Branding consultant fan of Pinterest

Posted by Elena del Valle on May 17, 2013

Pinterest for Business book cover

Photos: Karen Leland

Karen Leland, owner of a branding and marketing firm, believes in the power of Pinterest. People love pictures, she says. She points to recent studies that indicate that nearly 20 percent of women using the Internet are on Pinterest, 72 percent of Pinterest users are women, 66 percent of those are age 35 or older, and the average amount of time visitors spend surfing the Pinterest site is an hour.

In Entrepreneur Magazine’s Ultimate Guide to Pinterest for Business, a 189-page soft cover book published this year, she set out to create an easy-to-use guide to Pinterest as a valuable source of prospects, promotion and profits. The book that retails for $21.95 is divided into 17 chapters.

“Great business brands are about telling compelling, congruent stories, and Pinterest is at its core about storytelling in pictures,” said Leland in a press release. “Pinterest has tapped into this visceral lover of visuals, and no small business, entrepreneur or corporation can afford to miss the boat on bringing what they offer beyond words and into images.”

She begins the book by pointing out that the popular social media website is the fastest growing social media website in history. It had 10 million users when she wrote the book. Her promise to readers is: to show them the basics of getting started in Pinterest; building boards that make fans become customers; creating a Pinterest community from activities that drive engagement and appropriate strategies; applications for small businesses; and best practices.

Karen Leland, author, Pinterest for Business

In the final chapter, she mentions a bonus chapter available on her website as an ebook, a podcast with her about opportunities and mistakes, a webinar on the business use of Pinterest and a marketing quiz. She outlines a three-step process to apply her method. She also invites readers to connect with her on social media and to hire her consulting or public speaking services.

Leland is president of Sterling Marketing Group where her clients include AT&T, Apple, American Express, Cisco, Johnson & Johnson, Marriott Hotels and Oracle. She is the author of eight books.

How the big business of food, farming has led to a national crisis

Posted by Elena del Valle on May 3, 2013

Foodopoly book cover

Photos: Wenonah Hauter, Abby Greenawalt

The United States is in a food crisis the result of government deregulation and the practices of a small group of large and powerful corporations, says Wenonah Hauter, a national healthy food advocate. After researching the subject she outlined her findings in Foodopoly: The Battle Over the Future of Food and Farming in America (The New Press, $26.95). The process of researching, writing and publishing the 355-page hard cover book required 18 months. Consolidation in the food industry and corporate control of the food processes make it impossible for farmers to produce healthy crops and ultimately reduce and impoverish consumers choices at the store, she says.

Hauter describes how independent farmers and food processors have been driven out in place of Cargil, Tyson, Kraft and ConAgra among others. Deregulation in turn has weakened the antitrust laws reducing competition. Consumers should have benefited from the economies of scale resulting from the lesser competition and large production facilities but they haven’t, she says; adding that the industry is rife with politically driven policies designed to benefit the already large and powerful companies in the lead.

Wenonah Hauter, author, Foodopoly

Examples of such policies, she says, include irrigation subsidies with publicly funded water projects, the enactment of the Cuban sugar tariff resulting in high fructose corn syrup replacing sugar in the top spot, and poor federal oversight that keeps the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) from testing meat for contaminants.

The author points to USDA data indicating that only 5 percent of farms supplying local markets are large but that those farms were the source of 93 percent of the so called local foods in supermarkets and restaurants; while 81 percent of farms selling local food are small with sales of $50,000 or less, and 14 percent of farms selling local foods are medium with sales between $50,000 and $250,000. The small and medium farms accounted for three quarters of direct to consumers foods, and 7 percent of the local foods in supermarkets and restaurants.

She believes the local food movement is insufficient to solve the problems our country faces. Instead, she proposes that drastic political measures are required to reform the broken system. She was too busy to respond to questions for this article or accept an invitation for a podcast interview, according to a spokesperson.  To a question about the impact the book published in 2012 has had so far the spokesperson replied: “As Wenonah travels across the country she has met with hundreds of people who thank her for speaking truth to power. They tell her that Foodopoly has inspired them to do the same. This is the first step towards growing leaders who can grow the movement for real change.”

