Booklets - Getting New Ideas

Where do you get ideas for creating, developing, and marketing your tips booklets? They can and do come from anywhere, depending on how much attention you're paying to your life on any given day.

There are two magazines I read, in hard copy (often at the beach), on a regular basis:

• Fast Company
• Inc.

The June issue of Inc. had an article about the founder of a toy company who also created, among other things, a boutique children's publishing company. He talked about his business model of starting off creating the intellectual property on the iPad and then going from iPad to paper, from iPad to TV, from iPad to toys for licensing, and that the only thing to produce yourself is the digital version before licensing out the rest of it.

Licensing out the rest of it!! Yes, that's what I've been saying for two decades. Do it once, and license it many times over into other formats, other applications, other languages. Now there are more tools and more ways to license than ever before.

What have you got sitting on your computer that you have created or that's waiting to be created? How far have you thought about taking that tips booklet manuscript?

Let's talk.

Until next time,

Paulette - who can help expand your horizons and your bottom line

www.tipsbooklets.com

www.CollectionOfExperts.com

Booklets and Lady Gaga

Whether you give a rat’s tail about Lady Gaga, her music, or what she’s about, she is a marketing marvel worthy of notice – worthy of YOUR notice. Yes, even for your tips booklet and the rest of your business. Here’s some of what she did to promote her recently released music album, “Born This Way” that got her over half a million sales of the album in her first week.

• Cross-marketing – with magazines and numerous companies
• Non-traditional retail and marketing partnerships - gave away all or part of the album or sold at a promotional price
• Publicity – appeared on many shows
• Social media – keeps her followers “in the loop” about promotions

Read a more detailed accounting of what she’s done:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110525/ap_en_ot/us_going_gaga

As the article says, there is nothing subtle about her or her approach. That’s not to say you have to be as “out there” in how you do things as she is, unless, of course, you want to. However, take a look at what she’s done that can be a match for you, things you haven’t considered. And if you’ve been concerned about being too radical, look at her results. She is willing to do what she feels it takes to bring to the world what she views are her gifts. How about you?

Put one thing in place that you haven’t done before to further reach the people who can benefit from your expertise. And then put a second in place, and a third. Before you know it, you’ll have a campaign mapped out that benefits more people than you ever could have imagined.

Until next time,

Paulette - learning from life

www.tipsbooklets.com

www.CollectionOfExperts.com

Booklets - Never, Ever Use Absolutes

How do you think your tips booklet reader feels when seeing a tip that starts with "Never ..." or "Always...?" While you obviously want to be emphatic in your advice about whatever it is, you're placing a big burden on the reader. Yes, that may sound like an extreme assessment. However, it sets a tone that is less than helpful or human.

There are exceptions to situations. And there are slip-ups. It can be a good goal to aim for consistency with something. Being absolute is another story.

Look back at your booklet. Start each tip with a verb, and a positive one at that, telling the reader what TO do. It's very likely that the verb is right there, following the absolute that's currently starting the tip. For example, "Always start your day with a smile." The tip is "Start your day with a smile." You know and I know that starting every single solitary day of a person's life with a smile is unlikely. This may seem like a nuance. It's more than that.

Until next time,

Paulette - looking at the details that turn out to be a big deal most (not all) of the time

www.tipsbooklets.com

www.CollectionOfExperts.com

Booklets - Everyone Does NOT Know

Doesn't everyone know what you know? As obvious as the answer to that question may seem, it's another thing when you are in the throes of writing a booklet about your expertise.

Just because you have been living, breathing, and eating your knowledge for however long you have does NOT mean everyone else knows what you know. There is a first time for everyone for everything.

It also does not matter how many other people have done booklets on your same topic. All those other booklet authors have not yet reached every single person who has interest in some or all of what you have to say. As amazing a grasp of the obvious that is. the concern is one that frequently gets voiced among would-be booklet authors.

Write yours anyway And do it now. People want what you've got and what you know.

Until next time,

Paulette - encouraging the fence-sitters to find a more comfortable place to take your knowledge

www.tipsbooklets.com

www.CollectionOfExperts.com

Booklets - Relationships with Your Buyers

It can be easy to start thinking that the only way to build your booklet business is by being online and by having a large list of followers.

While that is one approach, it is far from the only approach. In fact, smaller lists of followers can have an advantage over bigger lists by knowing what your people want and providing it to them. This is something I was recently reminded of by my colleague and friend, Sandra Martini. She's looked at this in great depth and is teaching about it.

Go see what she's offering now.

Until next time,

Paulette - happy to share resources with you from people I hold in high regard

www.tipsbooklets.com

www.CollectionOfExperts.com

Booklets - Simple Slips Costing Substantial Sales

Imagine this -- you got your excellent tips booklet in front of a decision maker who could potentially buy hundreds of thousands of copies of your booklet, now. (Yes, those are real numbers.) The person loves the booklet, sees it fitting perfectly into a major promotional campaign at their company, and has the budget to make a purchase with you, now, today, this moment.

What does that person find in your booklet?

• No telephone number at all
• A generic email address (i.e. @gmail.com or @yahoo.com or @aol.com)

What do you think the odds are that the sale slipped right through your fingers and you never even knew why?

