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BOOK RESOURCES ~ RECOMMENDED READING ~ |
Chicken Soup for the Entrepreneur's Soul
by Jack Canfield, Victor Hansen, Dhlynn McKowen, John &
Elizabeth Gardner, Tom Hill, and Kyle Wilson
Chicken Soup for the Entrepreneur's Soul is a compilation of short stories from
entrepreneurs - both large and small - who share their experiences of success,
failure, and courage. This is a fun, light-hearted, enjoyable read. A great book
to take in your bag on the road to read when you are in a waiting room, or
waiting for the kids to get out of school, or at the soccer game. 59 stories from
all types of entrepreneurs from Doris Christoper of Pampered Chef that has over
70,000 consultants, to Sandra Yancey Founder of ewomennetwork.com that has
over 200,000 hits daily, to Shelly Hartmann of True Blue Farms in Michigan a
blueberry farm that packages over 4.5 million pounds of blueberries, to Judie
Missett the founder of Jazzercise that has over 20,000 classes a week. It is an
easy and inspiring read.
From Mind to Marketplace by Jayne Seagrave
Got an invention or an idea for a product? This book tells the story of how
Canadian inventor, Andrew Dewberry and his wife, Jayne Seagrave took his
inventions and ideas and turned them into products sold in the marketplace
today. In 1996 Andrew invented the Caulk Rite tool, a small plastic device that
applies caulk neatly to bathrooms and kitchens. The book gives their first hand
account from idea to production to their first sale to getting into major retailers.
It's an awesome perspective of their journey, including struggles, mistakes, and
frustrations. Each chapter ends with a summary of advice on that step of the
process. You can see their products at www.vancouvertool.com.
The Get Started Guide to E-Commerce by Danielle Zilliox
This is a good "Where do I begin?" "I am thinking about starting an online
store" book. This book is great for the beginner who does not have much web or
e-commerce knowledge. I don't necessarily agree with all of her
recommendations, however, it is a good book to create a starting point for
outlining what you would like your site to offer, using professionals to build your
web-site, what e-mail marketing is all about, the basic components of setting up
an e-commerce store. You should test your web-site and all if its links on various
computers and have your family and friends test it and give their feedback
before announcing it to the big wide world. You should make sure to at least
submit your site to the top 10 to 15 search engines. She recommends using
search engine submit companies that submit your web-site to search engines for
you. It is a basic overview book. You will need to read other books to actually
execute a live e-commerce site where you will be selling items.
The Girl's Guide to Starting Your Own Business
by Caitlin Friedman & Kimberly Yorio
If you are thinking about leaving the corporate world behind to start your own
business, this is a good book to start this thought process. There is a vast
amount of information to wade through when you are thinking of starting a
business. Some of the chapters include: What Business is Right for You?,
Writing your Business Plan, Getting Your Name and Product Out There, and
much more. The Girl's Guide to Starting Your Own Business is for anyone who
has a great business concept and it toying with the idea of going out on her own
and prefers to be her own boss. This book is for anyone who needs to know
where to start. It gets you thinking about many aspects of running a business
that you may not have thought of yet. Pick up this book and have a notebook
nearby for notes and inspiring thoughts.
Low-Budget Online Marketing for Small Business by Holly Berkley
This is 130-page book that just printed it's 2nd edition. I don't agree with
everything written in the book, such as I think there are many, many steps to
take before paying for placement on search engines. However, this is a quick
good read with many helpful suggestions and current relevant information.
What are your primary goals in having a web-site? Sell products online? Drive
customers to your retail store to buy products? Do you want them to call you
and book an appointment for your service? Determine exactly what action you
want your customers to take when they visit your web-site and make sure every
page encourages them to take that action.
One of the best ways to drive customers to your web-site is through the wise use
and purchase of keywords. Research needs to be done to determine what words
your target market of customers use on search engines to find your type of
product or service? This is one of the most important steps to take while
developing your site and marketing your site.
Creating a web-site of truly valuable content not only gives your site credibility,
but also positions your company as an industry expert in your customer's eyes.
Think of your home page as being like a magazine cover. You wouldn't subscribe
to a magazine that had the same photo and copy on the cover every month,
would you ? Update your home page at least monthly, while keeping the core
design elements and structure the same as to not confuse your customers.
