HOW TO WIN CUSTOMERS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE Issue 3

In this issue:
1. Yom Kippur
2. Do you need a blog?
3. Viral Marketing
4. TinyURL


1. As we go into Yom Kippur, let me wish you a sweet
year of health, happiness, peace and prosperity and
nachas http://tinyurl.com/72fpd

Jewish or not, New Yorkers know about Yom Kippur, or as
Mickey Mantle once called it, "Yom Koufax." Public
schools are closed. The centers of commerce and finance
wind down to a halt. There's a sense of new hopes and
beginnings.... and even a certain spirituality in
the air.

Some 250 years ago, a little boy in Medzhybizh, Ukraine
learned about Yom Kippur in a most unusual way. For the
full story, see my article in Jewish World Review:
"Whistling at N'eila" at http://jewishworldreview.com/1005/schiller_neilah.php3

2. Do you need a blog?
Most people have no idea what a blog is, let alone
think they need one.

In simple terms, a blog is an online journal. Short for
web logs, blogs started with Internet geeks
http://tinyurl.com/akbun logging web pages with their
own annotations. As the process became simpler with new
blogging software, it spread widely: from teenagers
going public with their diaries, to kitchen table
journalists... to CEO's blogging about company news.

Blogs have become popular with marketers as more and
more of their email marketing gets trapped in spam
filters. One of the main advantages of a blog is having
an ongoing "conversation" with your public. Unlike
formal websites, blogs are by nature immediate and
"transparent" (open and candid). Or, at least they
should be. They are also interactive--inviting comments
from readers--and viral (see next item)--inviting
readers to forward blog posts to friends. Many are
about specialized areas of interest. My own blog
focuses on copywriting and marketing. See a sample at
http://tinyurl.com/qx8gm
and http://tinyurl.com/m6e2s
Want to start your own company blog? For starters, get
Seth Godin's free ebook "Who's There?":
http://tinyurl.com/ajffb and subscribe to blog expert Debbie
Weil's newsletter to get her free ebook "Top 7 Tips to Write an Effective Business Blog": http://www.wordbiz.com/signup.php

Need help? I've added blog writing and management to my
list of services. Call or write me for more info.

3. Viral Marketing
If you've read any business publications in the last
eight years, you've heard of "Viral Marketing." If not,
start here: http://www.ideavirus.com.

Like most buzz words, popularity has watered down its
meaning. It's closely related to (and often used
interchangeably with) "buzz" and word-of-mouth
marketing. For scholarly Jewish publisher Yashar Books,
we launched the "Open Access Project" (see
http://www.yasharbooks.com/pressrelease0atp.html
and
http://www.yasharbooks.com/Open/).

"Lamed" news blog on Jewish education
http://tinyurl.com/6f8bf wrote:
"Yashar Books is doing something bold.... They're
giving books away for free online. Their 'Open Access'
project just uploaded the entire text of a new
biography, 'Rabbi Israel Salanter: Religious-Ethical
Thinker.' Check it out.".

Within two weeks, more copies were downloaded than were
originally printed of the book. As Yashar president,
Gil Student wrote, "Are we crazy for doing this? Quite
possibly. But we are convinced that people who like
this book will want to buy a copy for their library so
they can enjoy it for years to come. We want people to
share the ideas. We are convinced that an open give and
take of ideas will create the right atmosphere for more
learning... and more book buying."

Can Viral Marketing help spread the word about your
business? Call or write me to discuss it.

4. What are all those "tinyurl" links?
If you've ever tried to cut and paste a web link that
runs two or three lines long, you know why I use
TinyURL. Just plug in the long link and out pops a
short one! You can also download a button to
do it on the fly in Firefox or Internet Explorer. Get
it from http://tinyurl.com/


AND MUCH, MUCH MORE....
Want to know more? Want to be the next one to profit
from my copywriting? Check out my website: http://www.mortyschiller.com and
Wordrider blog: http://wordrider.blogspot.com.
Then call (718) 253-1043 or click here:
mailto:morty@mortyschiller.com.

To your success!

All the best,
Morty