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Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition
If you've been let down by the undelivered promises of marketing, this book is for you. Launch reveals a new way to grow your business that involves focusing on the needs of others, giving gifts, working with outsiders, and restraining your marketing messages . These principles are precisely the opposite of traditional marketing. Yet they work. And they are the future. If you follow the formula outlined in this book, you can attract countless customers and prospects, resulting in amazing business growth.
This book will show you how to: Launch isn't like other marketing books. Rather than making keen observations about others who've achieved success, the ideas and principles in this book were developed, refined, and practiced by the author to great success. Pick up a copy for yourself and one for a friend.
This book will show you how to: Launch isn't like other marketing books. Rather than making keen observations about others who've achieved success, the ideas and principles in this book were developed, refined, and practiced by the author to great success. Pick up a copy for yourself and one for a friend.
- GenresBusinessNonfiction
272 pages, Hardcover
First published May 23, 2011
20 people are currently reading
235 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
January 10, 2020
Книга написана не так давно, але вже моментами застаріла. Однак, навіть в рік свого написання вона вже була "так собі". Дуже багато повторів, води та пафосу. Розжовуються та пояснюються найбільш очевидні речі. Кінець читала вже по діагоналі, про що ніскільки не шкодую.
May 8, 2012
The Emerging Might of Social Media
Not yet a decade old, social media has transformed the way we live our lives. From the way we interact with our friends and family to the way information disseminates, social media now operates integrally in our lives.
For businesses, social media creates both unique problems and unique opportunities. Where a business could previously rely on dissatisfied customers sharing their vitriol to a handful of people, social media expands the platform for customers to proliferate discontentment. Likewise, the free flowing nature of information on social networks provides opportunities for businesses to create viral campaigns, a promotion more influential and lasting than classical marketing techniques.
With Launch, Michael Stelzner outlines a compelling case for social media content to replace classical marketing messaging.
Great Content Fuels Business in the Internet Age
Stelzner believes social media to be the fuel by which a business launches itself into the stratosphere. With a straightforward metaphor illustrating a rocket ship, Stelzner sketches the ways in which a business can leverage great content. In simple terms, Stelzner introduces the core principle upon which the entire book stands:
“The elevation principle is the process of meeting the core desires of prospects and customers by helping them solve their basic problems at no cost” (7).
For a business seeking to utilize social media, content is king. To gain traction, followers, and eventually customers, businesses must freely share valuable information.
In consideration of the target market, companies must provide valuable and applicable content to its potential customer base. For example, if one owns a juice shop, he or she should consider blogging about the health benefits of juices. Similarly, if one runs a photography business, video blogs detailing the process of photo shoots could provide valuable insights into the photography world.
Social Media as Service
No matter the market, the elevation principle seeks to reorient marketing principles toward the notion of service. While classic marketing schemes view potential customers as fish in need of stentorian bait stimuli, Stelzner suggests a different strategy.
By freely providing valuable content, a business positions itself as an expert in the field; blogging and tweeting foster relationships with a potential customer base. By freely giving, devoid of apparent marketing messaging, the customer becomes more willing to learn about the company.
How Does Free Work in a Competitive Environment?
Many, however, might question the strategy of giving away valuable content for free. If a business bestows its valuable trade secrets, how can it make money in a competitive environment?
Stelzner suggests,
“If your marketing strategy centers on helping people with their smaller problems, many will seek your help to solve their bigger issues” (7-8).
Much like the gift principle where a freely given gift offers the recipient a chance to return the favor, free and valuable content inspires an audience and causes them to consider the business for deeper needs.
Beware of the Simple Fix
With inspiring examples of businesses successfully implementing these principles, Stelzner writes in a motivating manner.
But, I urge caution.
Business is never as simple as a singular motivational statement. While I agree wholeheartedly on the principle of service, I do not assume adhering to this principle consistently results in a successful business.
Ultimately, Launch depicts Stelzner’s success story. In following his principles, Stelzner gained massive success. Perhaps Launch functions as a blueprint worth following. But, I would suggest not relying on it and assuming success will necessarily follow.
In a plugged-in world, businesses must master social media. With loads of free, valuable content one click away, a business must offer value through blogs and social media in order to serve its customers. Stelzner’s elevation principle provides the foundation of service upon which a business can soar through the heavens.
Will it always work? I’m not convinced. Nevertheless, anyone interested in integrating social media into a business needs to read Launch.
Originally published at http://www.wherepenmeetspaper.com
Not yet a decade old, social media has transformed the way we live our lives. From the way we interact with our friends and family to the way information disseminates, social media now operates integrally in our lives.