Get your content, web-site, and ads on other sites. The low-budget way to do
this by swapping with other sites. Make sure that the sites that you set up site
arrangements with are ones that your respect and have content that you and of
which your company can agree. Remember, who you exchange links, content,
and ads with reflects directly on your company.
According to a Yankee Group Survey, 72 percent o f the US population is
on-line. Of that group, 93 percent regularly check e-mail from home and 85
percent check e-mail from work. Of these users, they would rather receive
marketing messages via e-mail versus a phone call or the mail. E-Mail marketing
is here to stay and something every company should use. Generating a quality
e-mail list takes some time, but in the end, you'll have a captive audience that is
truly interested in your product. If you have a storefront, this is the most ideal
place to collect e-mail addresses. Just make a nice form on your computer that
tells people what information you want and at the top and type "Join our E-Mail
List for Exclusive Monthly Offers and Specials". Some companies hand out a
coupon on the spot for anyone that signs up on their e-mail list. Personally, I
know of several businesses, big and small alike, that just ask for the e-mail
address and get it without any offers. However, they have always promptly
followed up with a thank you e-mail that did include a coupon or special offer
once I was entered into their system.
The Power of Exhibit Marketing by Barry Siskind
"According to Trade Show Weekly, there are more than 10,000 annual shows in
North America." This is big business and this book goes over the main topics:
Before the Show, At the Show, After the Show."Exhibitors who set measurable
and quantifiable goals are more successful than those who do not." How do you
choose which Trade Shows to exhibit at ? You need to visit those Trade Shows
before committing thousands of dollars. You need to visit for hours and hours at
a time. You need to walk around and see what kind of transactions are
happening, are they happening, is this one of those shows where visitors are just
running around collecting information and samples with no orders being
written? Talk to exhibitors when they are not busy, especially as they are
packing up the last day - this is when I have gotten the best and most valuable
information. Also, take out the Trade Show map while you are walking around
and put a big X on the spots that are bad - a pole in front of them, a low traffic
area, e
Out of all the attendees, how many are your target market and what is your
expectation to appeal to them. If there 10,000 attendees at an Apparel Trade
Show and you have products for children's apparel and only 2000 of the
attendees own children related businesses - that changes the show and planning
for you. If you appeal to 10% of those 2000 attendees thats 200 stores. How
many of those 200 that are interested will actually write an order at the show ?
Industry standards say only 20% of those that stop in your booth will result in
actual sales. So, that is 40 orders you could expect to write. So, if you write 40
orders with an average of $1000 then that means this show would generate
$40,000 in sales. This is a good starting place to calculate your goals, materials
needs, and staffing needs.
Don't give out any materials unless you have collected their business card with
all of their information. You can't count on people to follow up with you after a
show where they saw 1000 competing exhibitors. You can count on the fact that
YOU will follow up with them. Quickly write pertinent information on the back
of their cards such as "Moms Rock shirts" - to remind you what products the
buyer showed interest in - you are not going to remember all the details of
hundreds or thousands of contacts. "If you collected a thousand leads at a show
and didn't follow up on them, what use would that be?" Also, if you are
repeating an event the next year, send out a reminder postcard with your booth
location to all of your contacts one month before the show and two weeks before
the show.
This book goes into detail about Trade Shows like no other I have read. It talks
about what type of materials you should have to hand out, how many people
should be in your booth, that your staff should never sit or eat in the booth,
engaging visitors, what opening questions to ask, how set up your booth and
displays, how to qualify visitors, how to break away from a non-buying time
consumer, post show evaluation and cost analysis. This is a must read for any
business even thinking of being an exhibitor at an industry Trade Show.
On Target by Laura Rowley
How the world's hottest retailer hit a bull's-eye. If you have ever shopped at
Target you probably felt the same way, great merchandise, nice environment,
quality products with great design. This book tells of the Target Evolution and
Revolution. I loved at the end of each chapter the "Check Out" summary of the
principles taught in that chapter. It tells how they remained true to their family
focus even when it cost them over a million dollars in sales when they pulled the
girlie mags from their shelves. It tells how their philanthropic efforts give back
millions directly to their local surrounding communities. It teaches how to take a
risk and be first at something and to create your own image and not listen to
what is conventionally correct for your segment of the market. They have
connected with American culture and their buyers are envied world-wide. Target
brings the quality and design at affordable prices.
