If interested, please email Lou directly at lou.bortone@gmail.com. For more information on brand development coaching or “Book Yourself Solid” coaching, please visit: http://www.BrandsCoach.com.

Now, people on Facebook usually fall into a couple of different camps… You might be a quantity person, who has thousands of friends – or you might be a more discerning quality person, who carefully considers every friend request.

I guess I fall into the “quality” category. I’m not saying that there’s a right approach or a wrong approach – that’s a personal decision. But I don’t want to be known as a Facebook Ho! I’m not looking for a Facebook one-night-stand! Hey, that’s just me. I’m not gonna let just anyone into my Facebook family!

It’s one thing if you’re a mega-marketer or an author and you look at Facebook like another potential customer list or database. But for me, Facebook is not my “list.”
I’m not spamming these people or trying to sell them anything. I’m trying to build and develop a long-term relationship!

OK, so I don’t have 1,000 Facebook Friends yet. I’m pacing myself. I’m looking at each request. I’m being a little picky. So, if you want to take my slower, build-quality relationships over time approach, here are a few tips: These are the ten criteria I use to admit new friends into my Facebook family:

1. Do I know you? Should I know you?
2. Did you include a personal message in your friend request?
3. How many friends (if any) do we have in common?
4. Who are your friends? Are they people I know or respect?
5. Have you posted a photo and a decent profile? (Most people will want to see you)
6. Do you look like a spammer in disguise? Are you blatantly promoting a product?
7. What are you looking for? If it’s “hot chicks,” I’m not sure I want to friend you.
8. Did Facebook recommend you in the “People You May Know” box?
9. Did someone introduce us? (via Facebook or otherwise)
10. Do you look like you could be a psycho or a stalker?

Set up your own criteria, or what author Michael Port calls your “Red Velvet Rope” policy, and decide who to add as a friend. You may not have the biggest friend list, but the friends you have will be the right ones for you.

Oh, and if you want to friend me, just click over to: http://profile.to/loubortone/
If you’re reading this, chances are I’ll let you in!

Lou Bortone
Writing | Creative | Branding | Video
Helping service professionals and solopreneurs craft their messages, tell their stories and market their brands.

* Certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach *

lou.bortone@gmail.com
866-648-1152 toll free
603-498-9254 mobile
Skype: loubortone
www.LouBortone.com

1. Keep your eye on the ball – Let’s start with the most apparent. It takes an intense focus and concentration to hit a 90 mile-per-hour fastball. You’ve got to have the same kind of deliberate attention to your business and your marketing efforts. Don’t take your eye off the ball!

2. Be (baseball) ready – During every single pitch, I noticed infielder Dustin Pedroia go into his “baseball ready” stance. On his toes, ready to respond, and completely ready for anything that might be hit his way. Are you paying attention in your business? Are you nimble, prepared and ready to react?

3. Swing for the fences – It’s rare that you see a wimpy, half-assed swing in the major leagues. These guys are playing like they mean it! In your marketing efforts and in your business in general, you’ve got to take big swings. If you want to hit home runs, you’ve got to swing for the fences!

4. Work as a team – No matter how good the individuals on the team are, it’s the team that wins ballgames. While this is painfully obvious, you need to ask yourself how teamwork can benefit you. Are you developing relationships and joint ventures? Are you leveraging your partnerships? How can you use the combined efforts of your team to win?

5. Have a game plan – While pro ball players may make it look effortless, they never take the field without a game plan in place. Baseball, like business, is a game of strategy. Plan ahead. Study the competition. Know your strengths and weaknesses. And most important, execute.

6. Focus on fundamentals – While at the Sox game, my son asked me why “Big Papi” still takes hitting practice. If you want to be the best, I explained to him, you’ve got to be great at the basics. You’re never too good to practice, and it starts with the fundamentals.