Hauter is executive director of Food & Water Watch. She has worked at the national level on food, water, energy and environmental issues. She owns an organic farm that provides vegetables to five hundred families in the area as part of the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. In 2008, she wrote Zapped! Irradiation and the Death of Food with Mark Worth and in that same year contributed to the collection of essays Water Consciousness.

In response to a question about the political power changes she talks about in the book, the spokesperson replied: “The political shifts discussed in the book didn’t happen overnight, so we can’t expect them to shift back overnight either. Fundamentally fixing the food system is going to take some time — a decade or more to begin to see real change. As Wenonah says in the book, there are no shortcuts to building the long-term political power needed to reclaim our food system, our democracy and our commons. That said, people are becoming more alert and tuned into the corporate abuses of our food system. The fact that activists were able to pressure more than 5 percent of grocery stores, including Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, to agree not to sell GE salmon, is one recent indicator that more and more people are paying attention and mobilizing. However, we need more of those people to engage in the political system and hold their elected officials accountable.”

New York journalist outlines flaws, inconsistencies in personal financial products advice business

Posted by Elena del Valle on April 19, 2013

Pound Foolish book cover

Photos: Andrew Walker

In the 1950s, less than 5 percent of Americans had stock market investments. By the 1980s, that number had quadrupled to one in five Americans and by the millennium more than half of the population had ties to the stock market, according to journalist Helaine Olen.

She is convinced that a financial products and self help industry promoted a dream to Americans. It had the allure of magic, Olen says in her book Pound Foolish Exposing the Dark Side of the Personal Finance Industry (Portfolio/Penguin, $27.95), promising to make up for stagnant salaries, unequal income and dwindling financial safety nets. The sellers? People, businesses and organizations who stood to gain from the public’s buy in of the dream. The personal finance and investment industrial promised many things it couldn’t deliver, she says.

The 292-page hardcover book she began working on in 2009 was published in 2012. It is divided into nine chapters: What Hath Sylvia Wrought?, The Tao of Suze, The Latte Is a Lie, Slip Slidin’ Away, The Road to Pas Tina, I’ve Got the Horse Right Here, An Empire of Her Own, Who Wants to Be a Real Estate Millionaire?, Elmo Is B(r)ought to You By the Letter P, and We Need to Talk About Our Money.

Olen concludes that given the current economy personal financial success born of following the advice of self proclaimed self help gurus is unlikely. Financial planning can help people get out and stay out of debt, be instrumental in preparing for retirement and reaching long term goals; but no amount of financial planning can overcome a downward economy or bad circumstances, she says. What to do? She recommends being honest about our personal situation and beginning a conversation about our community’s financial situation.

Helaine Olen, author, Pound Foolish

A freelance journalist formerly in charge of the Money Makeover series at the Los Angeles Times, Olen’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Slate, Salon and Forbes.  She lives in New York City with her family.

Psychologist discusses ways women can succeed by overcoming societal messages

Posted by Elena del Valle on April 5, 2013

The Resilient Woman book cover

Photos: Patricia O’Gorman

Patricia O’Gorman, Ph.D., a psychologist who has worked on women, trauma and substance abuse issues, believes women are wired to try to make others happy. When they don’t live up to these self-imposed expectations, she says, they blame themselves for the hardships that follow. In The Resilient Woman: Mastering the 7 Steps to Personal Power ( HCI Books, $15.95), she proposes that the messages women learn from a young age drive them to self-sabotaging Girly Thoughts that dictate who they are and how they should act.

She defines a resilient woman as one who overcomes a traumatic event or experience such as divorce, job loss, move, marriage, motherhood, health crisis, aging or a childhood trauma. In the book, she offers an analysis of the Girly Thoughts which she equates with anti-resilience, and self-evaluation tools for readers to identify their thoughts and behaviors. She also proposes seven daily steps to lead women to create and strengthen their own resilience.

Patricia O’Gorman, author, The Resilient Woman

Society expects women to have many of the same characteristics that our grandmothers and mothers had, she says. Based on insights shared by women at workshops the psychologist has conducted, many women feel trapped believing that if they accomplish their career goals they become less desirable or not desirable; but if they seek to be desirable they must sacrifice parts of who they want to be. These beliefs often lead to anger and depression and feelings of low self esteem so prevalent women become unaware of them or their source, she says.