Search Engine Marketing, Inc. by Mike Moran and Bill Hunt
This is the best book I have read in the past year by far ! This is a serious
compliment since I read 5-10 books a week. I could not put this one down.
These guys really really know their stuff. This is THE most comprehensive book
about Search Engine Marketing that has been published to date. I have checked
out every book under the sun from the library about web-sites, promoting
web-sites, and search engine marketing. This one Rocks ! You could teach a
whole semester university class based upon this book. They not only tell you the
basics, they tell you the who, whats, and whys. They give you a step-by-step
approach to executing a plan on how to increase traffic to your web-site.
Chapter titles include: Why Search Marketing is Important and Difficult, How
Search Engines Work, How Search Marketing Works, How Searches Work,
Identify Your Web Site's Goals, Measure Your Web Site's Success, Measure Your
Search Marketing Success, Define Your Search Marketing Strategy, Sell Your
Search Marketing Proposal, Get Your Site Indexed, Choose Your Target
Keywords, Optimize Your Content, Attract Links to your Site, Optimize Your
Paid Search Program, and Make Search Marketing Operational.
As you read through the above chapter titles you may not even know what it
means to "get your site indexed" or "choose your target keywords"... you may
be saying "what is that?" and "why is this important to my web-site?". No
worries. Mike and Bill explain what these mysterious things are and then give
real live examples of these things and then give you instructions on how to apply
them to your web-site. If you own a web-site or manage an e-commerce
department, this is your must have book of the year ! This should be required
reading of any business owners or staff that deals with a web-site in any way for
a company.
Sign Me Up ! by Matt Bluberg & Michael Mayor
- A Marketer's Guide to Creating E-Mail Newsletters that Build Relationships
and Boost Sales -
This is a completely comprehensive and detailed book that is a must read for
anyone that is thinking about starting a regular e-mail campaign or already has
one in the works and wants to know how to do it right and get great results.
These authors really know what they are talking about and will take you from
A-Z on the whole process.
Some of the chapters in this book include: Creating E-Mails That People Want to
Read, Writing and Managing an E-Mail Newsletter Program, Designing and
Formatting E-Mails for Maximum Performance, Building a Large and
Responsive E-Mail List, Keeping Your List Clean and Well Maintained, Making
Sure Your Messages Make It into the Inbox.
The authors' goal for this books are for you to: Develop a Winning Strategy,
Build your Brand, Grow your Business, Connect with Customers and Prospects,
Build a Large and Responsive Subscriber Base, and Optimize your e-mail
newsletter program using simple yet effective techniques to track results, analyze
metrics and monitor deliverability.
The most important starting point is making sure that content is relevant. Know
who your audience is and give them information they want and this useful to
them and their lifestyles. If you don't know who your audience is, you won't be
able to create relevant content. Also, focus on recognition. If your e-mail isn't
recognized in an instant, it will be deleted. If you are Hewlett Packard Printers,
don't send an e-mail (as they did) saying "A great offer from HP"... HP? Who is
that ? Make sure that your "from line" indicates clearly who sent the message.
Building a great list of your target audience is equally important. Obtain e-mail
addresses through your web-site, your retail store, conferences, trade-shows,
marketing events, forward to a friend e-mails, and cross promotion opportunities
with other businesses.
You absolutely need to utilize an e-mail service to manage your e-mail campaign
unless you have a Technology Department that can create a custom program for
you. There are some great programs out there that have templates for you to
use, are user friendly, and cost effective, and even starts their pricing at $10 per
month, though for most small businesses the median price seems to be $49.95 if
you have a list in the thousands. Click here or on the tab to the left labelled
"E-Mail Campaigns" to find out more about different ESPs, E-Mail Service
Providers, that are reputable and tried by business owners in our Mega Moms
Group.
