Top Viral Marketing

Archive for May, 2010

Youve Got To Keep On Learning

Anyone who stops learning is old whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.” Henry Ford

This time of year when I see kids walking to and from school they all have that “it’s almost over” look on their face. Remember that feeling songs have been written about school being out for the summer; in fact I can hear you singing it now.

It’s also the time of year we all get that itch to maybe coast a little maybe it’s the institutionalized years of school/summer schedule or maybe its those agency summer hours beckoning an early Friday.

Whatever it might be for you now’s the time to push that aside and create a behavior of learning.

Back in March Steffan Postaer whom I had the chance to work with while we were both at Leo Burnett wrote two articles about staying young in the business. I’m paraphrasing but I’m going to take what he said and build on it and talk about learning.

Yep good old fashioned learning. It’s something that all of us should keep doing each and everyday as our marketing mediums tools and even audience continues to evolve. And it’s happening whether we’re ready or not.

There have been heaps of articles research whitepapers and charts about the consumer taking control. Why? Because they are learning it may be one website widget application or even device it doesn’t matter. What matters is that en masse they are learning doing and mastering.

“Do or do not… there is no try” Yoda

As marketers we have to do the same thing school is never really out for us. In fact the pace has just gotten faster which to me means that learning is even more important. And just trying isn’t good enough any more; we’ve got to do.

That means embracing the same mediums tools and applications that our audience does and embracing them means making them some part of our lives. Why? Well it’s darn hard to brainstorm ideas for social networking widget or microblogging and the list goes on if we don’t participate.

If we don’t participate and learn through experimentation and doing we tend to think about the thing vs. the ideas around it. I’ve been in way too many brainstorms that started with “let’s do something on facebook” that’s like saying let’s do something that plays on a tv.

Choose something. Maybe it is facebook or twitter heck get in line July 11 for the new Apple iPhone and start using the new apps I’m excited about the GPS/location based apps. Whatever it is start doing and then do some more. It is learning after all.

Our business is changing both from within and from without. You’re reading this or visiting this website because you believe in actively managing your career or if you don’t you should. And managing your career also means jumping into the changing medium that’s going on around us.

Where to start? Next week I’ve got some suggestions on not only where to start but also strategies on how to get started and sites/tools/widgets to use and keep that learning behavior going. Until then check out more of my thoughts at hundredfathom.com.

About the writer:  For more than 15 years Chris has created built and led businesses in the digital marketing space. He is a regular speaker at agency conferences and forums and is a recipient of numerous awards including agency of the year by Revolution Magazine Cannes CyberLion One Show Addys and Gold Effie. Currently he is the Chief Digital Officer at Element 79 and is actively involved with the majority of E79s clients. You may also find articles by Chris at TalentZoo.com.

Your Viral E-Book Should It Be EXE Or PDF?

The main purpose of creating a viral ebook is to pass it on to as much people as possible with only minimal effort on the authors part. To be able to pass it on to others it should be in the form that can easily be accessed and opened by other people.

After you have accomplished authoring your viral ebook the next thing you have to do before it actually gets to the hands of other people is to compile it. There are two ways that you can do it either to compile it as an exe file or as a pdf file.

EXE which means executable is the file extension for files created by ebook compilers. PDF or portable document format is the extension of files created with Adobe Acrobat. In the World Wide Web PDF ebooks are considered to be the industry standard.

Advantages of PDF over EXE files

1. If you choose to compile your viral ebook using Adobe Acrobat you do not have to create an HTML web page for every page of your ebook. A simple MS Word document will do.

2. When you compile using Acrobat the PDF file automatically numbers each of the pages. EXE compilers do not have that function.

3. PDF files are relatively easy to edit. New pages can be added; you can also delete or replace pages. Page numbers will automatically adjust itself once you modify the pages. EXE files are actually fixed once compiled and cannot be edited. You have to compile a new one to be able to change your ebook.

4. You can print PDF files a lot easier than EXE files.

5. PDF files have a bookmark tab on the left side of the page. Using this feature makes navigating around the file much easier than in an EXE file.

6. When PDF files are compressed the file sizes are significantly smaller than EXE files because PDF converters compress better.

7. PDF files are not at all susceptible to viruses since they are just simple files unlike EXE files which are like programs or applications. EXE files are more prone to carrying and transmitting virus and end up being corrupted.

8. Last but not the least PDF files are universal. As long as the computer has an installed Acrobat Reader PDF files can be opened and viewed whether the computer is a PC or a Mac. EXE files are not read on a Mac computer.

Since your main goal is to expand your target market considering this fact would not harm. According to the Nielsen Netratings over 8 of the US online population use Mac. It may not be a huge number but can still be significant in the increase of your potential customers.

Advantages of EXE files over PDF files

On the other hand EXE files also have their own set of advantages over PDF files.

1. eBook compilers the software that create the EXE files are just a fraction of the cost of Adobe Acrobat. Though there are a number of PDF creators recently released that are also cheap ebook compilers still have the advantage in terms of price.

2. The most important advantage of EXE files over PDF files is its ability to allow rebranding of the ebook. Some of the ebook compilers such as eBook Generator eBook Edit and eBook Paper have builtin rebranding function.

If viral ebook is your tool for doing viral marketing granting rebranding rights is the key to your success. Allowing rebranding of your ebook will guarantee increased promotion and distribution because people can modify the book with their affiliate codes to earn incentives.

If you want increased exposure by having more people able to view and read your ebook then go with PDF files. Not only that it is readable with a PC or a Mac it also has relatively small file size compared to EXE files.

But if your main concern is giving out free customization and rebranding rights to your ebook for wider distribution then you must better go with ebook compilers to produce an EXE file.

Given the different advantages of one type over the other it is really up to you the author to choose which one you think will work best for you. Both types have their own good sets of advantages. It is just a matter of determining your priorities for your ebook and basing your decision from those priorities.

About the writer:  centurion marketing group is dedicated to helping others succeed online. You may reprint distribute or use this article unchanged in whatever fashion you choose.

Your E-book Is Your Viral Salesman

Ebooks are the future and the future is now. The printed word on paper and bound into books used to be the only way information was given and received. They were great you could take them with you and put them on shelves and they do still exist and will continue to for the foreseeable future but the time of the Ebook has arrived.

The marketing Ebook is a slightly different animal from just an Ebook. Marketing Ebooks contain text images links to web pages and navigation controls. The marketing Ebook has become a very important part of marketing on the Internet.

With a marketing Ebook you can present your story in an effective way and include links to your web sales pages. Your Ebook can become your best salesman.

First your Ebook needs to be interesting and informative. It always has links back to your web site and to your sales page.

Next be sure that you have a prominent section telling readers that they are free to give your Ebook away. Let them know that they can post it on their site as a free download that they can use it as a bonus and that they can bundle it with other products. This is the way to create viral marketing for your products or services. Remember those links back to your site contained in the Ebook?

Last but certainly not least before you send your Ebook out to the world double check spelling and grammar and be sure that you have tested every link to verify that it goes where it is supposed to go. Obvious errors will reflect badly on you and will not be of much value to you it could even by damaging.

Post your Ebook to some of the Ebook directories. Many let you post it for free or will let you post a link on their site to your Ebook.

About the writer:nbsp;nbsp; Charles and Kim Petty are the King and Queen of Virtual Real Estate. For a FREE Special Report and Video from Charles and Kim Petty and to set up a one on one strategy session on how you too can make Six or Seven Figures A Year Buying and Selling Properties all across the USA abroad;in TODAYs Real Estate Market go to http://www.VirtualRealEstateInvestingProfits.com or call 18003119228.