For businesses, social media creates both unique problems and unique opportunities. Where a business could previously rely on dissatisfied customers sharing their vitriol to a handful of people, social media expands the platform for customers to proliferate discontentment. Likewise, the free flowing nature of information on social networks provides opportunities for businesses to create viral campaigns, a promotion more influential and lasting than classical marketing techniques.
With Launch, Michael Stelzner outlines a compelling case for social media content to replace classical marketing messaging.
Great Content Fuels Business in the Internet Age
Stelzner believes social media to be the fuel by which a business launches itself into the stratosphere. With a straightforward metaphor illustrating a rocket ship, Stelzner sketches the ways in which a business can leverage great content. In simple terms, Stelzner introduces the core principle upon which the entire book stands:
“The elevation principle is the process of meeting the core desires of prospects and customers by helping them solve their basic problems at no cost” (7).
For a business seeking to utilize social media, content is king. To gain traction, followers, and eventually customers, businesses must freely share valuable information.
In consideration of the target market, companies must provide valuable and applicable content to its potential customer base. For example, if one owns a juice shop, he or she should consider blogging about the health benefits of juices. Similarly, if one runs a photography business, video blogs detailing the process of photo shoots could provide valuable insights into the photography world.
Social Media as Service
No matter the market, the elevation principle seeks to reorient marketing principles toward the notion of service. While classic marketing schemes view potential customers as fish in need of stentorian bait stimuli, Stelzner suggests a different strategy.
By freely providing valuable content, a business positions itself as an expert in the field; blogging and tweeting foster relationships with a potential customer base. By freely giving, devoid of apparent marketing messaging, the customer becomes more willing to learn about the company.
How Does Free Work in a Competitive Environment?
Many, however, might question the strategy of giving away valuable content for free. If a business bestows its valuable trade secrets, how can it make money in a competitive environment?
Stelzner suggests,
“If your marketing strategy centers on helping people with their smaller problems, many will seek your help to solve their bigger issues” (7-8).
Much like the gift principle where a freely given gift offers the recipient a chance to return the favor, free and valuable content inspires an audience and causes them to consider the business for deeper needs.
Beware of the Simple Fix
With inspiring examples of businesses successfully implementing these principles, Stelzner writes in a motivating manner.
But, I urge caution.
Business is never as simple as a singular motivational statement. While I agree wholeheartedly on the principle of service, I do not assume adhering to this principle consistently results in a successful business.
Ultimately, Launch depicts Stelzner’s success story. In following his principles, Stelzner gained massive success. Perhaps Launch functions as a blueprint worth following. But, I would suggest not relying on it and assuming success will necessarily follow.
In a plugged-in world, businesses must master social media. With loads of free, valuable content one click away, a business must offer value through blogs and social media in order to serve its customers. Stelzner’s elevation principle provides the foundation of service upon which a business can soar through the heavens.
Will it always work? I’m not convinced. Nevertheless, anyone interested in integrating social media into a business needs to read Launch.
Originally published at http://www.wherepenmeetspaper.com
April 30, 2015
This book offers sound marketing advice, almost all of which is applicable to writers. I put it on my wishlist several years ago and was worried when I finally began it that it might be outdated. But it’s held up remarkably well in our fast-changing digital business place. For the most part, I think authors who have been marketing for any length of time will be familiar with most of the ideas presented here, but I still came away with a few valuable tips.
June 21, 2019
Mike Stelzner's Launch is a book that every owner of a writing, blogging or content producing business should read. In Launch Mike tells you how to launch a successful business with content. This book captivated me as though it had been a best selling novel and I devoured it within a few hours. The book is subtitled How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition and through 9 chapters, Mike uses a spacefaring analogy to show you how to do just that, adding rocket fuel and nuclear fuel to your content business. The content samples in the appendix are a welcome addition. I defy anyone to read it without having at least one lightbulb moment. I'm certainly going to make some changes to my web business after reading it. Highly recommended.
July 11, 2017
Одна из лучших книг по продвижению бизнеса через контент.
September 5, 2019
The way of argumentation is too bad.
February 27, 2021
"Бренды, которые нацелены на человеческие чувства, становятся самыми притягательными. Клиенты чаще всего ищут бренды, ориентированные на людей (бренды, которые близки человеческой сущности и способны взаимодействовать с клиентом на равных)."
September 16, 2011
This book outlines a practical marketing methodology with realistic examples to show how these guidelines can be applied.
I've never felt comfortable with the idea of clobbering potential customers with marketing messages, which seems to be a standard operating procedure among many businesses today. Does anyone really like being the target of an aggressive marketing campaign? I know I don't. So Stelzner's philosophy of marketing by building strong connections and developing good content, rather than cold calling and cramming content full of marketing messages, made intuitive sense to me.