The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy by Pietra Rivoli
Pietra Rivoli is a business professor at Georgetown University and she was
inspired by over 50,000 activists and Georgetown students protesting
globalization at the annual meeting of the World Trade Organization in Seattle in
1999. "Who made your t-shirt ?" they yelled. For several years, Pietra Rivoli
traveled the world to investigate what was all this commotion about. "This book
is a story of people, politics, and markets that create my cotton t-shirt. It is a
story about globalization" P. Rivoli. It tells the history of how America has
dominated the cotton industry for 200 years and how we are still the #1 producer
of cotton in the world. It tells the story of how this raw American cotton goes to
China and is spun into yarn. Then this yarn is transformed into t-shirts at
factories throughout the third world countries. It explains how politics came to
rule the global apparel trade and now is an issue of protest: "Chinese t-shirts vs.
American Jobs".
"If a t-shirt is sewn in China from fabric pieces that were cut in Hong Kong, but
knit in Malaysia, from yarn that was spun in the United States... Where is our
apparel really made?". "It is generally the stitching rather than the knitting,
spinning, and cutting that determines where a t-shirt is from." These t-shirts
have travelled from country to country end up being sold to the United States for
$8.00 per dozen cotton t-shirts. This is an amazing and unbelievable journey.
I particularly enjoyed the last couple of chapters of the book, including, "Where
T-Shirts go after the Salvation Army Bin". The journey of these t-shirts is not
complete yet ! Moms in their SUVs and mini-vans pull into a local Salvation
army loaded down with their black garbage bags filled with clothing that they
are tired of, get their tax deduction, and then head right to the mall to fill the
void those garbage bags just made. The supply received by the Salvation Army,
Goodwill, and charity organizations now so far exceeds the domestic demand for
these items that they now sell these extras at a rate of 5 to 7 cents a pound to
over 3000 companies that export these shirts to third world countries.
These t-shirts that are now embellished with American Logos like Nike, Adidas,
and Reebok and American Sports Teams like the Detroit Lions or the Green Bay
Packers and Family Vacation Destinations like Disney, Yellowstone National
Park,and Ft. Lauderdale. The clothing is sorted by these American exporters
and sold in 1,000 pound bales that may contain up to 3,000 articles of clothing
to locations such as: Zambia, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. This clothing called
mitumba = clothing thrown away by Americans and Europeans have a whole
new life.
What a journey ! You will never look at a t-shirt in the same way again after you
read this book.
by Jack Canfield, Victor Hansen, Dhlynn McKowen, John &
Elizabeth Gardner, Tom Hill, and Kyle Wilson
Chicken Soup for the Entrepreneur's Soul is a compilation of short stories from
entrepreneurs - both large and small - who share their experiences of success,
failure, and courage. This is a fun, light-hearted, enjoyable read. A great book
to take in your bag on the road to read when you are in a waiting room, or
waiting for the kids to get out of school, or at the soccer game. 59 stories from
all types of entrepreneurs from Doris Christoper of Pampered Chef that has over
70,000 consultants, to Sandra Yancey Founder of ewomennetwork.com that has
over 200,000 hits daily, to Shelly Hartmann of True Blue Farms in Michigan a
blueberry farm that packages over 4.5 million pounds of blueberries, to Judie
Missett the founder of Jazzercise that has over 20,000 classes a week. It is an
easy and inspiring read.
From Mind to Marketplace by Jayne Seagrave
Got an invention or an idea for a product? This book tells the story of how
Canadian inventor, Andrew Dewberry and his wife, Jayne Seagrave took his
inventions and ideas and turned them into products sold in the marketplace
today. In 1996 Andrew invented the Caulk Rite tool, a small plastic device that
applies caulk neatly to bathrooms and kitchens. The book gives their first hand
account from idea to production to their first sale to getting into major retailers.
It's an awesome perspective of their journey, including struggles, mistakes, and
frustrations. Each chapter ends with a summary of advice on that step of the
process. You can see their products at www.vancouvertool.com.
The Get Started Guide to E-Commerce by Danielle Zilliox
This is a good "Where do I begin?" "I am thinking about starting an online
store" book. This book is great for the beginner who does not have much web or
e-commerce knowledge. I don't necessarily agree with all of her
recommendations, however, it is a good book to create a starting point for
outlining what you would like your site to offer, using professionals to build your
web-site, what e-mail marketing is all about, the basic components of setting up
an e-commerce store. You should test your web-site and all if its links on various
computers and have your family and friends test it and give their feedback
before announcing it to the big wide world. You should make sure to at least
submit your site to the top 10 to 15 search engines. She recommends using
search engine submit companies that submit your web-site to search engines for
you. It is a basic overview book. You will need to read other books to actually
execute a live e-commerce site where you will be selling items.
