FTC issues New Guidelines for Direct Marketers

Ken McArthur has posted an informative article about the changes that affect anyone who is engaged in Direct Response Marketing.

Direct Response Marketing is defined as those marketing directly to consumers via radio, television, mail, print, door-to-door, and the internet.

It appears to me that these changes will be good for consumers in that it forces marketers to explain offers and financial obligations more clearly.

http://learningfolder.net/blog/?p=838

Ken McArthur is also the host of the marketing event that is coming up this weekend in Orlando. There are still some tickets available for this amazing event that starts Friday. If you are interested in finding out more, check out

http://jvAlertLive.com/invite.aspx?id=1987

How to avoid getting sued over social media - iMediaConnection.com

"A lot of you have asked about legal issues regarding social media. Here is a blog post from iMedia Connection that is very informative."

Aggregating social media content leads to engaging campaigns, but you can easily run afoul of the law. Here are six tips for avoiding any serious consequences.

View >>

Who's Got YOUR Back?

"I never knew what it felt like for someone to have my back. " Sandra Bullock

At the recent 67th Golden Globe Awards ceremony, Sandra Bullock won "best actress in a drama" for her role in the true-life drama Blind Side. Sandra plays a conservative, upper middle-class Southerner who adopts a homeless teenager.

One of my doctors had recommended I see the movie. He thought I could use a little inspiration. He was right.

The movie was particularly interesting and inspiring to me as I felt I had a lot in common with Sandra Bullock's character - a bit of a Southern belle, color-blind, heart-driven, somewhat fearless, and a a little bit spunky. I'd guess you could say she is a bit of a modern-day Scarlett O'Hara.

In her brief acceptance speech, Sandra's words really hit me. She said:

"To my husband, there is no – there is no surprise that my work got better when I met you because I never knew what it felt like for someone to have my back. So, thank you."

In her emotional, public acknowledgement of her husband, Jessie James, I thought about how important it is for each of us to have at least one person in our lives who provides a continuous flow of love, support, and candor.

This brings me back to my opening question. Who's got YOUR back?

Do you have a special person in your life - a spouse, parent, friend, child, sibling, coach, boss, employee - who is helping you succeed?

Do you have someone who loves you enough to be constantly supportive of your dreams?

Do you have someone who cares enough to provide candid feedback in a loving, caring way so that you can constantly move towards YOUR goals?

I hope that you can answer a resounding YES to these questions.

As the moon is always waxing or waning, the the people closest to you are either helping you or hurting you.

They are either filling your emotional bucket so that you can soar...or, they are draining your bucket, leaving you with nothing to fuel your dreams and goals.

Action Step:

Today, I encourage you to take positive action to make sure that you have a Jessie James in your life - someone who has YOUR back.

The best way to recruit someone to have YOUR back is to make sure they know that you have THEIR back.

It's like the old saying goes, the best way to GET a friend is to BE a friend.

If you already have someone, give them a big THANK YOU and tell them how much you appreciate and need them.

If you have someone who could be that person, have a frank discussion with them about what you need and what they can do to help you.

If you have someone who is constantly draining you of your passion for life, give serious thought to what actions you can take today to change this situation. You can and you must.

If you can't think of anyone who fits into one of the three categories above, then sit down and think about what you can do to reach out to someone you already know or to meet someone who can help you reach your dreams.

Napoleon Hill Loves Twitter?!

Napoleon Hill loves Twitter.... at least, I think he would....especially the #quotes.

I'm listening to a great CD set "You Deserve To Be Rich". It is wonderful.

One of the nuggets I picked up today was this:

"Constructive mottos are often used by people who recognize what a powerful influence one's daily environment has on the maintenance of a Positive Mental Attitude." Napoleon Hill


Positive Mental Attitude attracts favorable results.

Negative Mental Attitude repels favorable results.


I know that lot of people think the #quotes are silly. I like them. They are a frequent source of PMA for me. Thanks #quotes Tweeters!


--

I Get What I Want When I Want It

I just saw a really great thought-provoking SHORT video about the importance of re-inventing your business model - even if you are doing well.

As Terry Brock tells us, our customers live by the mantra "I get the things I want when I want them." To survive and thrive, we as business leaders must ask “How does this apply to MY business?”

As a print magazine publisher/franchisor, I am constantly evaluating whether people will be reading printed magazines in the future or not. You have wisely been coaching me for some time to develop a parallel model on the internet.

Check out the article and video at Terry Brock's blog.

Most Exciting Event of the Year....

It starts tonight...

http://generatorsoftware.com/pro/bs.php?421889/70

However, this year it is starting early andthere are a whole bunch of "surprises" thatwill be revealed tonight.

