File Sharing with Music Files

     From time to time you’ve noticed I bring up the subject of viral marketing.  You’d probably think that all that can be said about this subject has been covered.  However, some of you may be new to this technological age (?) and not understand what I am talking about.  Viral marketing, viral advertising, or marketing buzz are buzzwords referring to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networking services and other technologies to try to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of viruses or computer viruses.  WHAT?  Just stay with me and continue reading.

     There are probably ten million people online looking for downloads at any given time. Of course, a lot of them could be looking for pornography or free software but still, reaching a minimum of a million people or more on any given day does offer some rather intriguing possibilities when you think about it.

     I’m going to take the specific topic of downloading music.  People like using file services to download music for two simple reasons, they’re free, and there is an incredible selection. The fact is concerning the internet craze Pandora’s Box has been opened. In Napster’s wake, other quasi-legal services quickly emerged… a lot of them. Even if some of them are now closed, others will succeed them very quickly.

     Major record companies would like to think otherwise but they are never going to stop file sharing. Net users are file sharers…plain and simple. Long before the Internet came into being, people made cassette tapes (ask your parents or grandparents) of their favorite music for their friends…cd burners are so much easier and faster for people to use today.

     So how can you use this to help your viral marketing campaign along? Think about this. Once someone downloads your MP3 or MP4 files and those files are available on that listener’s hard drive, viral marketing begins. After two users start sharing your files, suddenly, your music is on the hard drive of a second computer…then a third… and on and on. When users are searching and they find your music on a lot of different computers, they are more likely to download the files. It’s just a matter of time before you’ll find your files showing up in more and more places.

      No matter what genre music you play…Rock and Roll, Country, Tejano, Mozart sonatas, Heavy Metal, or Brazilian Jazz, there is an audience for it somewhere.  In this new paradigm, you aren’t hawking a product; you are offering free music via a medium that lets you be directly connected with your audience.  A great way to get your music files into the hands of MILLIONS (literally)!  Thereby your name and brand are also passed along.  It doesn’t get any better than that!

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"Music is the movement of the soul

through the moments in which we live."

Using E-mail to Achieve Objectives

     Viral marketing is an integral part of a campaign strategy that is used to achieve objectives. It is not the objective itself. If the main objective of an e-mail campaign is branding, in order to achieve greater branding success exposure, you craft your message or offer in a way that it encourages pass-along.

     Producing a message with a quality offer or an incentive for pass-along is what viral marketing is all about.  This is one area where you want to make sure you put forth your best efforts in preparation.

     Just suggesting that e-mail recipients forward your message to their friends and relatives is not viral marketing. A message at the bottom of your e-mail that reads “Feel free to forward this message to a friend” is nowhere close to viral marketing at its best.

     On the other hand, if something worthy of sharing, such as a valuable discount, vital information, additional entries into a sweepstakes, an added discount or premium service, a joke, cartoon, or a hilarious video, is included in the e-mail, viral marketing happens naturally and quite successfully. However you choose to prepare this aspect of your email, it must be worth the efforts of your recipients to pass this information to their family or friends.

     The bottom line is that your message must be perceived as having value. Relevant or timely information, research, or studies are all good examples of content that might be viewed as potential pass-along material. Interactive content like a quiz or text can inspire forwarding, especially if it is fun. Personality tests, fitness quizzes, or compatibility questionnaires are all things that have been passed on by many people many times. Why? Because they are entertaining and entertainment has value.

     A multimedia experience is always going to achieve some pass-along. Someone is always touting the benefits. It is a bit more of a time and money investment but the messages have a great appeal and rich media has the advantage of being new. The tech factor alone is often enough for the message to be perceived as valuable.

     Take some time and think about how you could add value to your email messages and get your recipients to send them along to their friends, to their friends, and so on.  This is yet another avenue of growing your business with the help of others.

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"To touch the mind is wonderful.

To move the soul to action is priceless!"

Develop Lifelong Excellence

  

   Have you ever found yourself being intrigued or even jealous of how some people seem to excel at everything they do? It really doesn't take that much effort to excel in everything you attempt. It is important to understand that nobody can be perfect, but it is possible to be excellent.

     The best way to develop a life full of excellence is by always putting your best foot forward and directing all your energy into your projects. As long as you acknowledge that you are doing your best, you really are excelling.