The Girl's Guide to Starting Your Own Business
by Caitlin Friedman & Kimberly Yorio
If you are thinking about leaving the corporate world behind to start your own
business, this is a good book to start this thought process. There is a vast
amount of information to wade through when you are thinking of starting a
business. Some of the chapters include: What Business is Right for You?,
Writing your Business Plan, Getting Your Name and Product Out There, and
much more. The Girl's Guide to Starting Your Own Business is for anyone who
has a great business concept and it toying with the idea of going out on her own
and prefers to be her own boss. This book is for anyone who needs to know
where to start. It gets you thinking about many aspects of running a business
that you may not have thought of yet. Pick up this book and have a notebook
nearby for notes and inspiring thoughts.
Low-Budget Online Marketing for Small Business by Holly Berkley
This is 130-page book that just printed it's 2nd edition. I don't agree with
everything written in the book, such as I think there are many, many steps to
take before paying for placement on search engines. However, this is a quick
good read with many helpful suggestions and current relevant information.
What are your primary goals in having a web-site? Sell products online? Drive
customers to your retail store to buy products? Do you want them to call you
and book an appointment for your service? Determine exactly what action you
want your customers to take when they visit your web-site and make sure every
page encourages them to take that action.
One of the best ways to drive customers to your web-site is through the wise use
and purchase of keywords. Research needs to be done to determine what words
your target market of customers use on search engines to find your type of
product or service? This is one of the most important steps to take while
developing your site and marketing your site.
Creating a web-site of truly valuable content not only gives your site credibility,
but also positions your company as an industry expert in your customer's eyes.
Think of your home page as being like a magazine cover. You wouldn't subscribe
to a magazine that had the same photo and copy on the cover every month,
would you ? Update your home page at least monthly, while keeping the core
design elements and structure the same as to not confuse your customers.
Get your content, web-site, and ads on other sites. The low-budget way to do
this by swapping with other sites. Make sure that the sites that you set up site
arrangements with are ones that your respect and have content that you and of
which your company can agree. Remember, who you exchange links, content,
and ads with reflects directly on your company.
According to a Yankee Group Survey, 72 percent o f the US population is
on-line. Of that group, 93 percent regularly check e-mail from home and 85
percent check e-mail from work. Of these users, they would rather receive
marketing messages via e-mail versus a phone call or the mail. E-Mail marketing
is here to stay and something every company should use. Generating a quality
e-mail list takes some time, but in the end, you'll have a captive audience that is
truly interested in your product. If you have a storefront, this is the most ideal
place to collect e-mail addresses. Just make a nice form on your computer that
tells people what information you want and at the top and type "Join our E-Mail
List for Exclusive Monthly Offers and Specials". Some companies hand out a
coupon on the spot for anyone that signs up on their e-mail list. Personally, I
know of several businesses, big and small alike, that just ask for the e-mail
address and get it without any offers. However, they have always promptly
followed up with a thank you e-mail that did include a coupon or special offer
once I was entered into their system.
The Power of Exhibit Marketing by Barry Siskind
"According to Trade Show Weekly, there are more than 10,000 annual shows in
North America." This is big business and this book goes over the main topics:
Before the Show, At the Show, After the Show."Exhibitors who set measurable
and quantifiable goals are more successful than those who do not." How do you
choose which Trade Shows to exhibit at ? You need to visit those Trade Shows
before committing thousands of dollars. You need to visit for hours and hours at
a time. You need to walk around and see what kind of transactions are
happening, are they happening, is this one of those shows where visitors are just
running around collecting information and samples with no orders being
written? Talk to exhibitors when they are not busy, especially as they are
packing up the last day - this is when I have gotten the best and most valuable
information. Also, take out the Trade Show map while you are walking around
and put a big X on the spots that are bad - a pole in front of them, a low traffic
area, e
Out of all the attendees, how many are your target market and what is your
expectation to appeal to them. If there 10,000 attendees at an Apparel Trade
Show and you have products for children's apparel and only 2000 of the
attendees own children related businesses - that changes the show and planning
for you. If you appeal to 10% of those 2000 attendees thats 200 stores. How
many of those 200 that are interested will actually write an order at the show ?
