Profit by Publicity author Edward Segal is ready to answer your questions about how to generate more publicity for your business and best approaches when talking to the media. Tap into Segal's expertise and submit your question. Simply click on the "submit" button below to e-mail your question, or post a question below in the comments section.
Segal is CEO and communications director of the Marin Association of REALTORS® and a media trainer and PR consultant to companies nationwide. Segal is also a marketing strategies columnist for The Wall Street Journal's StartupJournal.com.
Please keep your questions general so that others can benefit from the responses too.
Read Rumsey's responses on Aug. 4. Also, be sure to check back to The Weekly Book Scan on Wednesday for a review of Profit by Publicity and 5 tips from the book on generating more publicity.
Books on how to make big money from house-flipping aren’t exactly flying off the bookshelves these days, according to a recent article in The New York Times (A Shift in Real Estate Books, by Joanne Kaufman, June 9, 2008) about how the slowdown in the real estate market is affecting book sales.
Once popular how-to books about reselling hot properties for quick cash are being replaced by how-to books on avoiding foreclosure and rebounding from real estate investing mistakes.
Publishers are adding new titles and updating backlist titles to reflect the changing times. So what else can
Bestselling author and marketing guru Seth Godin stops by the Weekly Book Scan to answer questions about improving your marketing.
When business slows, there may not be as much money to sink into your marketing. How can real estate professionals figure out what can give them the best return for their marketing dollar? Can you still make your business “remarkable” even on a tight budget?
GODIN: Marketing is not about money, it's about insight and promises and stories and relationships and connections. Use the downtime you have now to put sweat equity into your marketing, by doing something worth talking about.
In real estate, you’re selling a service not a product, per se. So how can you differentiate yourself in real estate?
GODIN:The first step is in realizing it IS a service. Yet most REALTORS® do nothing at all to differentiate. It's about the picture of the house and the boring business card and the empty claims and promises. BE different, really different, and people will treat you that way.
Technology continues to evolve in offering new ways to reach potential customers. What do you see as some of the best ways to use technology for marketing and prospecting?
GODIN: I don't think technology (Zillow, etc.) is the enemy of the outstanding REALTOR®. Instead, I think smart REALTORS® will realize that they can build a long term relationship asset using technology, turning themselves into the one and only.
Check out more of Godin's marketing tips in this Q&A from REALTOR® magazine.
Reader’s Choice: Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable
Quick Skim
Using a traditional (a.k.a. boring) marketing strategy is one of the riskiest things you can do, as it threatens to make you invisible to the customers you need most to succeed. That’s the main thrust of Seth Godin’s classic Purple Cow: Transform Your Business By Being Remarkable (Portfolio, 2002), a quick read of case studies and commentary on how to make your brand something everyone will be talking about. Godin shares lessons from innovators such as Krispy Kreme, Apple, and Starbucks as he inspires you to stop following the herd and find your own way to be remarkable.
Do you feel invisible and anonymous when prospecting? Then start searching for a “Purple Cow” you can bring to your business. Unlike boring brown cows, Purple Cows are products or services that have built-in remarkable elements that literally sell themselves. Here are some ideas from the book for making your company stand out from the crowd:
1. Sniff out the sneezers. Godin uses the term “sneezers” to describe people who are so excited about your services that they infect all those around them with information about you and what you have to offer. Spend all your energies pleasing this group and figure out ways that you can grow and reward this group. “Ignore the rest,” Godin writes. “Your ads (and your products!) shouldn’t cater to the masses.” Do you have the e-mail addresses of the 20 percent of your customer base who loves what you do? If not, get them. And then concentrate on making this 20 percent happy.
2. Don’t play it safe. Trying to play it safe is riskier than innovation, Godin writes. Playing follow-the-leader in your industry makes you disappear into the crowd. Innovative companies, by definition, try tactics that competitors don’t use. For example, Herman Miller took a risk when the company introduced the $750 (gasp!) Aeron chair into the office furniture industry in 1994. “They launched a chair that looked different, worked differently, and cost a bunch,” Godin writes. “It was a Purple Cow. Everyone who saw it wanted to sit in it, and everyone who sat in it wanted to talk about it.” What tactics does your company use that follow the leader? You’ll never catch up with your competitors by being the same, so make a list of ways you can succeed by being
By Mary Martinez NAR Manager, Library & Information Services
No surprise, real estate sales books consistently rank among the top circulating titles in the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®’ Virtual Library eBooks Collection, a special library collection just for REALTORS® and association staff.