     You have to put effort into everything you attempt otherwise you can never develop excellence. You can't sit on the couch while becoming an excellent runner. You have to get out there and practice running by putting your best efforts into it.

     Another way to develop excellence is to learn how to master things. This really applies to learning new skills or understanding how to run a new software program, for example.

     You need to be committed in order to excel. Before taking on a project or committing to a goal, you must be prepared to fully commit and follow through with it.

     Life is full of challenges. These can be ones that you set for yourself, or they can be ones that life throws at you. With any challenge you are going to make mistakes, and there is nothing you can do to avoid this. What you can do, is to learn from your mistakes. When something goes wrong, don't put yourself down, instead think of what happened and learn from it. This way you will be more prepared the next time.

     (On being asked how he felt about repeatedly failing to design a working light bulb):  Thomas Edison said:   "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work"  

     Another way to challenge yourself is by setting high standards. Don't be satisfied with only doing those things that come easy to you. Do something that takes you out of your comfort zone. Remember it is usually said:  “If something were easy everyone would be doing it!”

     To really develop lifelong excellence you should be always open to learning. This may include learning from books or by taking courses. But it also includes learning from life and adapting to things as necessary. Be open to becoming a reader of life!

     Before you can really develop your excellence you must understand what “You” are all about. Do you know what your strengths and weaknesses are? Do you really understand the remarkable combination of experiences, learning, and training that make you, YOU?

     Developing a lifelong habit of excellence does not happen overnight. You need to be aware of your journey and take in your surroundings, as well as the people you surround yourself with.

     Be open to new experiences and be willing to learn from your mistakes. This will provide you with a life where you can be happy and healthy and a life to which you will continue to excel.

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"Do all things the best you can and

you will never have reason for complaint."

Focus on Excellence

    We have spent the past several points discussing excellence within your own personal life and within your business life.  Use the following steps to help you excel with your commitment to excellence.

     Always give more than what is asked of you - When someone asks for help with a certain task or chore be prepared to go that one step further. If a neighbour needs help moving old furniture out of the house, offer to help move the new furniture in too. If you are working for a client then over deliver by adding something extra that adds value to the project without being asked or without charging an additional fee.

     Be passionate about what you do for an occupation - If you want to excel at work then you need to be passionate about what it is you do every day. This may not be that easy, especially if you aren't that happy with your current job. The next time you are asked to deliver a project, be passionate about it and put all your efforts into it. If not for your boss, for yourself, this way you know you delivered your best work.

     Believe that what you do will make a difference - Have you ever stopped yourself from helping someone else because you didn't think it would make a difference? This is the type of behaviour you want to stop. All of your actions, even small ones, can really make a difference: maybe not in your life but in the life of someone else. You need to start believing this if you want to excel with everything you do.

     Challenge yourself at all times - Do you take the easy way out, or are you up for a challenge? People who excel love challenges and are always looking for one. Completing a challenge can really boost your self confidence.

     Expect the best of everyone - As soon as you start expecting the best from others, this is what you will see. Don’t expect them (or yourself) to be perfect, but expect what you receive to be their best!  From now on begin thinking of yourself and others in a positive manner.

     Always follow through with things and follow up - How many times have you started a job and put all your effort into it, only to find your energy levels dwindle shortly after the project gets started? Only take on a job that you know you can finish and when you do ensure that you do it right, and get it finished on time. This will greatly help your self-esteem for future projects.

     Focus on one task or goal at a time - Doing too many things at one time is a sure-fire way not to excel at anything. You simply have too many projects and not enough time.

     By using the above steps you can easily start to excel with excellence in your daily life. This will also spill over into your business life as well.

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"There is no try.

Either DO or DON'T DO!"

Yoda

Excellence by Taking Ownership

    Are you trying to lead a life where you are committed to displaying excellence in everything that you do? This is a wonderful way to lead your life. One way to reach this point is by taking ownership and responsibility for all of your actions:  good and not so good.

     Once you 'own' your choices and accept the consequences for your actions you will be viewed as a person who can be respected. Other people will see you as someone who can be counted on, and this is a huge trait to own. When you say “yes” to a situation people will know that your word means “YES!”

     The easiest way to display ownership is by not making excuses. If you were late for an appointment don't come up with a ridiculous excuse. Tell the other person why you were late then apologize for not calling to let them know.