Make these simple corrections today.

• Get a free or low-cost voicemail box so messages can be left for you if you have a "day job" and are not able to answer your phone during business hours or you don't want calls coming to your home phone and don't have a separate business line. There are people who will only buy from you once they can talk with you. After all, how likely would YOU be to place an order of thousands of dollars with a company you don't know without talking with someone first?

• Establish an email address that has your website domain name in it. And check your spam filters on a regular basis. When someone has sent you an email, there is no real way to know it got to you, which is also why you must have a way to reach you by phone. Having a Contact Form on your website is not enough. You may not know if it isn't working, either.

It can be challenging enough to reach the right person who has the authority to and interest in buying your booklet for a company. Complete the process by making it easy for them to buy from you -- NOW.

Until next time,

Paulette - who was amazed to get resistance from a booklet author just this week about making these two changes in an excellent booklet

www.tipsbooklets.com

www.CollectionOfExperts.com

Booklets - Competitors and Other Myths

A recurring question that was voiced again today is some variation of "what distinguishes my booklet (or my tips in a collaborative booklet) from someone in the same business as mine in the same region as mine?"

I love that question each time it's asked. And it doesn't matter if the question comes from people with brick-and-mortar retail shops or solely service-based business owners. The answer is pretty much the same as far as I'm concerned.

As simplistic as this sounds, it goes like this: You will attract the client/customer/patient who is supposed to be yours. You will also connect with the media people who resonate best with you and you with them.

Without meaning to sound "woo woo" about this (which I am certainly not opposed to sounding), look back on how it's worked for you so far. More often than not, if someone else in your field seemingly whisked away a person you were also talking to, the odds are high that it would have been a mis-match for you with that client/customer/patient.

Your approach, your personality, your product line, the way you deliver your service, your world view, and more all contribute to who you are, inside and outside your business. You can write a tips booklet that is very similar to someone else's without ever infringing on anyone's intellectual property rights. You'll market yours differently, I promise you.

So rest well in the knowledge that the more people there are in your field, the less time you need to spend explaining to people what it is you do and what it is you offer. You can focus on how what you've got can positively contribute to the lives of the people who are yours to reach.

Until next time,

Paulette - thinking about the uniqueness in what sometimes looks similar

www.tipsbooklets.com

www.CollectionOfExperts.com

Booklets - Editing and Design Matter a Lot

A recent booklet author proudly showed me a booklet. My immediate question was "how many of these do you have left?" I've learned to ask that question before offering suggestions to improve it, no matter how good the content is. The good news in this case was that there were only a few copies left.

Here's what I saw:

• The content needed editing. The great information needed to "pop" off the page and be presented in some consistent format, text-wise.

• It needed to be professionally designed. In its current form it screamed "amateur," no matter how good the content. The font was not an easy one to read. The page layout was all over the place. The clip art was definitely amateur.

• The finished size was an 8.5" x 11" paper folded in half. This is a cumbersome size to mail or give away or store. That's why the recommended size is 3.5" x 8.5"

To the author's credit, the booklet is now in the hands of a professional editor and will soon go to a professional graphic designer. Then it will be ready for prime time and lots of sales. The topic of the booklet is one that will be very popular and easy to sell.

What's holding back sales for you? You may have an excellent first draft that needs to be refined by editing and graphic design, which can be done easily and painlessly by professionals who can enhance your knowledge and great content.

Until next time,

Paulette - delighted by the wisdom of those who realize these things matter a lot

www.tipsbooklets.com

www.CollectionOfExperts.com

Booklets - Teleclass tomorrow

F.R.E.E. Teleclass TOMORROW

How to Promote Your Business with Booklets

Wednesday, May 4

7:00 pm Eastern/4:00 pm Pacific

Patsy Bellah interviews Paulette Ensign

• Get paid for your business card.
• Leverage your content into at least 7 products, with minimal costs, if any.
• Identify new and larger bulk sales clients.
• Create licensing rights deals for any products, online or offline.
• Increase profits whether you like selling or not.

As a small business owner, writer, coach or speaker, you may cringe at the idea of marketing your business, or believe that you're only a published author once you've created a full-length book.

You may believe that creating information products and marketing have to be difficult, time-consuming, expensive and anything but fun.

On Wednesday, May 4, 2011, I will turn that all around, taking you step-by-step through easily marketing your business with tips booklets and other related information products, some of which will cost you literally nothing to produce. You won't want to miss this get-the-lead-out-of-your-pants-eye-opening session. You may know that I have personally sold well over a million copies (so far!) of my ONLY tips booklet, "110 Ideas for Organizing Your Business Life" in four languages and various formats without ever spending a penny on advertising.

Our host for this session, Patsy Bellah, has been a valued resource for tipsbooklets.com for the past several years, brilliantly transcribing many of the teleclasses I've presented. She has now developed her own membership site and I happily accepted the invitation for her to interview me as one of her guest experts.

NOTE: The live session of this teleclass will be at no cost other than any regular long distance phone charges you may have. There will be a charge for the recording if you miss the live class.

Go sign up for this class now to learn information that you never knew before or to get a refresher on things you knew and forgot.

Sign up here.

Be sure to confirm receiving the sign-up email to get the complete call-in details.