The 300-page softcover book published this year is divided into three main sections: Warming Up: Detecting and challenging Girly Thoughts; Start Dancing: Develop a Resilient Mind-Set; and Daily Action Steps to Develop Conscious Resilience; and 13 chapters. One of the first researchers of issues related to children of alcoholics in the early 1970s, documenting the impact of alcoholism and sobriety on adolescent development, O’Gorman created the Department of Prevention and Education for the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD).

Consultant addresses customer communication

Posted by Elena del Valle on March 15, 2013

How to Say It book cover

Photo: Berkley Publishing Group

In How to Say It: Creating Complete Customer Satisfaction Winning Words, Phrases and Strategies to Build Lasting Relationships in Sales and Service (Prentice Hall Press, $18) Jack Griffin sets out to share practical, results-oriented guidance for effective communication with customers through sample words, phrases, scripts, and strategies applied to real-world examples.

A communications expert and consultant to small businesses, entrepreneurs, cultural institutions, and publishers Griffin has authored other How to Say It titles including How to Say It at Work with estimated sales of 235,000. In this title, published in 2013, he outlines ways to use language to create satisfaction in the customer experience and in the sales-service cycle.

He discusses sales and customer service issues in an integrated way because he believes it reflects today’s business reality and a model that identifies customers as more than individuals to sell to but also as individuals to be satisfied. He thinks that management increasingly expects sales staff to address customer service issues that in the past might have been passed on to the customer service department. At the same time, management expects customer service staff to assist with customer purchases, particularly when it comes to upgrading, upselling, and customer communities promotions.

The 260-page softcover book is divided into 18 chapters and three parts: Speak the Language of Yes, Master the Situation, and Speak the Language of Complete Satisfaction.

The author begins by addressing communication that focuses on the customer, his or her needs and wants, ways to identify new customers, developing customer loyalty, overcoming resistance and using language to close. In Chapter 13, he shares examples of a variety of words for different occasions. In the Words of Credibility section, he recommends readers use words that develop confidence and trust and not get carried away making promises they can’t keep. Examples of such words he lists are guarantee, integrity, commitment, absolute and ethical.

Former TARP inspector general discusses system flaws

Posted by Elena del Valle on March 1, 2013

Bailout book cover

Photos: Free Press

Neil Barofsky was assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York when he was called to serve his country. From December 2008 to March 2011 he was special inspector general in charge of oversight of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) under the Bush and Obama administrations. It was his job to oversee the program against fraud and abuse in the spending of $700 billion allocated to the national bank rescue.

In Bailout How Washington Abandoned Main Street While Rescuing Wall Street (Free Press, $16), a bestseller he spent 27 months living and four months writing, he describes his experience and explains why he became disillusioned with the system and the mishandling of billions in public money by representatives of both political parties. The paperback edition was published last month with a new Foreword in which he outlines a number of banking scandals that have come to light following the original publication of the book. He mentions the London InterBank Offered Rate (LIBOR), the accusations that HSBC was involved in transactions with terrorist and narcotics, the accusations that Wells Fargo and Bank of America defrauded the government, and scandals in which JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank, and Credit Suisse were named.

Neil Barofsky, author, Bailout

The 272-page book is divided into twelve chapters: Fraud 101; Hank Wants to Make It Work; The Lapdog, the Watchdog and the Junkyard Dog; I Won’t Lie for You; Drinking the Wall Street Kool-Aid; The Worst Thing That Happens, We Go Back; By Wall Street for Wall Street; Foaming the Runway; the Audacity of Math; The Essential $7,700 Kitchen Assistant; Treasury’s Backseat Driver; and Happy Endings.

In the book, Barofsky discusses the debacle that resulted in only $1.4 billion out of $50 billion in bailout money designated to rescue homeowners reaching intended people; how the interests of powerful people and companies ultimately won repeatedly over the interests of taxpayers; the fraud, obstruction, deceit and immoral spending of public monies to favor Washington and Wall Street parties; the government’s unwillingness to reign in the offenders and hold them accountable; and the criminal justice system’s inability to address the problems that plague the system.

The author, now senior fellow at New York University School of Law, explains in the Afterword that his anger at the injustices in the system drove him to write the book. He goes on to say that Americans should lose faith in their government, deplore the politicians and regulators that allowed taxpayer dollars to go to the banks with no accounting for how they were spent, and be revolted by a financial system that rewards failure and protects the fortunes of the wrongdoers. He hopes that the rage of Americans drives reform and rips the system away from the “corrupting grasp of the megabanks.”