But, this digital collection offers something for every facet of life. NAR members have free access to 1,000 downloadable books, audio books, and videos on everything from managing a real estate career to learning Japanese ... from practicing time management to practicing yoga ... from using a digital camera to making real money in Second Life.
Among the most popular eBooks in May were those on foreclosed properties:
— Buying Real Estate Foreclosures
— How to Make Money on Foreclosures
— Make Money in Short-Sale Foreclosures
However, other eBooks making the top 10 list in May included audio books on learning Spanish — Instant Immersion Spanish and Dr. Blair's Spanish In No Time; eBooks on Internet
Tell us your favorite real estate book of all-time.
Send an e-mail to bookblog@realtors.org that includes the title of the real estate book and its author, along with your name, contact information, and why it's your favorite. Send us your photo, too, and we'll feature you on the blog!
422 Tax Deductions for Businesses and Self Employed Individuals
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Tax season may have just ended but you should already be thinking and preparing for next April’s tax bite. In fact, a little thinking ahead might save you hundreds of dollars or more. After all, you likely didn’t deduct everything that you could have in your last tax filing. CPA Bernard B. Kamoroff, author of 422 Tax Deductions for Businesses and Self-employed Individuals (Bell Springs Publishing, 2008), provides an alphabetical list of hundreds of tax deductions for small businesses, from the common to the obscure. You owe it to yourself to read this one.
Kamoroff’s book features tax deductions available for small businesses, home businesses, self-employed individuals, and independent contractors. If you receive a 1099-MISC form, the IRS’s “miscellaneous income” form, this book is for you. Here are some ways he says you can save on next year’s taxes when it comes to business expenses.
1. Keep good records. Get a receipt for everything. Have a good filing system for these receipts and keep them for at least three years. Receipts are your best defense if the IRS ever audits you. No receipt? No worries. Make notes about your expenses, such as driving mileage, or keep a business diary on paper or electronically that logs these expenses. Good records kept throughout the year will be handy when you get ready to file. For example, a cell phone used 100 percent for business can be deducted fully but you need to keep detailed records on the cell phone usage, including time, place, and purpose of call. Here’s a shortcut: Cell phone companies can provide you with a detailed call-by-call list.
2. Educate yourself. You can’t deduct if you don’t know what to deduct. For example, did you know your NAR membership dues can be deducted? Dues and other expenses for business groups, professional organizations, and trade associations are deductible. Other business deductions: rental costs for billboards, car expenses due to business purposes, computers, decorating expenses, ATM fees, late charges (except for government penalties), your Web site maintenance and domain name fees, downloaded software, fees paid to rent mailing lists, coffee services, marketing expenses (except for entertainment, which is 50 percent deductible), office
Marketing trainer and real estate broker Terry Watson offered up some of his picks for top marketing books for real estate professionals at a marketing forum during NAR’s Midyear meetings today. Here’s what Watson called the “best marketing books” available and why he likes them.
Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable (2003), by Seth Godin. Watson said the book’s take-home message of “you’re nobody unless you are spectacular” provides ideas on how you can make your marketing stand above the crowd.
Inside Steve’s Brain (2008), by Leander Kahney. The book takes you inside Apple’s mastermind Steve Jobs, including valuable lessons on showing you how to delegate and ask for help to get ahead in your career, Watson said.
Nuts! Southwest Airlines’ Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success (1998), by Kevin Freiberg and Jackie Freiberg. Watson said he likes this marketing book because it walks you through the success story of Southwest Airlines and how they used humor for effective marketing.
Which one of these books would you like the Weekly Book Scan to cover next month on our blog? Vote in our poll below.
Welcome to an online book club created especially for you, a busy real estate professional. Each blog entry is designed to give you a weekly dish on book news in five minutes or less. Read more >
Books on how to make big money from house-flipping aren’t exactly flying off the bookshelves these days, according to a recent article in The New York Times (
Quick Skim 
Here are the latest top selling books in business and investing from 
No surprise, real estate sales books consistently rank among the top circulating titles in the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®’ 
Quick Skim
