Landing a book contract with an established publisher boosts your business profile to a new level. The problem for many new nonfiction authors, however, is how to go about actually getting that contract. This is where a literary agent comes into play. The agent — among other functions — presents your work to publishers and [...]

Just received notice that once again you will be able to vote for your favorite Super Bowl commercials online. CBS will be airing their 2009 installment of “Super Bowl’s Greatest Commercials” on January 31st, 8:00 pm Eastern time (Day before Super Bowl XLIII) and winners will be determined by us.
This year’s top 10 of [...]

Most small business owners know that positioning their companies as providing the same products or services in the same way as the industry giant can lead to disaster. Kind of like a Chihuahua waving a red flag in front of a bull; one twitch from the giant and they’re dead. Studying the competition and acting [...]

After five years of progressively more offensive Super Bowl advertising, yesterday was the last straw. I’ve switched 36 domain names from GoDaddy to NameCheap.com.
Revisiting the domain registrar list, I was pleased to find that it had exploded since I last researched. Not really into checking out all of GoDaddy’s 952 competitors, I [...]

The 2009 Doritos Crash the Super Bowl contest entrants seem to have stepped it up a notch this year. Similar to past contests, the winner’s 30-second spot becomes a Super Bowl commercial. Since the recession and the fear of being perceived as frivolous is causing many former Super Bowl advertisers to dial down their lineups [...]

Coupon users tend to have higher income and more education than non-users. And the wealthiest among us are some of the most frugal. Think about it.

If you had any doubts about the power (or swiftness) of social media, think again. Over the last several days, Johnson & Johnson has felt the downside of this power. Through social media such as Twitter (#MotrinMoms) and YouTube — and blogs across the Internet — moms rebelled at a commercial many saw as patronizing. [...]

Used correctly, I believe commenting on blogs (and leaving a Website link) is a good strategy. Signature links — or links to content supporting or expanding on a point — help the reader learn more about you or find more information and are good strategy. Links plastered on a forum or blog along with a [...]

Writing and distributing articles can be a high-ROI activity (thanks, Chris Knight, for that post), but the potential marketing uses do not stop there. Any place you use the written word represents an opportunity to “recycle” that content. Here are a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing:
- Convert part of an article to [...]

As marketers and business managers, we always claim to seek the highest ROI, but if you ask me that is not the case. Strategies slip when things are going well. We get lazy when profitable choices abound and go for easy instead of best. We conveniently forget the strategically sound practices of evaluating alternatives [...]