This is regarded as the most popular event inthe Internet Marketing arena for the last 6years.
You'll find out why during this call:

http://generatorsoftware.com/pro/bs.php?421889/70

Enjoy!

Gina

P.S Apparently the "surprises" are timesensitive so I'd recommend dialing in early.You can get all the info for this freetraining series after you opt in here:

http://generatorsoftware.com/pro/bs.php?421889/70

Compensation Czar? Bizarre...and Scary!

I listened in amazement to the radio broadcast the other day.

"The Obama administration has announced that Kenneth R. Feinburg will be the new Compensation Czar."

Compensation Czar?!

Did I hear that right?! It couldn't be! Not here in the 21st Century in the United States of America. No way!

And yet, the announcer said it as if this were just....normal.

Chills ran down my spine.

Did I miss something here? Am I now living in Soviet Russia?!

The term "Compensation Czar" should send chills down every American spine.

The alarm is certainly going off in my head: Danger, Will Robinson!

I am amazed that the American public is not outraged by this.

Have we become numb? Are we asleep? Not paying attention?

Is the American public convinced that "those rich people" didn't deserve what they were getting?

Do they believe that having government officials appoint someone to control the compensation of "those rich people" makes perfect sense?!

I fear it is the latter and that is what is most scary.

People - even smart people - just seem to be saying: "Oh well...I guess Obama knows what is best. He's so smart. He'll take care of everything."

I listened with amazement at the lack of discussion of this as I have gone through my business in the last couple of days.

Where is the outrage?

Where is the fear?

My fellow Americans, we are treading down a slippery slope indeed when the president of the United States - or ANY government official - can have direct influence on what ANY private American citizen earns in his or her role as an employee of ANY company.

Forget Separation of Church and State.

How about Separation of Business and State?!

The truth is that a significant reason the financial institutions and automobile industry is experiencing such financial woes is that Washington bureaucrats tried to tell the executives of these companies how to run their business in the first place.

In 1975, Ayn Rand warned us: "One of the methods used by statists to destroy capitalism consists in establishing controls that tie a given industry hand and foot, making it unable to solve its problems, then declaring that freedom has failed and stronger controls are necessary."

Indeed, government-dictated lending and union policies had a much greater negative affect on these companies than the compensation packages of a few highly paid executives.

These executives merely implemented the directives given them by government.

Now the government fat-cats come along and say "we see that you did what we TOLD YOU to do" but that didn't work. Therefore, YOU are to blame."

This is simply nonsense.

Did we all just step through the Looking Glass?

Is this country being run by a bunch of Mad Hatters?!

Wake up America!

I have no desire to live in a socialist country.

I'm scared.

I think I'll go watch Friday the 13th.

It can't be any scarier than the latest radio broadcast.

Armand Morin Release Best Training Program EVER!

Hi Guys,

Happy Tax Day - NOT!

I think a great way to "celebrate" Tax Day is to figure out a way
to pay MORE taxes. If you are paying MORE taxes, that generally
means you are making MORE money.

I think I heard Internet Marketing Expert Armand Morin say recently
that he is paying over 7 FIGURES in TAXES. The good news is that
means he is making a lot of money.

Even better news is that he wants to teach you how to pay a lot of
taxes - translated make a lot of money - too!

Greetings from Woodstock, Georgia where I've been busy learning
about social media and community/tribe building. I'm developing
some exciting programs I'll be sharing with you soon.

In the meantime, I wanted to make sure you know about the latest that
Armand has available for teaching you how to make money in your
jammies 24/7 over the internet.

Over 5 years in the making... IT'S FINALLY RELEASED!

You're probably wondering what I'm talking about, right?

Recently, Armand showed me something that I couldn't say no to.
When I saw it I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT!

I have never seen a more COMPLETE system to train anyone on the
subject of Internet Marketing before. The best part is, he just
launched it, and you're one of the first even hear about it, so
take my advice and check this out now.

******************************

**********************************
Click Here To View The Most Amazing System Ever!

http://www.am2.com/x.php?af=427051
****************************************************************

I'm not sure how long this promotion is going to last, but my
suggestion to you is to go to the page and read the whole thing,
I know you'll be just as impressed as I was with this NEW SYSTEM.

Here's a tip for you...

Make sure you watch ALL 3 of his videos there.

http://www.am2.com/x.php?af=427051

Like I said... NOTHING COMPARES TO THIS!

