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Secrets to Success
Deborah Cole Micek
and John-Paul Micek
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Our new book discusses the New Media
It all started October 1, 2001. After a year of planning, I had sold two of my businesses, and Deborah left her executive position at a corporation. We were on a plane, just weeks after 9/11, moving from our home state of New Jersey to the most remote island chain in the world -- Hawaii.
We faced many challenges in that transition: Moving 5,000 miles to a place where we had no family and no friends. The sad fact is that both of our much-loved dogs died as a result of the move. And, that we were starting a new business from scratch.
What was even more of a challenge was marketing an international business almost solely online from the middle of the Pacific. It's something that, with my 25 years of experience in marketing and selling more than $30 million dollars in offline services, was a painful and frustrating challenge.
We were like most people. Marketing online seemed completely foreign, so we selected some of the well-known Internet marketing gurus and followed their advice. Most of what we were doing felt cold, impersonal, and sleazy compared to the marketing to which I was accustomed.
I'm sure you've felt that same frustration at times. You've probably wondered why you can't seem to connect and build rapport with people the way you do naturally off-line. It's frustrating to know you can talk story and develop great relationships with your friends, family, and customers in the "real world," yet not be able to get those same results online.
To be fair, up until about 2004, that failure to really connect with prospects and customers online wasn't anyone's fault. Even the Internet marketing gurus were only working with what we had. Except for e-mail, the Internet was passive, one-way communication.
But, just over two years ago, something changed all that. Something that began as a small, almost unnoticeable tidal wave has now become a tsunami of trans- formation sweeping both online and off-line culture. That tsunami of change in the marketplace is New Media
» Powerhouses like MySpace, iTunes, and YouTube are attracting hundreds of millions of loyal members.
» Channels such as blogs, podcasts, and social networks are disrupting power structures that have been entrenched for centuries.
» Most important, New Media is changing the way people live their lives. And because of that, the rules of how you reach and win-over new customers have been radically redefined.
If you'd like to harness that same power and put it to work for you in your business, check out a book that Deborah and I wrote, and which was released a couple weeks ago, called "Secrets of Online Persuasion" (Morgan James Publishing). This book is a great way to find out how it's done.
John-Paul Micek is the lead business coach at RPM Success Group Inc. Reach him at
JPM@RPMsuccess.com or toll-free at (888) 334-8151.
Deborah Cole Micek, chief executive officer of RPM Success Group, is a business success coach and life strategist. Reach her at
DCM@RPMsuccess.com or toll-free at (888) 334-8151.