Ad critic, agency leader believe authentic connections can produce results

Posted by Elena del Valle on February 22, 2013

Can’t Buy Me Like book cover

Photos: Youplusme, Michael Albans

An ad critic and agency founder believe we are in the Relationship Era, a time when consumers have a voice that is especially loud on social media channels and when advertising alone isn’t enough. Some of the best performing companies in this era, they believe, strive to communicate in an authentic and transparent way that generates trust and superior results, according to Doug Levy, founder and chief executive officer, Meplusyou, and Bob Garfield, co-host, NPR’s On the Media.

In their book, Can’t Buy Me Like: How Authentic Customer Connections Drive Superior Results (Portfolio, $25.95), a 229-page hardcover book published this year, they outline their thoughts about the Relationship Era illustrating their opinions with case studies of well known brands such as Patagonia, Panera, Citibank, McDonald’s, Progressive Insurance and United Airlines.

Bob Garfield, co-author Can’t Buy Me Like

Garfield explained by email that the book was written for anyone in an institution that has attempted to manage or manipulate perceptions of its organization through advertising or public relations. The book project took about 18 months from beginning to publication in addition to the years of experience associated with the topic, he said.

The authors are convinced four main factors have led the way to the Relationship Era: the fragmentation and collapse of mass, the increase of transparency, the rise of social connectivity and trust relationships with peers. In their opinion, these changes have resulted in power shifts that have removed absolute control of a brand’s image and reputation from the brand and the public’s ability to share positive and negative information in social media forums.

Instead of listening to customers in order to find a way to manipulate them into buying their product or service, marketers need to change their approach, the authors say. Everyone wants to be liked but being liked genuinely is different from being bribed or browbeat into liking someone as some people attempt to do, they point out.

Brands with authenticity will win over customers while brands that try to pull a fast one will be found out, according to the authors. They go on to point out that relationships based on trust require effort and time; that they are the result of cultivation rather than persuasion.

Doug Levy, co-author Can’t Buy Me Like

Levy explained by phone that a site with purchased likes has diminished credibility. He went on to say that an example of likes that are hard to fake are those from friends in social media. It’s his opinion that companies that care for something other than just making money and that develop relationships based on trust stand out and find success. Examples of companies that care about something beyond profit, even though they are imperfect, include Apple, Southwest Airlines, and Whole Foods Market. He’s concerned that people who see how powerful relationships based on care and trust are will attempt to fake it. People can tell when a company’s behavior and its message don’t match, the author said.

The book is divided into eleven chapters: Good-bye to All That; The Relationship Era; Trust Me; On Purpose; Sustain; The Secret Secret; That Thing Called Like; The Shift; Does and Don’ts and No, Really, Don’ts; Bank and Trust; and This Could be the End of a Previously Very Good Relationship.

South Carolina speaker discusses 21 century leadership qualities

Posted by Elena del Valle on February 15, 2013

Inspired People Produce Results

Photos: Jeremy Kingsley

In his recently published book, Inspired People Produce Results: how great leaders use passion, purpose, and principles to unlock incredible growth (McGraw-Hill, $24.95), Jeremy Kingsley, who makes a living as a speaker, explains why he believes leaders share common characteristics that drive employees to success.

He calls workers born between 1965 and 1994 Generation Me and points out that while “They are smart, optimistic, creative, and flexible, and thrive on diversity” they also are described as having a sense of entitlement, being opinionated, having a free-spending style, and insisting on knowing why they are to do something when assigned a task.

While employees follow the instructions of a manager they do more when they follow a leader so those who want to go to the next level and find success should strive to lead, he says. According to him perhaps the most important attribute of a manager or leader is his or her ability to inspire others.

To succeed at the front of the line in the twenty-first century leaders should, he says in the book, have passion, purpose, loyalty, strive to establish a positive working environment, give personal attention to each person in their team, be understanding, and have patience, good communication skills, and integrity.

The 192-page book is divided into ten chapters: What Do Leaders Do? Inspire; What Inspires People? Passion; What Inspires People? Purpose; What Inspires People? Loyalty; What Inspires People? Caring, Part I; What Inspires People? Caring, Part II; What Inspires People? Understanding; What Inspires People? Patience; What Inspires People? Communication; and What Inspires People? Integrity.