Yours in Prosperity,

Gina

Let's Get Connected:

GinaOnTwitter.com GinaOnFacebook.com
GinaOnLinkedIn.com GinaOnPlaxo.com


P.S. - if you get a chance, get to one of the hundreds
of Tea Parties going on in the USA (and around the
world) tomorrow. I plan to be at the one in Atlanta where Sean
Hannity will be broadcasting his TV show starting at 9 pm.

It's not a Dem or Repub thing, it's a personal liberty
and We The People movement, one that I am standing
shoulder to shoulder with millions of others who want
to preserve the USA for ourselves and our families.

Will you stand with us?

Find a Tea Party near you on this map, it's got
FOUR pages of them, pick one and go - you will
be inspired and encouraged:

http://twurl.nl/scmhha

Scroll down the left side of that page to access
the other pages of the maps.

Gina Quoted in Agency Sales Magazine

I'd like to give a big THANK YOU to syndicated columnist Terry Brock for quoting me in a recent article he did in the Agency Sales magazine, a magazine for the manufacturers rep industry.

The article, "Social Networking 101 - Using Media to Improve Your Bottom Line" may be found at http://snipurl.com/fcjsp.

Part of my quote is: "When people want to do business with you, they will check you out on LinkedIn and other networks."

Not terribly profound but there are still a lot of people who aren't on ANY social networks. It is critically important for anyone doing business today - whether you are self-employed or not.

Check out Terry's article at http://snipurl.com/fcjsp

Yours in Prosperity,

Gina

Seth Godin Explains Why You Need a Tribe

Gina Carr on Tribes, interview with Dr. Bill Lampton

Last week, I was interviewed by Dr. Bill Lampton, the Complete Communicator. We talked about tribes - why they are important and why you need to lead one.

He just posted it on his video blog. I wanted to share it with you!

I hope you will enjoy this quick 12.5 minute video with Dr. Bill Lampton and me!

http://thecompletecommunicator.com/?p=80

Twitter Basics for Tribe Builders - Free Webinars March 17

I invite you to sign up for Tribes & Twitter - a quick 30-minute webinar I am doing about how to use Twitter to grow your tribe of loyal followers.

Tuesday, March 17 at 2 and 8 pm

Sign up at http://TribeBuilderWebinars.com

Twitter Business Model Found!

I just found this great article about the business model for Twitter on an very interesting blog: BusinessInsider.com

By Henry Blodget, Blogger, Silicon Alley Insider

Jason Calacanis just put Twitter in business. How? He offered $250,000 to be one of 20 users in Twitter's "Suggested Follows" for two years.

Twitter is growing so fast that being on the "suggested" list for new users can generate more than 10,000 followers a day. Jason thinks the slots will soon be worth a Super-Bowl-like $1 million a year, as companies compete to be able to send real-time messages directly to millions of followers.

Or not.

Dave Winer complains that the Suggested Follows list is unfair. Twitter investor Fred Wilson seems to agree:

Bijan [Sabet at Spark Capital, a Twitter investor] got it right when he said that the current suggested follows is a short term fix to address the "out of the box experience" problem for many of the newcomers who have no idea what twitter is and who they should follow. the third party recommendation services aren't a great help to them because they don't even know what a third party twitter app is.

but you are right to point out that the current model isn't ideal and nobody knows that better than Ev. it's going to change and hopefully sooner rather than later.

TechCrunch has more on Jason's offer here. Even if Twitter kills the "Suggested" page, this exchange provides a hint of how powerful (and profitable) this company can eventually become. We continue to think it will eventually be worth more than $1 billion.

Repurposing Content - More Money, Less Effort

Dear Friends,

In our teleseminar on tribebuilding yesterday, we talked about the importance of writing articles and blogging. In this quick email, I'd like to accomplish several things.

1. Share with you an article I wrote about tribebuilding, "7 Tips For Building a Tribe of Loyal Customers Who Will Buy From You Over and Over Again"

2. Explain the basic concept of re-purposing

3. Show you two places I have put this article - ezinearticles.com and my blog, ginacarr.com

4. Tell you how you can learn to write and publish articles for prospects, publicity, and profit

A concept that you will hear a lot in the internet marketing world is "re-purposing". That is where you take a "product" - an article for example - and you turn it into several different things - a podcast, a teleseminar, a press release, etc. Believe it or not, there are at least 20 different products you can develop from a single article!

I wrote this 7 Tips article a few weeks ago and thus far, I have published it in two places. Last night, I used it as the basis for my teleseminar. The two places I have published this article are:

EzineArticles.com This is a free site that receives 15 MILLION unique visitors a month. This is a great place to generate free traffic. One of my coaches, Jeff Herring, started from almost nothing and now makes five figures a month WRITING ARTICLES. I still find it hard to believe! But, I know Jeff and I am confident it is true.

