Win a Prize, Help a Family Adopt
Mike and Kristen Leonard
My good friends Mike and Kristen Leonard are adopting a baby girl named Faith Olivia Leonard and would like your help in raising funds to accomplish this. By donating as little as $5 you can not only help them in a huge way, but also enter to win some really cool prizes such as wine, gift baskets, home spa sets, baby boy and girl items. I know you are reading this thinking "I could spare $5" so stop thinking about it and do something good for them! Every donation helps.
Take a look at their blog for more information: The Leonards' Adoption Blog
Related posts
3 Quick Tips: Get More Out of Your Marketing
Deadlines | As a general rule of thumb, people are procrastinators. Use this to your advantage and incorporate a deadline into all of your marketing efforts. It doesn't matter if you are a small church or a multi-million dollar international enterprise, if you want results you need to make people feel like the time is NOW. I could write a book about all the various methods that are out there to accomplish this, but in the interest of keeping this quick (like I had promised) here are a couple quick examples:
- The time press: "Call us in the next 30 seconds and we will throw in a second piece of garbage for FREE!"
- The inventory trick: "Hurry! Only 23 spots left so register today!"
- The calendar date deadline: "This amazing, once a year sale is only running until Friday, December 3rd. Come experience the savings!"
Depending on the type of product or service you are marketing will determine which type of deadline works most effectively. The most important thing for you to remember, however, is this...
Related posts
Getting Familiar With Online Marketing
Chances are that if you run a business you have at one point considered advertising on the internet. Online advertising has many advantages over "traditional" marketing in the respect that you can really hone in on your demographic and get your product in front of the perfect audience. The tough thing about it is how incredibly complicated it can seem to someone who is unfamiliar with the territory. The good news is that it really isn't all that complex, you just need to understand which method of online advertising will be the best starting point for you and how to get set up.
If you are looking at dipping into online advertising and/or are unsure of where to start, there are several important factors to consider that will help point you in the right direction. After we review these points, I will break each of them down further to help you get your feet wet.
Answer the following questions about your business... If you don't know you can skip over the question(s) for now but it is very important that you find out the answer to these questions as soon as possible to help you make your online marketing campaign a success:
Related posts
Review: The National – High Violet
The National is one of those bands that you listen to on a long drive during a rainy night. Their music is gentle, soothing, a little dark at times - but not depressing. They're headed up by Matt Berninger, who's got an amazing baritone voice that lays into the mix in just the right way, and are supported by four other musicians who obviously understand the delicacy and subtlety of the music they're creating and almost seem to disappear at times, but not because they stop playing their instruments. Most of the songs are moved along at a comfortable pace by usage of piano, acoustic guitar, or a combination of the two and then as they progress other instruments are layered in tastefully and in almost unnoticeable fashion. This band, and this album in particular, are the most perfect examples I can think of in modern music of only playing the most perfect notes at the perfect times and nothing more than that.
High Violet
Related posts
NuVia3 Compensation Plan and Other Questions Answered
After my recent post called "How To Make Network Marketing Actually Work", I received a pretty decent number of responses via email. Rather than writing back individually to each and every person, I thought I'd put up a post so that anyone interested could get the scoop.
The most common question (by FAR) was about the compensation plan and asking me to explain how it works in more detail. Rather than write out a long, drawn-out explanation I figured I'd just post a link to the actual NuVia3 video explaining it. It's 10:48 long, but does a good job of going over the important aspects that make it different than the others out there. I'm going to put the video at the end of this post so that you can skim over the other questions more quickly and easily before taking a look.
Related posts
Happy T-Day!
I'd like to take this moment and say thanks to my 21 readers* I've accumulated thus far. Happy Thanksgiving, friends and family. Hope you have a blessed holiday season. You're going to look back on these early days of Fiercemoose.com with fondness in your heart and think to yourself "I used to read that blog before he was famous".
- Gary
*UPDATE: Wow, that happened fast... After my first week of Moosin' my loyal group of readers has grown by nearly 5 times! I really appreciate you guys, and if you like what you read click the "Like" button to help spread the word. Also, leave me a comment with some feedback if you get the chance.
Related posts
Choosing The Right Font
One of the most overlooked and unappreciated aspect of design is in Typography -- or on a more basic level, choosing the right font for the job. I can't tell you how many times I've seen good design ruined by poorly chosen fonts, too many fonts, or over usage of font styles (italic, bold, etc).
This is NOT what you want.
When putting a design together, one of the more important things to keep in mind is "Who will be seeing/reading this?". Another thing to keep in mind that goes hand-in-hand is "What is the purpose of this design?". If you keep these two things in mind while drafting your piece, it should help narrow down what fonts can or should be used in the work. If you are designing a flyer for a young, hip singles group at church don't use some cutesy kid font that looks like it would appeal to preschoolers. On the flip side of that, if the piece is going to be seen in a professional office setting don't start off by using an edgy, grungy font that looks like a hair-metal band's logo.