7. How you play the game is how you play in life – This was another “life lesson” moment for my son. The players he most admires are the guys who are as great off the field as they are on the field. You’ve got to bring your “A” game every day, both in business and in life!

8. Never give up – The guys in the “bigs,” as they call the Major League, understand that it ain’t over til it’s over. To succeed as an entrepreneur, you’re going to need that same kind of dogged persistence and determination. The Red Sox have become famous for 9th inning heroics and come-from-behind victories. Take a page from their playbook and keep playing hard all the way through!

9. Be aggressive – Good ball players hustle. They run hard. They act quickly. They don’t let up. How are you playing in your business? Can you put in even more effort? Can you push a little harder?

10. Use a variety of “weapons” – A winning baseball team like the Red Sox uses many different ways to win. They have a variety of weapons in their arsenal: hitting, pitching, defense, bench strength, late inning rallies. Are you using an assortment of marketing weapons in your business? Look for ways to add some depth to your playbook and don’t rely on just one or two methods.

The Red Sox won the game we attended, but I can’t say I’m surprised. The defending World Series Champions do a lot of things right, and they find a way to win. Follow their lead and your business should be off to a winning season!

Lou Bortone is an author and entrepreneur with extensive experience in marketing, branding and promotion. Before starting his own company, Lou was an award-winning marketing executive in the media industry. Lou served as National Promotion Manager for E! Entertainment Television, and later as Senior VP of Marketing and Advertising for Fox Family Worldwide, a division of Fox, in Los Angeles. Today, Lou helps entrepreneurs and solo professionals navigate their online businesses with services such as copywriting, video production and creative services. Sign up for Lou’s free mini audio course about using Online Video at http://www.TheOnlineVideoGuy.com.

Get the Media to Do Your Marketing For You

Visibility Expert Nancy Marmolejo has just announced her latest teleclass to help entrepreneurs position themselves as sought after, recognized experts.

Nancy enjoys a flurry of free PR and effortless marketing, now she’s ready to share that with others.

How to Get Free Publicity and Attact New Clients With the Power of Your Expertise, taking place April 1 and 8, will show business owners how to take what they know and turn it into a marketing strategy that will attract new clients and free publicity.

She created How to Get Free Publicity and Attract New Clients to meet the needs of people who want the information she teaches in a short time frame. (Nancy’s coaching program, Spotlight U, offers an intense 6 months of coaching and mentoring for a select group of entrepreneurs.)

Over 2 teleclass sessions, she’ll cover how to:

- Identify which of the 4 stages of expertise you’re currently in and how to quickly move into the “credibility spot” (without credibility, no one will listen to you)

- Learn over 29 quick and simple ways to become a recognized expert in your field (and how to quickly implement at least 1 in the next week.)

- Clearly understand the scope and value of your expertise so you can strategically use it to create products, form joint ventures, and open doors to bigger opportunities

- Discover how to create your own Visibility Blueprint with your best content topics and a timeline at your fingertips

- And much, much more.

Nancy is known for her creative, spirited style. Her teleseminars are always fun and informative, with plenty of opportunities for “spotlight coaching” , her version of the hot-seat.

Learn how to get the media to do your marketing for you by checking out the class now… remember space is limited and it is sure to fill. The class starts April 1, so act now!

http://www.profcs.com/app/?Clk=2324502

Hope to see you on the calls!

Lou

It used to be that if a customer had a bad experience, they’d tell a handful of people. Today, in the Internet age, that one customer’s wrath can go viral and spread like wildfire. The damage to the “offending” company can be devastating. Take the well-documented tale of “Dell Hell.” In case you hadn’t heard of that PR disaster, journalist and blogger Jeff Jarvis had some misfortune with a Dell laptop, and his experience was so bad that he blogged about it. Word of the Dell Hell incident mushroomed, and soon the Internet was littered with similar complaints vilifying Dell. The public outcry became so loud that it got the attention of CEO Michael Dell, who eventually sat down with Jarvis to try to make peace.