Check out my 7 Tips article on EzineArticles at http://snipurl.com/eza7tb While you are there, sign up for YOUR free account.

Blogger.com This is a great place to get started with Blogging. It is SO easy to use. Literally, you can set up your blog in less than 10 minutes. Just get started and try it. You can make it totally private so that no one will ever see it.

Check out my 7 Tips article on my Blogger blog at http://snipurl.com/gcb7tb While you are there, start your blog! (You will need a gmail address. Wise move!)

Articles. If you want to find out more about how to write articles for prospects, publicity and profits, I encourage you to check into what Jeff Herring is doing.
Jeff has what he calls the GREAT TELESEMINAR WEEK starting on Monday, March 16. The Monday workship, 3 pm EST, is about REPURPOSING.

You can sign up for FOUR great FREE teleseminars at http://snipurl.com/ArtGuyTS


Recap ToDo List:

1. Sign up for ezine articles - FREE

2. Start your blog - blogger, wordpress, squidoo. I recommend Blogger as it is easy to get started. FREE

3. Write an article about something you are passionate about. Put it on your blog and submit it to ezine articles. FREE

4. Check out Jeff Herring's GREAT TELESEMINAR WEEK http://snipurl.com/ArtGuyTS FREE


Yours in Prosperity,


Gina


P.S. If you want to learn how to use Twitter to build your Tribe, check out my FREE webinar, Tuesday, March 17 at 2 pm and 8 pm. Register at http://TribeBuilderWebinars.com



Behind the Curtain - just letting you know about little things we do and use in the internet marketing world that might make your life easier and put more money into your pockets:

Snipurl.com - another wonderful FREE tool that lets you make long domain names small. This is especially needed for Twitter. It is pretty easy to use.

Affiliate Links - the snipurl I gave you for Jeff Herring is an affiliate link. The GREAT TELESEMINAR WEEK is free. However, should you buy something from Jeff through my affiliate link, I get paid for referring him the business. It's a beautiful thing.

I like to refer people to products and services that I know are great. I have spent a lot of money with Jeff Herring and I am sure I will continue to do so. He delivers a lot of value for the buck. If you want to learn how to make affiliate money, please let me know.

TribeBuilding Basics - a FREE Teleseminar

A lot of people have asked me what Tribe Building is all about. So, I'm doing a teleseminar to explain.

Have you read marketing genius Seth Godin's latest New York Times best-selling book
"Tribes - We Need YOU to Lead Us"?

In this book, Godin talks about the importance of building "tribes"
of loyal followers that will do business with you (or donate to your
cause) over and over again because they view themselves as part of
your tribe.

Inspired by the book, I am doing a FREE teleseminar tonight at
8 pm EST wherein I will discuss strategies that will help you
increase sales (or donations) by building a tribe of loyal followers
for your business or non-profit organization.

If you read the book, you know that he stops short of telling people
how to create their own tribes. We will talk about that tonight.

If you haven't read the book, that's okay. I am certain you will
be able to grasp the concepts and apply them to your situation.

Tonight at 8 pm EST, in this 55-minute teleseminar, we will discuss
how to:

Establish a Clear Vision for Your Tribe

Communicate With Your Tribe

Build a Strong Culture Within Your Tribe

Tell Important Tribal Stories

Establish Traditions Within Your Tribe

Educate Your Followers

Build Gorilla-Glue Relationships

Bonus Tip: 3 Keys to Becoming a Tribal "Rock Star"


Tonight, March 10, at 8 pm EST... Tribe Building Teleseminar
Won't you join me?
Sign up now at http://www.BuildYourTribe.com

Yours in Prosperity,

Gina


P.S. Just in case you are wondering, tonight is purely an educational call - I'm
not selling anything - except my thoughts and ideas. (Not that I think anything is
wrong with selling. I'm just trying to let you know what to expect. :-)

P.S.S. Even if you can't make the call, sign up so that you will have access to
the recording later.

2 1/2 Minute perfect explanation-Milton Friedman

In this quick video, economist Milton Friedman works towards building tribes of free-market thinking capitalists - the foundation upon which the United States was built. Enjoy!

Tribe Building Teleseminar - Tuesday, March 10 at 8 pm EST

I invite you to join me for my free teleseminar about tribe building - how to build a loyal following for your business or non-profit organization.

Sign up here at http://BuildYourTribe.com

New Facebook = Twitter + Friendfeed. For Non Geeks.