     It really is so easy to blame outside influences for your mistakes or oversights. While no-one can control one hundred percent of what happens, you can control how you respond to certain situations. This reaction can completely change your life.

     Examples of things you can take ownership for include your relationships, your education, your fitness, your social life, and your business operations. As you start to take ownership you will find that you feel more confident and have a real purpose in life.      

     Along with ownership you need to learn how to be flexible. Are you currently willing to do things differently? This means not being stubborn when something isn't working. Take advice and attempt to change what you are doing. If you do you will begin to excel at more tasks and this helps increase your confidence and self-esteem.

     When you become a more flexible person it means that you are happy to respond to a situation in a different way. When you are flexible you are not rigid and set in your ways.

     This brings us to another important factor in the quest to committing to excellence with everything you do. This is the step of adding balance to your life.

     When you live a balanced life you are focusing on those things that hold meaning to you. At the same time, though, you are still mindful of those around you. You make choices that are related to the way you feel and what you are thinking but you take into consideration the thoughts and feelings of others. 

     Balancing your life entails knowing when you have to not go out with friends so you can finish up an important project. You recognize the importance of staying healthy and fit and act accordingly.

     When you combine taking ownership, being flexible, and being balanced within your own life, you will be well on your way to leading a life where you are committed to excellence. When you commit to excellence within YOUR life you add to the enjoyment and satisfaction to the lives of others.

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"Be a man of your word.

Just make sure that your word is worthy!"

Are You Truly Committed to Excellence?

     The best way to really commit to following a path of excellence is by having a good mindset. Once this is in place it will be much easier to focus on actually committing to excellence.

     Can you truthfully say that you strive to do your best every day? If you run an online business, do you put out excellent products? Or do you just try and put out a product that will generate lots of sales quickly? What about customer support, do you even have a customer support system in place?

     I am not asking you to be perfect, that is not feasible, but I am suggesting that you are accountable for your actions. This is how you commit to excellence.

     The problem with running an online business is that it is so easy to hide behind your website. You don't have a physical storefront so you don't see your customers in person. And they don’t see you!  Everything is run behind the scenes so to speak.

Keeping this in mind then, you do have choices for how to commit to excellence with your business. These choices do matter, immensely.

     Instead of just hashing out quick money making products, you want to start focusing on how you can add value to your products. What can you do to help your customers use your products?  This means you are striving to give your customers the BEST product you can so they will gain the greatest benefits!

     This even applies to products that you might promote as an affiliate. Are you promoting products just to make quick cash? Or are you recommending quality items and tools that you know your customers can actually use? There is a big difference.

     Any product that you promote should be high quality and be useful to your customers. It's even better if you actually use this product yourself. This shows integrity and sincerity to your list of customers.

     If you want to excel with your business then quality really does count. This should apply to your own products and those that you promote. It should also apply to the way you market your business online.

     The business image you portray online is going to define the perception of excellence people see you for. Your business name (and your own) will come to be linked with quality in both product and service.  If you run engaging social media campaigns and are seen in various places interacting, this makes you look open and approachable.

     Instead of trying to do a million things for your business: Stop, and focus on one activity at a time. Then while doing this activity focus all of your energy and passion into it. This is the easiest way to develop excellence in your business.  Then do what is necessary to continue to provide this same quality of excellence throughout all aspects of your business and your personal life.

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"Nobody is perfect,

but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try."

Are You Committed to Excellence?

     Let’s take this and the next four posts to “step aside” our line of reasoning on business matters for awhile and consider aspects of achieving excellence within our business life before we continue to look at specific areas of business operations.  Even if you have heard of the term 'committed to excellence', do you fully understand what it means? The following quote is from Aristotle and defines what excellence is.

     "Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit." 

     Immediately you can see that excellence is a habit, and any habit can be formed. The best way to create a new habit is by setting yourself new goals and creating a plan of attack. Let's see how you can do this.

     First you want to define your reasons, or why, for wanting to commit to excellence. Does this pertain to your business, your family life or for some other reason? If it helps you should write down your reasons and your “why fors” in your wanting to achieve success in this particular area.

     If your goal is to be committed to excellence within your business there are some simple actionable steps that you can put into place. If your business consists of clients, then get into the habit of demanding more from yourself than they do of you.

     You can easily please your clients by doing any of the following:

·         Giving more value

·         Over delivering

·         Finishing the work ahead of schedule

·         Adding in a bonus

     Another way to improve your business through excellence is by portraying a professional image. Is your website, logo, brochure information, business cards etc all up to date and modern looking? If not this is one simple area to improve upon.

     Customer service is another area where you can offer excellence. Make sure you have a great customer service center, whether online or offline. It is very easy to set up online help desks today. You can even create one using Google+ Hangouts or some other type service.

     By delivering quality customer service to your clients and your customers you can easily provide excellence. Always respond to tickets in a timely fashion and never get angry at the customer, regardless of the situation.

     If you want to excel in your life then you can start by attempting to put forth the best effort you can. If you do this consistently you will have that air of excellence surrounding you. This will rub off on other people and they will begin to view you in a different light.

     Remember to create those habits that need to be performed that will provide you with the excellence you are seeking to achieve.  Then persist in carrying through with these habits on a regular basis.

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"We never loose if we 

always try to be better."

Chat Rooms for Viral Marketing

     Spamming chat rooms or instant messaging systems with undifferentiated marketing messages is certainly not a very good idea. But if they are used the right way, these channels can be great to communicate with the market - especially to establish a dialogue with customers. And you need to know what your customers are thinking and what they are wanting as products and/or services so you can make necessary changes in your business operations.

     Have you ever been to a chat room and posted a message? If you have then you may learn some free web-advertising secrets on how to market your products and service in chat rooms. Chat rooms are usually broken into categories. You will need to find the right chat room where your targeted audience would gather. If there isn’t one, then you may need to create one.  Don’t get excited, it’s not hard to do.

     It will be of no use to create one that is obviously for the sole purpose of selling your product or service. Rather, it needs to attract people who would be interested in your product or service. For example: If you sell garden products, your chat room should be on the subject of gardening and not the brand name of the products you sell. 

     Another way to use a chat room to promote your business is to include a chat room on your web site. Host a free online seminar in your own chat room about a subject of your expertise. Use your chat room to meet with your current customers and answer any questions or address and problems they may have. Regularly schedule free events in your chat room and be certain that your customers are made aware of when they will occur.

     For example, you might have an expert in the field available to answer questions on a certain day and between certain hours. You might, also, host other people’s chat rooms as an expert yourself. You, of course, could charge for this but it might be wise to do it free to gain publicity, at least in the beginning.

     There are a lot of possibilities for the use of chat rooms.  However, you must spend some time and put your mind to work on thinking how you could use one to benefit your customers and their needs.  If you do this you will find that they will reward you by making your bottom line climb.  Who knows you might even find it enjoyable?

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"The key is not when you say something,

but KNOWING when to say what you said!"

New Year 2019

     Many people will not be reading this post until later in the day or perhaps not even until tomorrow.  They have spent the past several hours celebrating the coming in of another year.

     I could not begin to write the various reasons that some people may have for looking forward to a new year.  Some may be anticipating major changes during 2019 and are hoping that these changes will be for the better.  Others are probably only glad that this last year has finally past!

     Whatever your reason for looking forward to another year I hope that things can be as you wish them to be. 

     Having written almost 200 blog posts since the creation of my site, with 100 of those being posted in 2018, I am looking forward to writing another hundred during 2019.  These will concentrate on operating an online business with all the various requirements that such a venture involves.  Those of you who known me will also recall that on occasion I throw in a post on topics or information that has been floating around within the depths of mind, deep within the recesses that see very little of the light of day.

    I am also looking forward to setting up my website on business and other information for those who like to learn all they can about various topics.  This will be a membership site and once it is complete I’ll give a shout out to those who may be interested on this blog post site.

     2019 will also continue to keep me busy as I work on a couple of SPECIAL E-books in the area of sci-fi/fiction which I hope to have completed during this period.  Add to that work load the continuation of my writing several annotated CLASSIC books that I will also make available on the new website that I will be created and you can see that 2019 is going to be another busy year for me.

     With any new year I can only pray and hope that to some degree that humanity will come to its senses and learn to live in peace among ourselves.  And I look forward to the time when no one will be sick, hungry, in war areas, or in fear of any other situation.  However, I also view the future with a human eye of reality, recognizing that we’re only human!

QUOTE TO CONSIDER

THOUGHTFUL GEM

"We cannot continue the new year with things we did last year 

and expect a different outcome!"