Although that particular story had a relatively happy ending, with Dell going on to address the complaints and become much more proactive in the area of customer service, you can only imagine the millions of dollars in lost sales due to the terrible press. One man’s bad experience – a single, lost customer – led to a firestorm of negative publicity and lost customers for Dell.

Next time you’re wondering what one customer is worth, think about Dell Hell and the true costs of an unhappy customer. It can mean the difference between a lifetime of ka-chings or a lifetime of disappearing dollars!

[tags]Lou Bortone, Online Branding Guy, branding, guerrilla marketing, customer service, CRM[/tags]

So, like 97.5 million other people (second most watched show in US TV history), I watched in disbelief as the New York Giants stunned my 18 – 0 New England Patriots. It’s being called the biggest upset in sports history. Records were supposed to be shattered, but the only things broken on Super Sunday were the hearts of loyal Pats fans.

What can marketers learn from this historic sports lesson? How can we apply this to our businesses and our brands? What are the “weapons” the Giants used that entrepreneurs can adapt? Here’s my take-away from the game:

1. It pays to be the underdog – Fly under the radar and you may surprise everyone!
2. There’s no such thing as a sure thing – Just ask the Vegas odds-makers and sportscasters.
3. Use “shock and awe” to overwhelm your competition – The Giants put incredible pressure on Tom Brady, sacking him five times. What can you do to shake up the marketplace?
4. Use your full arsenal of weapons – One of the pillars of Guerrilla Marketing philosophy is to use a variety of marketing weapons. Look how the Giants used every element of the game – passing, rushing, defense and more – to dominate.
5. Unleash a relentless attack – The Giants kept coming back at the Pats, again and again and again. Their never surrender attitude is an example you should use in your business.
6. Take a page from the competition’s playbook – On the final, winning drive of the game, the Giants looked like, well, the New England Patriots! What can you learn from your competitors?
7. A win is a win is a win – It doesn’t have to be pretty, and it doesn’t have to be perfect. Learn as you go, make adjustments, and find a way to win!

Marketers take heed! Past performance is no guarantee of future results, as they say in the stock market. You’ve got to bring your A-game every day. There’s always a way to outfox your competition, no matter how invincible they may seem.

Lou Bortone is an author and entrepreneur with extensive experience in marketing, branding and promotion. Before starting his own company, Lou was an award-winning marketing executive in the media industry. Lou served as National Promotion Manager for E! Entertainment Television, and later as Senior VP of Marketing and Advertising for Fox Family Worldwide, a division of Fox, in Los Angeles. Today, Lou helps entrepreneurs and solo professionals navigate their online businesses with services such as copywriting, video production and creative services. Visit his websites and blogs at www.LouBortone.com.

[tags]Lou Bortone, marketing, branding, Patriots, Giants, Superbowl, Super Sunday, branding[/tags]

If you’ve heard her sing, you’d know her distinctive style in an instant. And if you’ve ever seen the singer, I guarantee you’ll never forget her. Covered in tattoos, with heavy eye-makeup and her trademark beehive hairdo, Winehouse is impossible to miss.

Sadly, her enormous critical acclaim and six Grammy nominations have been overshadowed by her public self-destruction and reckless drug and alcohol abuse. She’s a favorite target of the tabloids and is right up there with Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan when it comes to personal train wrecks. In fact, People magazine calls her “a perfect storm of sex kitten, raw talent and poor impulse control.” Amy Winehouse makes Janis Joplin look like a saint. Let’s just hope she doesn’t share Joplin’s fate.

What’s any of this got to do with marketing, you ask? Consider the fact that in the cutthroat music industry, the chances of stardom are one in a gazillion. And when someone bursts on to the music scene like Amy Winehouse, you have to sit up and take notice. Her unique, soulful singing style, her distinctive looks and, yes, even her wacky behavior, create a remarkable brand identity. In “Sethspeak,” Winehouse is a purple cow in a huge herd of me-too musical cattle.