From a great website: http://www.TheNextWeb.com

Written on March 4, 2009 – 8:33 pm
Zee, Internet Marketer, Design Connoisseur & Web App Devotee

Facebook held an open door press conference today at which they made two highly important announcements, both of which which show a step towards the ‘follower’ based services we have come to know.

No more limit on 5000 friends.

Fan pages appear to be gone whilst Facebook profiles have now been revamped to remove the 5000 friend limit and allow for both “followers” and “friends”. This has been launched particularly for celebrities and high profile individuals, with launch partners including U2, Obama, Oprah Winfrey, CNN and 24 more. So now you can set your privacy settings so you still have your intimate friends, but maintain a following on Facebook too.

New Real Time Homepage.

Prior to today Facebook profiles were updated frequently but not in real time. On the new homepage, this will be different, your stream will show real time updates and you’ll also see a highlights widget on the right of the page featuring news from the friends you interact with the most.

The new homepage also highlights a new priority to “lists” on Facebook with your lists places to the left of the homepage - giving you far greater control over who’s news your reading.

The Similarities

To those of who who use both Twitter and Friendfeed, it should be very apparent how similar Facebook has become, grabbing trademark features from both services.

What will be interesting to see is whether features such as Twitter’s ‘followers’, Friendfeed’s real time feeds, ‘likes’ and lists combined with Facebook’s “real friend” mentality will catch on. This is an exciting time for the WWW.

Read More:

Techcrunch, ReadWriteWeb

From a Great Blog on Social Media www.GoingSocialNow.com

7 Tips for Building a Tribe of Loyal Customers Who Will Buy from You Over and Over Again

from the Tribe Building Secrets Series

By Gina Carr

In his latest bestseller Tribes, marketing genius Seth Godin talks about the need for people to step forward and lead “tribes” – groups of people that are passionate about something – a common mission, product, service, philosophy, etc. Although Godin does a great job at explaining what a tribe is, he makes it clear that his book is not a “how to” book. That is, he doesn’t tell how to create a tribe.

As a serial entrepreneur and community activist, I have built several tribes over the years. The following 7 Tips will help anyone build a tribe. The focus of my tribe building tips is geared towards business. However, these principles apply to both for profit and not-for-profit tribes. At the end of the day, every tribe leader is selling something – a dream, a product, a way of life.

1. Have a Clear Vision. As tribe leader, you must think of yourself as the CVO – the Chief Visionary Officer of your tribe. The vision can be described as the single unifying principle upon which the tribe exists. It is your job to articulate the vision and to keep it alive.

2. Communicate Frequently. The primary means of keeping the vision alive is through communication – you must communicate regularly with your followers. Each time you communicate, you need to remind your followers of the vision very clearly and directly.

3. Build a Culture. Strong tribes have a unifying “culture” – ways of being and doing that make them unique in all the world. Sometimes a tribe has it’s own special language – or lexicon that is unique to the tribe. Sometimes a tribe has a particular way of dressing or grooming that is distinct. A good tribe leader initiates aspects that define the tribe’s culture.

4. Tell Stories. A critical component of tribe building is the telling and re-telling of stories of members of the tribe. These can be sad stories or humorous tales. These tales must evoke strong emotion. The tribe leader should facilitate the telling of these stories with live events and with other communication vehicles – scrapbooks, blogposts, newsletters, etc.

5. Establish Traditions. It is very important to establish traditions within the tribe. Certain specific things should be done on a regular basis that relate to specific events, anniversaries, holidays, and other special occasions. For example, if the Christmas bonus checks have always been given out at the annual luncheon the Friday before Christmas, that is a tradition that has been established and that needs to continue in order for the tribe members to feel that the tribe is stable and a good place to be.

6. Educate. Most tribes have an education component that functions to increase understanding of the unifying vision of the tribe. Sometimes this education is formal such as with traditional Sunday School classes that teach the bible in many Christian churches. Sometimes, the education is more informal such as the viewing of a movie by members of the tribe.

7. Build Relationships. Successful tribe leaders build strong relationships with certain members of the tribe. Although the tribe leader might not have a direct personal relationship with every member of the tribe, he or she needs to have strong relationships with key influential tribe members. This is necessary for the tribe leader to be able to keep the tribe focused and moving towards a particular goal.

Bonus tip: Become a Rock Star. Successful tribe leaders essentially become “rock stars” within their tribes. People want to be around them. Just like rock stars, the tribe leader can not let all tribe members in to “look under the hood.” The old saying, “familiarity breeds contempt” is a phrase that should always be on the minds of tribe builders. Distance is necessary to maintain a sense of respect and aura of power.