Jeremy Kingsley, author, Inspired People Produce Results

Kingsley, president of OneLife Leadership, has spoken to over 500,000 people at live events around the world, according to his biography. The author of four books lives in Columbia, South Carolina with his wife and two sons.

Executive discusses personal branding strategies

Posted by Elena del Valle on February 8, 2013

Branding Pays

Photos: BrandingPays LLC

Karen Kang, founder of a personal branding company, believes a person’s brand is possibly his or her most important asset and that today’s global reach makes personal branding essential. According to her, where competition used to be local in the past, today competitors can be found across international boundaries and making an impression is more important than ever. In BrandingPays: The Five-Step System to Reinvent Your Personal Brand (BrandingPays LLC, $24.95), a 207-page hardcover book published this year, she defines a personal brand as a person’s image and reputation and explains her reasons for prioritizing branding.

Adapting to a changing environment, understanding who you are and the value you bring are basic steps in reinventing your personal brand, she says in the book. She wrote the book for professionals seeking new employment opportunities, recent graduates looking for their first job, and entrepreneurs needing to develop personal and company identities.

The book is divided into a short Introduction, a Conclusion and eight chapters: Take Charge of Your Personal Brand; Positioning; Messaging; Brand Strategy, Ecosystem; Action Plan; 360-Degree Branding: Vision, Symbols, Words and Deeds; and Portable Branding and Social Media: Getting Started. In the book, Kang uses case studies to illustrate her points. In the Conclusion, she points to results from one of her personal branding seminars at a Fortune 100 company where all the participants in the program for women executives accomplished their goals of promotion or a different job within one year of the seminar.

Karen Kang, author, Branding Pays

Kang, a brand strategist with twenty years of experience, is chief executive officer of BrandingPays LLC. A former partner with Regis McKenna Inc. she has trained thousands of professionals on the BrandingPays System for personal branding, and has consulted for 150 organizations, according to her biography. She is a former journalist turned advertising and public relations practitioner.

Entrepreneur, app developer self publish book on digital publishing

Posted by Elena del Valle on February 1, 2013

APE How to Publish a Book

Photos: Guy Kawasaki, Shawn Welch

It has become increasingly popular for leaders, business executives and owners and news makers to author non fiction books in which they espouse their ideas on an area of expertise. At the same time, the availability of e-readers and digital books has expanded the reach of potential readers, made books more affordable and reduced the need for intermediaries. Fast changing digital book technology has made publishing ever easier and accessible.

Digital books have a long shelf life, lend themselves to revisions more readily and easily than print books, pay (if they sell) authors better, expand distribution beyond domestic borders, and allow authors and readers direct contact. However, understanding the fragmented, and at times confusing, book publishing industry can be trying.

Guy Kawasaki

In 2011, the publisher of Guy Kawasaki’s The New York Times bestseller, Enchantment, could not fill an order for 500 ebook copies of the title. The experience, led Kawasaki to self-publish his next book, What the Plus! As a result, he learned first-hand many of the issues related to today’s self-publishing process. He then collaborated with Shawn Welch, an app developer and author, to write and publish APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur How to Publish a Book, a 324-page book, available in printed and e-book formats, published in late 2012.

Shawn Welch

Each chapter features a quote at the beginning and a short summary at the end. The authors begin by addressing the reasons for writing a book, advising would be writers that writing can be a “lonely and difficult process” and inviting them to reflect on the reasons they want to write. The changes in the publishing industry that make self publishing accessible to a broader group of writers than ever before don’t guarantee better books just a more accessible system, they explain later on.

They call the process of self publishing artisanal publishing and describe three main aspects required for success, authoring, publishing and promoting the title. The book itself is divided into sections to address the three areas. Kawasaki and Welch believe that type of publishing, in contrast to traditional print publishing, allows authors to control every aspect of the process, freeing them from the ties that used to bind them to large, traditional publishers.

Kawasaki is the author of nine other books in addition to the three mentioned above. He is the co-founder of Alltop.com website. Previously, he was the chief evangelist of Apple. Welch is the author of From Idea to App, iOS 5 Core Frameworks, and iOS 6 for Developers as well as the developer of several iOS apps. Previously he worked as a senior media-editor for Pearson Education.