Launch: How to Quickly Propel Your Business Beyond the Competition

If you've been let down by the undelivered promises of marketing, this book is for you. Launch reveals a new way to grow your business that involves focusing on the needs of others, giving gifts, working with outsiders, and restraining your marketing messages. These principles are precisely the opposite of traditional marketing. Yet they work. And they are the future. If you follow the formula outlined in this book, you can attract countless customers and prospects, resulting in amazing business growth. This book will show you how to: Create highly sharable content that meets people's needs Identify and work with outside experts, many of whom will gladly promote your content Attract and retain raving fans that will help your business grow Creatively market and sell to people who will gladly purchase your products and services Launch isn't like other marketing books. Rather than making keen observations about others who’ve achieved success, the ideas and principles in this book were developed, refined, and practiced by the author to great success. Pick up a copy for yourself and one for a friend.

Table of Contents:
Preface xiii Acknowledgments xv Chapter 1 Rockets Don’t Fly Themselves 1 The Problem with Marketing 2 The Internet as the Great Paralyzer 4 Meet the Enemy: Channel Overload Syndrome 5 Do People Really Trust Your Business? 6 Introducing the Elevation Principle 7 Elements of the Elevation Principle 13 Why the Formula Works 24 Chapter 2 Starting Your Mission Plan 27 Establishing Your Clear Vision 28 Crafting Measurable Goals 32 Setting Your Course Trajectory 34 Chapter 3 Finding Inspiration by Looking Outward 43 Identifying Role Models 44 Leveraging Inspirational Content 47 Setting Up an Idea Vault 49 Creating a Discovery System 51 Why the Outward Focus? 55 Chapter 4 Leveraging the Power of Other People 57 The Power of Other People 58 Who Do You Want to Reach? 59 Developing Profiles for Your Ideal Reader Base 61 How to Identify the Problems and Desires of Your Reader Base 65 What Problems Are They Facing? 65 Working with Outside Experts 69 Leveraging Fire Starters 77 Why Focus on Other People? 80 Chapter 5 Actively Engaging Other People 83 Reciprocity Marketing 84 The Importance of Giving Genuine Gifts 87 Using Social Proof 93 Moving People to Action 100 Why Engage? 104 Chapter 6 Making Content the Fuel of Your Marketing 107 Proof That Content Works 107 What Makes for Great Content? 113 Creating an Editorial Guide 119 Mapping an Editorial Calendar 121 Why Content? 124 Chapter 7 Creating and Using Primary Fuel 127 What Is Primary Fuel? 128 Comprehensive How-to Articles 134 Expert Interviews 138 Reviews 143 Case Studies 147 News Stories 150 Contrarian Stories 153 Chapter 8 Creating and Using Nuclear Fuel 155 What Is Nuclear Fuel? 156 Reports Based on Surveys 161 White Papers 166 Top 10 Contests 172 Micro Events 178 Chapter 9 How to Employ Marketing 185 What Does ‘‘Caging Marketing Messages’’ Mean? 186 How to Employ Marketing Messages 187 The Last Word: The Elevation Principle Revisited 205 Appendices Primary Fuel Content Samples 207 Appendix A: Comprehensive How-to Article 208 Appendix B: Expert Interview 213 Appendix C: Review 219 Appendix D: Case Study 223 Appendix E: Contrarian Story 229 Glossary 235 About the Author 237 Discover More about the Elevation Principle 239 Index 241

About the Author :
MICHAEL A. STELZNER is the founder of SocialMediaExaminer.com— a popular online magazine that helps businesses answer social media questions with useful how-to articles, in-depth case studies, expert interviews, and original research. He also authored the book Writing White Papers: How to Capture Readers and Keep Them Engaged, and is the man behind several large professional development conferences such as the Social Media Success Summit.