I just finished reading, Getting to First Base, A Social Media Marketing Playbook by Darren Barefoot and Julie Szabo. I liked the book and not just because they quote Han Solo (Star Wars) and Kip (Napoleon Dynamite). They give you real world examples and tips you can use right away to incorporate social media marketing into your overall marketing plan. I got some really good ideas. It is a quick read at around 100pgs which is good for us time-crunched information overload types. I also like the fact they added a glossary to help you sort out all the terms. It's tricky to write on topics like this because the information changes so fast, but they do a good job. One of the nice things about the book is that they offer lifetime updates once you buy it, so as technology and the landscape changes you can have access to revisions.

        Assuming you interacted with us to get a copy (you bought it or we gave one to you), you’ll have access to all future versions of the book. We’ll notify you via email when we publish an update, or you can always visit www.socialmediaready.com for revised editions.”

If you're thinking of incorporating social media marketing in to your plan or attack for ’08 this is a good book to have in your back pocket. You can check it out at.  www.socialmediaready.com

Today’s Duct Tape Marketing – Coaching Excellence Series Tele-seminar looks to be another can’t miss event. I got some great information from the last seminar. It featured Guy Kawasaki. Here is the info and a link to sign up if you are interested. See you there. Speaker: John Battelle Author of The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture and founder of Federated Media - Battelle is considered one of the leading experts on new media, Web 2.0 and online advertising. - November 27th, 2007 Noon Central (GMT - 6) Sign up here: http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/coachingexcellence.html

“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” - Milton Berle Good advice but, why build only one, when you can build dozens or even hundreds? Take Google for example. They’re not just sitting around waiting for people to knock on their search page. They are building on their strengths and aggressively developing partnerships to put their product in front of new audiences. Just look at the recent announcements of the Google Phone, Google PC and Google Gas Pump.

How long before we see the Google Airplane Seats? You know, surf while you fly. Four hours of uninterrupted web surfing and with targeted ads, that’s got to be tempting.

How about Google TP? Hey, it’s a captive audience. :-)

Nov. 7th Logoworks is putting on a branding webinar. The speakers are going to be Rob Marsh, Director of Creative Services for Logoworks and John Jantsch, Founder and Author of Duct Tape Marketing. This looks like a can’t miss event if you are interesting in taking your business brand to the next level. I am a big fan of both Logoworks and Duct Tape Marketing, both of which are in my short list of small business key resources. See you there. Here is a coupon link for Logoworks if you are interested. $20 LogoWorks Coupon

US Airways slogan is “Fly with us.” Maybe it should be “Fly with us…or else!” A few years ago, I had a bad experience flying with U.S. Airways. Here is the short version of what happened: Hours trapped on a plane in the hot sun with no ac …Screaming kids and pissed off passengers… Canceled flight…Hours of waiting in line to re-book…Overnight in Philly at very bad hotel with no luggage (I still don’t really understand how they could get our luggage home but not us!? ) … Back on a plane…No apologies or compensation. (Except for a free toothbrush) I haven’t flow on US Air since, but they are still nice enough to send me monthly newsletters as part of their dividends program for frequent flyers. Several months ago I got a threatening letter saying if I didn’t book a flight soon I would “forfeit” my frequent flyer miles. It seems that US Air decided that customers who have frequent flyer miles and don’t use them are a liability.

“     Effective January 31, 2007, active membership status is based on having earned or redeemed miles within a consecutive 18-month period. “

Needless to say I “forfeited” the miles. Next, the extortion letters started. Here is an abridged version:

-      Ha, Ha, Now we have your miles! If you ever want to see them again, immediately book a flight on our crappy airline or pay the ransom! Act now! Our helpful staff of collections service agents are ready to take your money. “Dividend Miles members have an opportunity to reinstate forfeited miles for an additional 18 months for a fee: • $50 1 – 4,999 miles • $100 5,000 – 19,999 miles • $200 20,000 – 49,999 miles • $300 50,000 – 99,999 miles • $400 100,000 or more miles

Since I haven’t flown or paid the ransom, every month they send me a nice shinny new email which amounts to a proof of life letter for my frequent flyer miles.

Notice how they highlight them in red and mark them as “Miles Forfeited”.

If the miles are forfeited, why show me how many there are every month? Why don’t you just blindfold the miles, duct tape them to a chair with the morning paper and send me a picture every month until I give in to your demands Try asking your customers why they aren’t using the miles and not simply focusing on getting people to use them through scare tactics and extortion. By not asking the right questions you’re missing an opportunity to engage your customers in a conversation that will help make your product better. Here is a good question to ask. How’s that working?

When you learn to ask the right questions and engage your customers in a dialog you are far less likely to lose customers when something goes wrong and you often find overlooked opportunity to improve your product or service.