Industry standards say only 20% of those that stop in your booth will result in
actual sales. So, that is 40 orders you could expect to write. So, if you write 40
orders with an average of $1000 then that means this show would generate
$40,000 in sales. This is a good starting place to calculate your goals, materials
needs, and staffing needs.
Don't give out any materials unless you have collected their business card with
all of their information. You can't count on people to follow up with you after a
show where they saw 1000 competing exhibitors. You can count on the fact that
YOU will follow up with them. Quickly write pertinent information on the back
of their cards such as "Moms Rock shirts" - to remind you what products the
buyer showed interest in - you are not going to remember all the details of
hundreds or thousands of contacts. "If you collected a thousand leads at a show
and didn't follow up on them, what use would that be?" Also, if you are
repeating an event the next year, send out a reminder postcard with your booth
location to all of your contacts one month before the show and two weeks before
the show.
This book goes into detail about Trade Shows like no other I have read. It talks
about what type of materials you should have to hand out, how many people
should be in your booth, that your staff should never sit or eat in the booth,
engaging visitors, what opening questions to ask, how set up your booth and
displays, how to qualify visitors, how to break away from a non-buying time
consumer, post show evaluation and cost analysis. This is a must read for any
business even thinking of being an exhibitor at an industry Trade Show.
On Target by Laura Rowley
How the world's hottest retailer hit a bull's-eye. If you have ever shopped at
Target you probably felt the same way, great merchandise, nice environment,
quality products with great design. This book tells of the Target Evolution and
Revolution. I loved at the end of each chapter the "Check Out" summary of the
principles taught in that chapter. It tells how they remained true to their family
focus even when it cost them over a million dollars in sales when they pulled the
girlie mags from their shelves. It tells how their philanthropic efforts give back
millions directly to their local surrounding communities. It teaches how to take a
risk and be first at something and to create your own image and not listen to
what is conventionally correct for your segment of the market. They have
connected with American culture and their buyers are envied world-wide. Target
brings the quality and design at affordable prices.
Search Engine Marketing, Inc. by Mike Moran and Bill Hunt
This is the best book I have read in the past year by far ! This is a serious
compliment since I read 5-10 books a week. I could not put this one down.
These guys really really know their stuff. This is THE most comprehensive book
about Search Engine Marketing that has been published to date. I have checked
out every book under the sun from the library about web-sites, promoting
web-sites, and search engine marketing. This one Rocks ! You could teach a
whole semester university class based upon this book. They not only tell you the
basics, they tell you the who, whats, and whys. They give you a step-by-step
approach to executing a plan on how to increase traffic to your web-site.
Chapter titles include: Why Search Marketing is Important and Difficult, How
Search Engines Work, How Search Marketing Works, How Searches Work,
Identify Your Web Site's Goals, Measure Your Web Site's Success, Measure Your
Search Marketing Success, Define Your Search Marketing Strategy, Sell Your
Search Marketing Proposal, Get Your Site Indexed, Choose Your Target
Keywords, Optimize Your Content, Attract Links to your Site, Optimize Your
Paid Search Program, and Make Search Marketing Operational.
As you read through the above chapter titles you may not even know what it
means to "get your site indexed" or "choose your target keywords"... you may
be saying "what is that?" and "why is this important to my web-site?". No
worries. Mike and Bill explain what these mysterious things are and then give
real live examples of these things and then give you instructions on how to apply
them to your web-site. If you own a web-site or manage an e-commerce
department, this is your must have book of the year ! This should be required
reading of any business owners or staff that deals with a web-site in any way for
a company.
Sign Me Up ! by Matt Bluberg & Michael Mayor
- A Marketer's Guide to Creating E-Mail Newsletters that Build Relationships
and Boost Sales -
This is a completely comprehensive and detailed book that is a must read for
anyone that is thinking about starting a regular e-mail campaign or already has
one in the works and wants to know how to do it right and get great results.
These authors really know what they are talking about and will take you from
A-Z on the whole process.