Stelzner goes into detail about how different categories of content can help build your business with specific examples of each and tips for how to create them. He also devotes a few chapters to the importance of engaging other people and building reciprocal marketing relationships.
Although I quickly tired of the extended rocket ship metaphor, the ideas and applications in this book make it well worth reading for anyone who wants to understand how to interact more effectively with current and potential customers.
I've never felt comfortable with the idea of clobbering potential customers with marketing messages, which seems to be a standard operating procedure among many businesses today. Does anyone really like being the target of an aggressive marketing campaign? I know I don't. So Stelzner's philosophy of marketing by building strong connections and developing good content, rather than cold calling and cramming content full of marketing messages, made intuitive sense to me.
Stelzner goes into detail about how different categories of content can help build your business with specific examples of each and tips for how to create them. He also devotes a few chapters to the importance of engaging other people and building reciprocal marketing relationships.
Although I quickly tired of the extended rocket ship metaphor, the ideas and applications in this book make it well worth reading for anyone who wants to understand how to interact more effectively with current and potential customers.
July 10, 2014
I'm a big fan of Michael Stelzner, and this book has been on my "to read" list for sometime. Because I have been listening to Michael's podcast and reading his blog for the last few years I was not really expecting to learn anything new, but I was pleasantly surprised.
My takeaways:
1. Record real life videos on the go when I get inspirational ideas.
2. Ideas for blogging content, ie: looking at latest releases on Amazon, guest blogging and lots mire.
3. Tips on getting experts to your blog. (I liked some of his techniques)
It was great to hear his theory on sales. Give and you shall receive. I've sold like this for years, but some of my clients just do not get this theory, so perhaps I should buy them a copy of this book!
My takeaways:
1. Record real life videos on the go when I get inspirational ideas.
2. Ideas for blogging content, ie: looking at latest releases on Amazon, guest blogging and lots mire.
3. Tips on getting experts to your blog. (I liked some of his techniques)
It was great to hear his theory on sales. Give and you shall receive. I've sold like this for years, but some of my clients just do not get this theory, so perhaps I should buy them a copy of this book!
June 29, 2011
Launch offers a refreshing mix of big ideas, practical application and inspiration. Books in this genre often inspire you to "greatness" then leave you overwhelmed because you don't really know what that looks like for you, and you have no idea where to start. Stelzner shows where he started and how he got to where he is now and presents strategies from content development to under-the-radar marketing that can help you propel your business beyond the competition.
December 29, 2013
Solid no nonsense book on leveraging the power of social and digital media. Inspires many new ideas that you can apply to your business. Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition
February 21, 2020
This book had a lot of good information, but a lot of it is overview. Details are a little lacking and some of the info has been covered ad nauseum by other authors. But I did pick up a few new helpful ideas so it was worth it.
January 11, 2012
This book was so meta: he wrote a book (which felt like a long white paper) about writing white papers about writing white papers. Fairly repetitive and I'm not sure how transferable many of these techniques are to other industries.
January 9, 2012
The way this book is written is great. It's vague enough to be used as a model for any business, but it's specific in describing exactly what you need to do. Stelzner uses the recurring metaphor of a spaceship to describe his business model and it makes the model very easy to understand.
July 16, 2014
Rather interesting view on 'soft' marketing strategy. Particularly perceptive observation on the trade between audience growth and sales dynamics. Otherwise nothing extremely new (full disclosure: I've read the book 3 years after it was first published).
March 17, 2012
Practical, tactical and ready for implementation. Not much bells and whistle and just right for those who wanna take action and needed and insider's view on how to run things. Just perfect.
January 27, 2014
This book as about how to effectively market your products and services in our chaotic modern business world. A must read for marketing people and social media practitioners.
April 5, 2015
это совсем не книга про контент
опять сборник баек в стиле "посмотрите, как мы делали и примените это в своей работе, плевать, какая у вас сфера"
ну и устарела она немножко, да.
пфффф
опять сборник баек в стиле "посмотрите, как мы делали и примените это в своей работе, плевать, какая у вас сфера"
ну и устарела она немножко, да.
пфффф
August 8, 2015
Social Media Examiner are a shining example of how to win at social media through providing valuable content. This is a must read for anyone interested in improving their social media marketing.
January 12, 2016
As it was my first book about content I found it very interesting. Nice structure and approaches to ways building content for website. Highly recommend it to marketing departments.
April 7, 2016
A wonderful book that will make you do one of those V-8 commercial head slaps. Mr. Stelzner knows his stuff! Lots of great content inside check it out entrepreneurs!
July 6, 2016
Love it ! It's all about content marketing .. very good book !
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews