Marketing in a Flat World

"To achieve something you've never achieved before, you will have to think in ways that you have never thought before."

Brian Tracy, Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life

"Research, freelance writing, internet marketing and self-publishing are keys to a successful web business"

"Specializing in information for marketing to a flat world"

Dear Friend,

If you'd like to have well organized, extensive research, publish informational ebooks and have innovative content for your website, then this might be the most important letter you'll ever read.

Here's why:

I specialize in well organized, extensively researched information, written content and informational products.

Now, I know you're probably skeptical. That's normal and healthy. Let me give you three good reasons I can back up what I claim:

Three Reasons To Believe What I Say - Readers comments about my published books

Reason one: "The clear organization of the information in your books makes it easy for our students to use." - Lynnette Anderson, Director, Goodstein Foundation Library, Casper College

Reason two: "One of the best outlines on Colorado water I have ever seen." - Scott Helker, Attorney at Law and Real Estate Developer

Reason three: "I enjoyed this book and found it to be very thorough and well-researched. The diagrams and tables are appropriately places and lend itself to the educational nature of this book rather than detract from it. It was a very interesting read and a great educational resource." - Penny C. Sansevieri, Writer's Digest Review

 Here is a summary of the
benefits you receive

• Well organized clear information - Save time and effort by having the information you need
• Excellent use of diagrams, photographs and tables - Diagrams, photographs and tables lend themselves to the educational nature of the research and writing
• Extensive knowledge of computers and a variety of software - Saves you money and time learning and acquiring software and hardware that you don't need or use frequently
• Technical background in the sciences - Gives you the ability to have research and content involving a variety of technical subjects

Now, you're probably wondering why you need my services and how I differ from others in my field.

Let me explain.

The usage growth between 2000 and 2005 has been over 100% for every area of the world. Seventy percent of net users have bought within the previous 90 days. The only requirement is access to a computer that has internet connectivity.

With nearly a billion people using the Internet, I wanted to put a billion into context. I found the following information:

• A billion seconds ago it was 1959

• A billion minutes ago Jesus walked the Earth

• A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age

• A billion days ago no-one walked on two feet on Earth

• A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate the government spends it.

A billion people is a huge market that you have immediate access to. Access to this market is only limited by your creativity.

Ideas and Creativity

Mr. Friedman notes, in his national best selling book:

"On such a Flat Earth, the most important attribute you can have is creative imagination, the ability to be the first one on your block to figure out how all these enabling tools can be put together in new and exciting ways to create products, communities, opportunities and profits."

J. Bronowski wrote, “To my mind it is a mistake to think of creative activity as something unusual.”  He also notes, “The creative mind is a mind that looks for the unexpected likenesses.”

In his outstanding book: How to Get Ideas, by Jack Foster (Illustrated by Larry Corby, ISBN: 1-57675-006-x, BK Publishers, 1996), gives some insight into ideas and creativity. He notes, “Ordinary people get good ideas everyday. Everyday they create and invent and discover things.”

He also states, “When I first started teaching, I told my students that for every problem there was a solution, an answer, an idea. I was wrong. I now know that there are hundreds of solutions, hundreds of answers, hundreds of ideas. Maybe even thousands. Indeed perhaps it’s infinite.”

James Webb Young, author, defines an idea as;  “An idea is nothing more nor less than a new combination of old elements.”

A five step process was defined by Young in his book, A Technique for Producing Ideas, James Webb Young. This process was refined by Jack Foster and he put together the following list:

1. Define the Problem
2. Gather Information
3. Search for the Idea
4. Forget about It – let your unconscious work on it
5. Put the Idea into Action

So if you want to become idea prone you must:

First, accept that what you think about yourself is the single most important factor in your success.

Second, accept that what William James called “the greatest discovery of my generation” is also a fact. The discovery? “Human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes.”

If you tell yourself you never get ideas, you never will. So if you want to get ideas, imagine having gotten them.

In his book, Mr. Foster continues,

"Over the years I worked with hundreds of creative people in advertising agencies. These were people who got ideas for a living. On demand. Every day.

They came in all shapes and sizes and colors and signs and personalities. One has a doctorate in anthropology, one never got past the third grade. They came from close families and from broken homes, from penthouses and from ghettos. I worked with gays and straights, with extroverts and introverts, with flashers, drunkards, suicidals, ex-priests, extouts – the list goes on and on."

He states that "they all had two characteristics in common";

• First they were courageous. The fear of rejection shuts down their idea factories. Remember five things:

   

  1. Everybody’s afraid – Everybody -
     Ideas change things and people fear change
  2. There are no bad ideas
     Richard Drew had a bad idea that turned out to be scotch tape.
  3. You can always get another idea – probably even a better one
  4. Nobody’s ever criticized for getting too many ideas
  5. Getting an idea is worth it

   

• Second, they were all extremely curious. Curious – their curiosity was one of the reasons they were able to come up with the ideas in the first place. Their curiosity was forcing them to continually accumulate bits of knowledge.

Many of the most creative minds in history thought with pictures instead of words.

Business and Creativity

One of the most important rules for business today according to Mr. Friedman is:

"When the world goes Flat - and you are feeling flattened - reach for a shovel and dig inside yourself. Don't try to build walls."

The walls that Mr. Friedman is talking about are preconceived ideas, the barriers to communication with people of the new flat world. In other words, get out of your rut

As an example, notes Jack Foster;

“A writer friend of mine in Los Angeles lived about 10 miles from his office. It was a straight shot, right down Wilshire Boulevard from Westwood to downtown. But he never once took Wilshire. Indeed, every weekday morning for nine years he drove to work a different way. Never once, he claims, did he go the same way. ‘Admittedly, there were times when I had to do some pretty crazy things to keep from taking the same route,’ he remembers. ‘I had to drive down alleys, and wander through residential areas, and get on freeways going away from where I wanted to go. But I never repeated myself. And I bet I saw more of Los Angeles in those nine years than most people will see in their lifetimes.’”

“In what way are you richer than my friend because you go to work the same way every day?”

The following steps can help you in developing a new combination of old elements, better known as getting ideas, according to Mr. Foster.

1. Look for analogues – what is your product or service similar to?

2. Break the rules – rules are a great way to get ideas – all you have to do is break them

3. Play what if – what if we turned the product or service into a person? What kind of person would he be? An animal? Made it larger or smaller?

4. Look to other fields for help

5. Take chances – Getting ideas usually means combining things that were never combined before – in other words, taking chances.

A good example of using the above steps is shown by the following;

“James J. Ritty was trying to figure out a way to record the cash taken in a restaurant so as to dissuade his cashiers from pocketing so much of it. On a transatlantic steamer he saw a device that counted and recorded the turns of a propeller. He used the same principle to build the world’s first cash register.”

The secret of marketing in a flat world is to stimulate your creative imagination. You need to tell these new potential customers about your product or service in a way that allows them to relate to you.

Using new ideas

Several of my references note that "there is no difference between having an idea and not doing anything with it and not having an idea in the first place."

Jack Foster suggested using the following list on any new idea.

1. Start right now

2. If you’re going to do it, do it
3. Give yourself a deadline, the shorter the better
4. Make a list of the things you have to do if you are to put your idea into action
5. Burn your boats – no retreat
6. If you have trouble selling your idea to somebody else, do it yourself
7. Stay at it - Persistence
8. Give your self a reason - a reward for using a new idea

Help with Ideas for your business

As you have found out, marketing your business or website is just a matter of stimulating your creativity, getting new ideas and implementing those ideas.

Don't take my word for it. Listen to what our customers say about one of my informational CDs about meteorites entitles Falling from the Sky, A Meteorite Resource CD. This CD is selling well on Ebay.

For additional internet marketing information and resources, visit our Marketing in a Flat World website.

© 2006 by Trams Mountain Consulting Co. - All Rights Reserved

I recommend and use Article Marketer to market my web sites. Writing and articles are keys to marketing on the internet. Learn how to use articles to market your web site even if you can not write. Click on the link below.

I am also a member of The International Association of Home Business Entrepreneurs (IAHBE). This organization has extensive resources that are extremely valuable to anyone with a home business. Check it out today!

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