Some of the chapters in this book include: Creating E-Mails That People Want to
Read, Writing and Managing an E-Mail Newsletter Program, Designing and
Formatting E-Mails for Maximum Performance, Building a Large and
Responsive E-Mail List, Keeping Your List Clean and Well Maintained, Making
Sure Your Messages Make It into the Inbox.
The authors' goal for this books are for you to: Develop a Winning Strategy,
Build your Brand, Grow your Business, Connect with Customers and Prospects,
Build a Large and Responsive Subscriber Base, and Optimize your e-mail
newsletter program using simple yet effective techniques to track results, analyze
metrics and monitor deliverability.
The most important starting point is making sure that content is relevant. Know
who your audience is and give them information they want and this useful to
them and their lifestyles. If you don't know who your audience is, you won't be
able to create relevant content. Also, focus on recognition. If your e-mail isn't
recognized in an instant, it will be deleted. If you are Hewlett Packard Printers,
don't send an e-mail (as they did) saying "A great offer from HP"... HP? Who is
that ? Make sure that your "from line" indicates clearly who sent the message.
Building a great list of your target audience is equally important. Obtain e-mail
addresses through your web-site, your retail store, conferences, trade-shows,
marketing events, forward to a friend e-mails, and cross promotion opportunities
with other businesses.
You absolutely need to utilize an e-mail service to manage your e-mail campaign
unless you have a Technology Department that can create a custom program for
you. There are some great programs out there that have templates for you to
use, are user friendly, and cost effective, and even starts their pricing at $10 per
month, though for most small businesses the median price seems to be $49.95 if
you have a list in the thousands. Click here or on the tab to the left labelled
"E-Mail Campaigns" to find out more about different ESPs, E-Mail Service
Providers, that are reputable and tried by business owners in our Mega Moms
Group.
The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy by Pietra Rivoli
Pietra Rivoli is a business professor at Georgetown University and she was
inspired by over 50,000 activists and Georgetown students protesting
globalization at the annual meeting of the World Trade Organization in Seattle in
1999. "Who made your t-shirt ?" they yelled. For several years, Pietra Rivoli
traveled the world to investigate what was all this commotion about. "This book
is a story of people, politics, and markets that create my cotton t-shirt. It is a
story about globalization" P. Rivoli. It tells the history of how America has
dominated the cotton industry for 200 years and how we are still the #1 producer
of cotton in the world. It tells the story of how this raw American cotton goes to
China and is spun into yarn. Then this yarn is transformed into t-shirts at
factories throughout the third world countries. It explains how politics came to
rule the global apparel trade and now is an issue of protest: "Chinese t-shirts vs.
American Jobs".
"If a t-shirt is sewn in China from fabric pieces that were cut in Hong Kong, but
knit in Malaysia, from yarn that was spun in the United States... Where is our
apparel really made?". "It is generally the stitching rather than the knitting,
spinning, and cutting that determines where a t-shirt is from." These t-shirts
have travelled from country to country end up being sold to the United States for
$8.00 per dozen cotton t-shirts. This is an amazing and unbelievable journey.
I particularly enjoyed the last couple of chapters of the book, including, "Where
T-Shirts go after the Salvation Army Bin". The journey of these t-shirts is not
complete yet ! Moms in their SUVs and mini-vans pull into a local Salvation
army loaded down with their black garbage bags filled with clothing that they
are tired of, get their tax deduction, and then head right to the mall to fill the
void those garbage bags just made. The supply received by the Salvation Army,
Goodwill, and charity organizations now so far exceeds the domestic demand for
these items that they now sell these extras at a rate of 5 to 7 cents a pound to
over 3000 companies that export these shirts to third world countries.
These t-shirts that are now embellished with American Logos like Nike, Adidas,
and Reebok and American Sports Teams like the Detroit Lions or the Green Bay
Packers and Family Vacation Destinations like Disney, Yellowstone National
Park,and Ft. Lauderdale. The clothing is sorted by these American exporters
and sold in 1,000 pound bales that may contain up to 3,000 articles of clothing
to locations such as: Zambia, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. This clothing called
mitumba = clothing thrown away by Americans and Europeans have a whole
new life.
What a journey ! You will never look at a t-shirt in the same way again after you
read this book.
Do have a book you recommend we review ? E-Mail us at: megamomsgroup@timeoutmom.com |
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