A Weekly Series by Teresa Morrow

I’m Teresa Morrow, Founder of Key Business Partners, LLC and I work with authors to help manage their online book promotion. As part of my job I read a lot of books (and I love to read anyway!). I am here to offer a weekly post about one book author I am working with and one book I have put on my reading list. This week I will be highlighting ‘Red Fire Branding’ by Liz Goodgold and ‘The Zen of Social Media Marketing’ by Shama Hyder. The books I discuss will cover a range of topics such as social media, marketing, blogging, business, organization, career building, networking, writing, self development and inspiration.

‘Red Fire Branding’ by Liz Goodgold

Talk about a book chock full of some great information—this is one of those books! One of the first things Liz states in this book about branding, “The invisible secret to success in business today is your personal brand; you need people to remember you in order to do business with you.”

Here is another great bit of advice from Liz, “…but that we can become a star in our own field by taking a page from their (rock stars and celebrities) stage notes.”

And the book includes after every chapter concludes with hands-on exercises entitled Your Turn to Act. These exercises allows you to take the advice you read into action with your business right away.

Another great bit of advice from Liz, “I recommend that you create a Council of Advisers: colleagues, clients, investors, or even family members to help you get an outsider perspective. You’ll see the Council referred to often in your exercises to act as a reality check.

These helpful tips were in the first few pages…see what I am saying. Great information throughout the book such as her Words of “LIZdom”.

Here are a few:

***SPECIALIZATION IS THE KEY
Great brands are specialized; they stand for one thing only. To brand successfully, you cannot be all things to all people.

***USE SIGNATURES AS GREETINGS AND FAREWELLS
See if you can create a signature hello and goodbye. It can be as simple as “hola,” or as casual as “yo.” Of course, just make sure it’s already a natural part of your speech.

***MUSIC
Explore any type of trademark music that might fit with your brand. Transcriber or wordsmith? Try “Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter.” Perhaps a travel agent? Try “Red Sails in the Sunset.” Sell whirlpool baths? Try “Tiny Bubbles.”

***NETWORKING
People do business with people they know, like, trust, and respect. Without any of these qualities, you cannot succeed. Take the time to truly learn about your colleagues and you might be able to help in growing their business, resulting in a possible chance to grow your own.

About the Author:

Liz Goodgold is a marketing and branding expert, speaker, and author, with more than 25 years of experience working for such major companies as Quaker Oats, Times Mirror, and Arco Oil. Currently she is Chief Nuancer and CEO of The Nuancing Group, an identity-consulting firm that helps companies understand the nuances of naming and branding.

Some of her clients include Proflowers.com, Fair Isaac (of the FICO score fame), Univision (largest Hispanic Media conglomerate in the world), and Sharp HealthCare (2008 winner of the prestigious Baldridge Award.)

She also works with a myriad of corporate clients and entrepreneurs for whom she has developed compelling product names, taglines, brand identities, and Internet domains that have generated flawless recall and increased market share.

You can purchase a copy of ‘Red Fire Branding’ online at ThinkAha Books or at Amazon

This blog post is part of a virtual book tour done by Key Business Partners, LLC and I have received a complimentary copy of ‘#PROJECT MANAGEMENT TWEET’ by the authors.

‘The Zen of Social Media Marketing’ by Shama Hyder

Now I would like to highlight a book on my “review” reading list–‘The Zen of Social Media Marketing’ by Shama Hyder.

This book offers:

*Why and How social media works, and how to use it to drive traffic to your website

*Step by step guidelines for Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, plus effective web video

*Insights from more than two dozen leading online marketers and entrepreneurs

*Shortcuts and tips to help you make the most of you time and energy, and proven strategies for success from the businesses Shama works with every day

Here are a few tips she gives in the book:

~ Bring offline networking online (page 53): When you go to conferences or mixers and bring home a stack of business cards, search for the people on Facebook and add them as friends. Then throw away their cards! Facebook will even remind you of their birthdays.
Teresa’s added tip — when it is a colleagues’ birthday, take the time to send them a card.

~Regarding following on Twitter (page 82): Leave out mundane details unless they add value. Avoid things like, “loving this veggie burger.” Use, “Loving this veggie burger at the new San Francisco join on 45th and Lemon.”

~About web video (page 130): After training thousands of people across the world on how to create, get traffic from and profit from web video, I can tell you without a doubt that those who find success always follow these principles: they stop thinking about it, they start doing it and they never quit.

About Shama:

Shama Hyder is the founder of The Marketing Zen Group, a full-service online marketing firm that serves clients around the world. Fast Company has dubbed her “an online marketing shaman and a millennial master of the universe.” She holds a Masters degree in Organizational Communication from the University of Texas at Austin. Her Web sites, marketingzen.com and Shama.tv have turned into high-traffic destinations for people looking for advice on how to successfully market their businesses online. Companies of all sizes and the media look to Shama to guide them when it comes to the vast world of social media marketing. She has been named one of the 10 Most Influential and Powerful Women in Social Media and, in 2009, BusinessWeek honored Shama as one of the Top 25 under 25 entrepreneurs in North America.
*courtesy of Amazon

You can purchase a copy of ‘The Zen of Social Media Marketing’ on Shama’s site at MarketingZen.com or Amazon.

I truly hope you will check out these books and please comment and let me know your thoughts on them.