Sure, she’s immensely talented, but so are thousands of other performers. What makes Amy Winehouse stand out is that she’s so… Amy Winehouse! She’s carved out an unforgettable image and an unmistakable identity. Unfortunately, her personal turmoil is now part of that image but, if it doesn’t kill her, it definitely keeps her in the news.

Minus the drama, marketers should learn from Amy Winehouse. I’m not suggesting that you don a beehive wig or run out and make a drunken spectacle of yourself. But you do need to develop a brand. You need to be distinctive. And you need to decide what you stand for. Does Amy Winehouse stand out in a crowd? There’s little doubt about that. But do you? If not, what can you do to grab your share of the spotlight? (Preferably, without breaking any laws!) What can you do to make sure that you’re not singing the same tune as your competitors? Think about it, then go forth and build your brand!

Lou Bortone is an author and entrepreneur with extensive experience in marketing, branding and promotion. Before starting his own company, Lou was a marketing executive in the television industry. Lou served as National Promotion Manager for E! Entertainment Television, and later as Senior VP of Marketing and Advertising for Fox Family Worldwide, a division of Fox, in Los Angeles. Today, Lou helps entrepreneurs navigate their online businesses with creative services such as copywriting, video production and brand-building. Visit www.OnlineBrandingGuy.com

Okay, now as soon as you pull those not-so-flattering New Year’s Eve party photos down off of Facebook or Flickr, take inventory of your personal brand to ensure that you’re sending the right marketing message. How are you putting yourself out there? Is your marketing consistent? Is it intentional? Is it professional? Is there continuity in all of your marketing materials?

If you’re a copywriter and your e-mails are riddled with typos because you were just “zipping off a casual note,” what kind of message does that send? If you’re starting up a business but your e-mail address is still “Schmoopie102,” who’s going to take you seriously as an entrepreneur?

In the age of viral videos and social marketing, we’ve got to be more vigilant than ever about how we brand ourselves and how we present ourselves to the world. Obviously, this applies to our print materials, business cards, products and packaging. But it also goes for the way we act, communicate and conduct ourselves. (Jamie Lynn Spears, are you listening? So much for your “Britney’s sweet, squeaky-clean little sister” brand!)

You’ve got to guard your personal brand like you’re in a casino with hundreds of cameras trained on you. Think back to that scene in the remake of “Oceans 11” with Julia Roberts and Andy Garcia. Casino mogul Terry Benedict gets caught on camera betraying Tess and he loses her, because – in the casino – “someone’s always watching.” Same is true on the wonderful world wide web, so mind your brand!

Oh, and please don’t visit my Facebook page until I have a chance to pull those photos!

Lou Bortone is an author and entrepreneur with extensive experience in marketing, branding and promotion. Before starting his own company, Lou was an award-winning marketing executive in the media industry. Lou served as National Promotion Manager for E! Entertainment Television, and later as Senior VP of Marketing and Advertising for Fox Family Worldwide, a division of Fox, in Los Angeles. Today, Lou helps entrepreneurs and solo professionals navigate their online businesses with services such as copywriting, video production and creative services. Visit his websites and blogs at www.LouBortone.com.

Confused by Web 2.0? Then check out our new “Biz Booster Series” for 18 no-nonsense, practical “how-to” guides! These brief reports cover topics like Social Networking, Online Marketing and Word-of-Mouth Marketing, and they each contain dozens of useful web links and resources. Visit: www.BizBoosterSeries.com now!

GetEntrepreneurial.com – Online business newsletter with tips and trends.
Ubercool.com – Uber trends, marketing info, etc.
Trendwatching.com – Check out their 8 Consumer Trends for 2008
Basecamp.com – Project collaboration tool. I use it for my clients!
WebsiteGrader.com – See how your website stacks up!
52MotivationalInterviews.com – Just what it says. Brand new site from Wayne Kelly