Kenny Tran to Learn & to Share

58) Attend Special Events - Watch your local news and constantly be on the lookout for events in your area where you can increase your visibility. As always, the best lead generation methods are those that introduce your products and services by way of something free (in exchange for their contact information, of course).

59) Take Time to Get to Know Your Local Editors and Publishers - It’s a lot easier to pitch a press release or idea if you already know someone on the inside. Years ago I was in the middle of writing a book, and I started shopping for an agent, figuring it was easier to go that route than to approach the publishers directly. My wife managed insurance policies at the time for a Fortune 500 company, and one of her clients was the publishing firm Simon & Schuster. One day she happened to be talking to a prominent editor, and she mentioned my book. The editor told her to have me send it to his VP, at his request. Just like that I was no longer an unsolicited submitter. It was (and to my knowledge still is) Simon & Schuster’s policy to not accept unsolicited manuscripts. That contact alone allowed me to bypass that barrier.

60) Write a Book - With Print on Demand (POD) publishers, nowadays it’s easy and cheap to type up and edit a book in your favorite word processor, upload it to a POD’s server, and have the book available for shipping within weeks or less. Books are also a great way to position yourself as the expert. There’s something almost magical that takes place when you send your clients an autographed copy of your latest book. In their eyes, you instantly gain credibility. Your status becomes elevated. They are more likely to want to do business with you.

There’s little doubt that successful people want to surround themselves with other successful people. And a book shows them that you are successful. It gives you prestige. You are now an author. It’s far easier to dismiss your self-claims in a salesletter than it is from a book. The fact that anyone can have a book printed is irrelevant (at least for now).

If you don’t have the time or patience to write a book, you have several options:

You can dictate the book and have it transcribed (elance.com and guru.com are good places to get a transcript done for you, but there are many other places online and offline to have them done as well).

You can have someone ghostwrite the book for you. Be sure to check out their previous work, though!

You can hold a teleseminar by yourself or with other experts and have it transcribed and edited into a book.

You can get together with other experts in your field and each contribute a chapter or two for a book.

You can interview other experts and compile it into a book.

You can take books that are in the public domain, update it for today, and release it as a book (you may want to consider legal resources to make sure your choice is actually in the public domain…it’s not always straightforward).

As you can see, it’s fairly easy to have a book done in very little time and at very little cost. Just be sure the subject and material is relevant and fills a need. Ideally a book can also be used as a selling device for a back-end item or as a lead generation device.

61) Blogs, Podcasts, etc. - Yes, this is supposed to be about offline marketing methods, but in today’s information age, I would be amiss if I didn’t mention them… For starters, the offline part comes in when you advertise your blog in the offline world as well (which you should).

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