does.
Now is a good time to look at your own Twitter bio to check if it is current (things do change) and whether you are communicating what you think you are.
Then I looked at a full-page ad in The New Yorker from Lincoln cars. The error here is one of my pet peeves – social media icons put on printed material with no URL. And that had actually been warned against by one of the speakers at the WBENC event.
Lincoln ad headline in all caps: SPARK SOMETHING.
The copy in difficult-to-read reverse type begins: "Join us on Facebook for spirited conversation …"
Then the only other time Facebook is mentioned is in tiny print further down on the page without the Facebook icon: "Keep up on Lincoln news. Like us on Facebook."
Really? Lincoln's advertising agency paid how much for that ad? (BTW, the photo was unintelligible to me.)
Now do not get me wrong. Facebook can be an excellent marketing strategy for engaging with fans and potential fans.
I just do not think that the Lincoln ad is going to "spark" much "spirited conversation" on Facebook if the ad is difficult to read and there is no actual Facebook Page URL given.
What do you think?
P.S. If you are an English speaker and an advanced beginner in French, check out the soft launch with a special introductory price of www.UnderstandFrenchLikeANative.com
© 2012 Miller Mosaic, LLC
Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter and @ZimblerMiller on Pinterest) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the marketing consulting company www.MillerMosaicLLC.com, which is now WBENC certified and helps clients effectively use social media and other online marketing strategies.
Check out Phyllis' books and other projects at www.PhyllisZimblerMiller.com
March 8, 2012
Psyching Out Where to Connect Online With Prospective Fans
All of us, whether we are business owners, service professionals, book authors, etc., who are online to connect with prospective fans (translated: prospective buyers of our products and services) have only a finite amount of time to make these connections.
Of course, we all want to get the most bang for our buck — the most connections for the time we spend online. And we also want to make these connections authentically rather than, for example, "buying" followers on Twitter who may not give two hoots for what we have on offer.
Some people may have access to a full-time marketing research department focused solely on finding the best places for our particular products and services. Most of us, though, have to figure this out for ourselves in that finite amount of time we can devote to this research.
Every day I make decisions about which online places maximize my opportunities and which places are simply a time drain. Now I have to admit that I have not always chosen the best places.
It took me several years to narrow down the parameters for my business interests. And of course places make major changes over time and new opportunities come along at the speed of light.
Here is what I am exploring at the moment:
The introduction by Facebook of "timelines"for profiles is a major change. But timelines have a much more far-reaching effect on Pages (formerly fan pages). For example, it appears any photo (in good taste — obviously no nudity, swear words, etc.) can be used as the big photo (called "cover" by Facebook) at the top of a profile's timeline.
Yet there are very strict rules for the cover photo for a business Page. For example, you cannot even have "Like This Page" as part of the cover.
It is rather obvious that many of these Page changes will encourage more spending on Facebook ads. And, of course, Facebook really wants those expenditures to increase to showcase to potential investors what a lucrative revenue model Facebook has assembled.
Meanwhile those of us using Facebook Pages for our businesses or books will have a lot of strategizing and revising to undertake.
At the same time I have joined Monkeybars.net from which to sell the ebooks of my novels MRS. LIEUTENANT and LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS. I have had a long phone conversation with two of the top people at the site and I am impressed with the concepts behind this new site.
I did recommend they create videos to explain the site's uniqueness, and I hope to see these soon. In the meantime, go on over to Monkeybars.net and learn how recommending digital products to others can earn you money.
In fact, I am working with Monkeybars.net to put our new digital program — Understand French Like a Native (see introductory price offer) — on the site. As we discussed during the phone conversation, people who buy the program and then appreciate how good it is can recommend the program to friends and benefit financial from this recommendation.
I have been exploring Pinterest — and I am now regularly "pinning" the pictures of my blog posts to my boards. (See my account at http://pinterest.com/zimblermiller)
Then I have just joined a year-old site I learned about from blog posts by Kindle author Rachel Abbott, whose first ebook has done amazing well. The site is triberr.com and I will be writing more about this site as I become more familiar with it. (Meanwhile, you can read the first of Rachel Abbott's blog posts about her Kindle success.)
To return to the theme of this blog post — we cannot always know which social media sites are the best for connecting with our target markets. We do have to keep abreast of major changes, try things for ourselves, and then make decisions where we want to spend our social media marketing efforts.
Note: This week Smashwords organized an ebook event for the authors on its site. We got to choose if we wanted to offer our ebooks during this event for a lower price or for free. I decided to offer MRS. LIEUTENANT for FREE (note the coupon code RE100 for this) and LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS was automatically included in the event because the ebook was already offered for FREE (no coupon code needed for this).
© 2012 Miller Mosaic, LLC
Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter and @ZimblerMiller on Pinterest) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the marketing consulting company www.MillerMosaicLLC.com, which is now WBENC certified and helps clients effectively use social media and other online marketing strategies. Check out Phyllis' books and other projects at www.PhyllisZimblerMiller.com
Phyllis Zimbler Miller Author
- Phyllis Zimbler Miller's profile
- 15 followers
