Understanding Business Basics (part 2)

Previously, in part-1 of Understanding Business Basics published on Sept 9th (2023), we shared a somewhat involved task - creating keyword and keyword phrase lists.

Today we are continuing with the next 2 steps:

#2 - Keyword phrases about your book(s)/writing career

#3 - Develop a contact list

Step 2: This homework assignment involves creating list of keywords will involve the tropes, nouns, keywords and phrases that describe your professional journey. Ask yourself why you do the work, how it affects you, why you continue and you'll find even more keyword phrases to add to your list.  

This would include things like: 

• The type of business you are involved in
• Your personal entrepreneurial journey 
• The services or products you offer, or have been involved with in the past
• Past or current memberships with organizations/groups
• Education 
• Challenges you have overcome
• Advice you may be able to offer someone looking to walk a similar path

For an author, your product then is your book and you would be listing words that are related why you wrote the book, the plot/topics, genre, and troupes. Take your time with this and really think deeply, coming up with interesting and unusual aspects. Scan your website, blog and other published materials to see if there is something that you may have missed. When we were creating a data list for our Purple Snowflake Marketing book we felt it was easy to come up with a long list of keywords pertaining to the topic of book marketing, but before long we had run out of ideas. By scanning through each chapter we were astounded at how many more keywords we found. 

Now we are ready for Step #3: 

Develop a contact list

This 3rd homework assignment involves gathering all of the contact lists that you currently have available to you. Create a spreadsheet where you can enter the name, phone, email and information pertaining to how that person prefers to be contacted (email, FaceBook messenger, text message etc). 

The first step is to grab the phone/address book where the information for current people you frequently connect is already handy. Then examine cell phone activity to find anyone you have listed in the contacts section. Then take a look at your emails and other message outlets via groups and social networks you are a part of.

Widen the research to the junk drawer and storage bins in the car where you can find that business card collection. Add colleagues, your landlord, neighbors and fellow volunteers. 

Take a mental break at this point and come back to the task in a few hours, or in a few days. When you are refreshed and ready to continue, I want you to put on that Purple Snowflake Marketing hat and really examine the relationship with each person and anyone that they might know. These would be more long-distance connections such as:

• Your granddaughter's dancing teacher
• Your son's coach
• Your niece has a friend with parents who work at the local TV station
• Your father's friend has a connection with the local Ducks Unlimited branch - maybe they are having an event that you can donate a book to. 

At this stage you are only gathering information, gathering data - but from these examples you can start to see how this data can be used as time marches forward. I'm going to stop here because this is a lot of homework for you to complete. Be sure to comeback to the Brummet's Conscious Blog on Sept 22 (2023) for the next installment, which will cover: 

Step# 4 - Writing to each contact 

Step #5 - Creating talking points for the keyword phrases you have come up with

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