Pick something that is appropriate for the task at hand and make sure it is easy to read. The only thing you will accomplish by trying to be drastically different and "going against the grain" is a shoddy design that looks like it was created in Microsoft Publisher. It doesn't matter if it looks good to you, because it won't connect to your target audience. Ultimately that is the most important thing to keep in mind.
Another thing that drives me absolutely bonkers is when people have 5 different fonts within a single design. Keep it simple. Stick to 2, maybe 3 different fonts TOPS. There is rarely an exception to this rule, if ever. The reason is that your design will start to look like a TrueType sales page rather than it's actual intended use. People's eyes can't keep up with all that craziness. Don't do it.
Much better!
Lastly; lay off the bold, italics and heavy drop shadow. While great for the occasional accent, too much of this will cause your design to look home-grown or cheap. What you really want to do is use these sparingly so that it really has an impact when it does come up. For some reason, newer designers absolutely love bolding, underlining, and italicizing all at once. I don't know about you, but if I see that anywhere, it makes me want to slap a baby. Again, don't do it. You're better off (and it will be better received) if you keep it clean, simple and easy on the eyes.
Take these tips and apply them to projects you are currently working on. I think you'll find yourself coming up with fresher, newer looking designs that will have a more significant impact all around. As always, feel free to leave a comment or send me an email using the "Contact" page.
Related posts
How To Make Network Marketing Actually Work
Network Marketing (or MultiLevel Marketing) seems to be one of those things that people either love or hate with a passion. In my opinion, it is simply one of many business models that businesses can use to get the word out about their product. There are many people in the world who have made MILLIONS of dollars using the MLM model, but there are a thousand times more people who have failed miserably at it. In my experience, those people who have failed would rather balk and moan about how it's a "scam" then actually admit that they know absolutely nothing about marketing.
In fact, generalizing all MLM's as "scams" is not only blatantly false, but it is also very ignorant. Anyone who says that probably didn't do their homework on the products or company ahead of time, nor did they have a good game plan set up when getting started. One of the most important things to consider when getting started with a campaign is that it is going to require some work; just like starting any other business would require work to be done. My goal is to help you by giving you the essential ingredients and steps to take to minimize that work and grow your bank account.
Again, those who have failed in the past at network marketing would rather blame the system than take responsibility for their shortcomings, just like anything else in life.
Related posts
The Jezabels – Dark Storm EP
It feels like it's been ages since I've downloaded an album that was legitimately GOOD. I think we all have those times where we get into a musical rut and nothing seems to scratch the proverbial itch. It's probably because most music being released commercially these days is pretty bogus and you have to wade through a lot of garbage to find anything halfway decent, and even then you get sick of it after 1 or 2 times through the album.
There's also something deeply satisfying about being the first of your friends to discover some lesser-known gem of an album that completely rocks. It's a good feeling knowing that you not only have an awesome new band waiting to be listened to every time you get into your car, but that you also just simultaneously increased your musical cred and broadened the horizons of your music-snob buddies who swear by nothing less than the Pixies and Bowie.
Well, I've got the perfect little EP for you to check out. It's call "Dark Storm" and it's from an Australian quartet called The Jezabels. I'm seriously loving this 5 track album right now, and I can see it having a solid residency in my CD player for a good long run. It's probably the most well-rounded EP I've heard in months and months. From the moment the first track, Dark Storm, kicks off you'll find yourself awash in great tones and melodic writing that sounds something like The Cocteau Twins borrowing the Ravonettes' gear and hiring Tim Rice-Oxley of Keane to write their songs. Basically, it's great. The best part is that it doesn't stop throughout the entire EP. There isn't a single song that I've skipped over since putting the thing on repeat two days ago.
I downloaded the EP from iTunes and for $5 can honestly say I couldn't have made better use of the money spent. I give this EP five stars. Go download it. Now.
Related posts
Top 5 Church Videos from Sermon Spice
In a nutshell, Sermon Spice is a website that sells those videos that you see playing during the the service on Sunday morning at church. They have virtually any type of video you can imagine, from humorous "ice breakers", to introspective and thought provoking. They even sell video clips that you can use for backdrops to worship lyrics!
The videos themselves aren't made by Sermon Spice, however. They're made by independent producers and uploaded to the site so that they can be purchased and used for services, youth group gatherings, announcements, worship backdrops, or just about anything else you can imagine that is church-related. This makes for a very eclectic mix of videos which have the ability to connect with just about any type of viewer, but also means that there are tens of thousands of videos to choose from. At times it can seem a bit overwhelming trying to find just the right one.
In hopes of helping you narrow your search down, I've put together a short and sweet list of the Top 5 Church Videos from Sermon Spice. These videos represent some of the highest rated and most downloaded videos on the site and should at least get your gears turning in the right direction. If you find one that you like (or even if you don't) head over to SermonSpice.com and pick up a copy for your church. As always, I welcome and encourage feedback! Now... On to the countdown:
