Every new project (or career or relationship) starts out exciting and fun. Then it gets harder and less fun, until it hits a low point - really hard, really not fun. At this point you might be in a Dip, which will get better if you keep pushing, or a Cul-de-Sac, which will never get better no matter how hard you try. The hard part is knowing the difference and acting on it. According to marketing guru and best-selling author Seth Godin, what sets successful entrepreneurs (and pop stars and weight lifters and car salesmen) apart from everyone else is their ability to give up on Cul-de-Sacs while staying motivated in Dips. Winners quit fast, quit often and quit without guilt - until they commit to beating the right Dip for the right reasons. You'll never be number one at anything without picking your shots very carefully. The Dip is a short, entertaining book that helps you do just that. It will forever alter the way you think about success.

Price: $3.33 USD

Pop Fiction's unique essays individually consider one song within a cinematic context. Unlike previous collected volumes about pop music in film, where a generalised approach has been adopted, this offers instead a close examination of two pervasive and significant mediums in combination. The collection introspects, assembling the pop song into various guises and documenting how individuals dissemble the multiple roles that the pop song plays in cinematic moments. The song as: role-play, memory trigger, narrator, ghost, marketing device, translator, alienator, membership rite etc. All provide fresh insight towards the inter-textual fusion of film and song. Additionally the books form reduces the area of analysis to expose differences and similarities between these contrasting fields of study. Innovative yet accessible, this exciting document would appeal to students, lecturers and researchers offering a diverse set of models with which to investigate the 'ideogram' of image/text/sound - a relationship which sits at the heart of most cultural production. For beginners, the book provides comforting areas of familiarity (pop song and film) while exploring areas of respective discipline and inter-disciplinary practice in an original manner.

Price: $10.00 USD

As the recent Tiger Woods scandal illustrates, brand reputation is more precarious than ever before. True and false information spreads like wildfire in the vast and interconnected social media landscape and even the most venerable brands can be leveled in a flash—by disgruntled customers, competing companies, even internal sources. Here, veteran marketing executive Jonathan Copulsky shows companies and individuals how to play brand defense in the twenty-first century. Five Signs that You Need to Pay More Attention to the Possibility of Brand Sabotage: A group of uniformed employees posts embarrassing YouTube videos, in which they display unprofessional attitudes towards their work. One of your senior executives publicly blames a supplier for product defects, even though they predate your relationship with the supplier. Your competitor’s ads trumpet their solution to the performance problems associated with your most recent product. A customer unhappy with changes made to your product design launches a Facebook group, which attracts 5,000 fans. Your outsource partner is prominently featured in numerous blogs and websites describing allegations of worker mistreatment and workplace safety hazards.

Price: $12.99 USD

"Melinda Emerson . . . will inspire you to pursue your own entrepreneurial vision."--Marc H. Morial, President, National Urban League. Whether you're newly unemployed, sick of office life and longing for a change, or just want to finally turn your business idea into reality, you can follow your dream and make your passion your profession. Drawing on her experience as founder of an award-winning production company, Melinda F. Emerson shows you how in this practical month-by-month guide to getting your business off the ground. Inside, you'll find the timetable and steps you need to take to become a successful CEO of your own venture, including: Month 1: Meet with potential venture capitalists; Month 3: Set a one-year marketing budget; Month 5: Select a logo; Month 9: Purchase customer relationship management software; Month 11: Prepare your launch day press release. Next year at this time, you could be calling the shots at your dream job. You supply the energy, an idea, and elbow grease--and this book will supply the plan.

Price: $14.95 USD

CRM was supposed to help businesses better understand their customers and increase efficiency. Yet most companies are not getting the return they expected. Is it possible to make customers happy and, at the same time, improve ROI? Is there a practical, affordable way to get customers to say what they really want?  . In Why CRM Doesn't Work , leading international marketing consultant Frederick Newell explains why it's time to change the game to CMR (Customer Management of Relationships). CMR allows companies to empower customers so they'll reveal what kind of information they want, what level of service they want to receive, and how to communicate with them--where, when, and how often. It is a bold solution for businesspeople at all levels in all industries who want to stay ahead of the curve in the development of customer loyalty.  . Newell shows by lesson and example why the current CRM isn't working, what needs to change, and how to put the CMR philosophy to work--without additional expense. The book includes case studies of good and bad relationship marketing from companies as diverse as Kraft Foods, Procter & Gamble, Budweiser, Charles Schwab, Dell, IBM, Lands' End, Sports Authority, Radio Shack, and Staples.  . With the knowledge in this book, a company can learn to build long-term relationships and bring in profits instead of relying on one-time sales. Why CRM Doesn't Work is important reading for companies of every size that are trying to satisfy and sell to today's consumer.

Price: $29.95 USD

If you are prepared to connect with China, it will make all the difference. Joan Turley provides all the signposts and insights to help those working with China understand the value of relationships and the importance of people as the key elements in making business and everything else work. This extremely powerful book will unlock your ability to build working relationships with China, for mutual success. "The book provides an invaluable reference for all businesses with any current or future interest of building a successful relationship with China. This is a topic that is as complicated and diffuse as the Chinese language itself and a reference such as this can save both time and money.". — David Paice, Marketing Manager, Cathay Pacific. "Joan Turley's deep and delicate observation is really refreshing and practical and her understanding about China goes beyond my expectations. I believe Ms. Turley's new book will not only be welcomed by the British people but the Chinese people as well.". — Dizun Chen, Director of the General Office, Liaoning Provincial Party Committee. "Joan Turley has great insight as well as ability to interpret different cultures for each other. Her knowledge is thorough as she has both academic and practical business experience of China. Her book has relevance both to the West and to China.". — Mr Huo, President, North Media. "An indispensable handbook for developing successful UK/China business relationships. For an industry which thrives on ideas which turn customer understanding into commercial or social advantage, Joan's insights into Chinese culture and thinking are both instructive and relevant.". — Janet Hull, Consultant Head, Marketing and Reputation Management, IPA. "The chapter on Law and Successful Relationships in China is a must for any lawyer wanting to do business in that part of the world.". — Eifion Morris, Partner, Stephenson Harwood, Law Firm of the Year 2009. "An authoritative and informative insight into conducting business in China, from an original standpoint that gives practical advice to both those with existing business and those approaching the Chinese market for the first time.". — Philip Moore, Asia-Pacific Manager, Andor Plc. "Turley has taken her vast experience in working closely with Chinese companies, government and individuals to deliver robust advice on developing strategic and long term business relationships through communication, relationship development and sound planning and research.". — Barry Allaway, Managing Director, Worldwide Magazine Distribution. Joan Turley has enormous understanding working successfully with China. Pivotal to her success is the understanding that connectivity is the key to building relationships, and it is this that will ultimately determine your success in business culture. Connecting with China aims to facilitate a smooth path for all those at the brink of working with China, or who are alre

Price: $35.00 USD

Praise for the First Edition of Virtual Teams "If you want to see where organizational communications are going in the future, heed what these pioneers have written today." —Howard Rheingold, author, The Virtual Community , and founder, Electric Mind "Lipnack and Stamps have written an important book for the twenty-first-century corporation." —Regis McKenna, The McKenna Group, author, Relationship Marketing "This book provides a long overdue perspective on how to apply the discipline of real teams in the fast-moving, increasingly dispersed information age of the future." —Jon R. Katzenbach, author, The Wisdom of Teams "For those who want to lead the movement, catch up with it, or simply know where it is going, this book is packed with useful information and interesting stories." —Dee W. Hock, founder and chairman emeritus, VISA " Virtual Teams provides valuable insights into global teamwork and management through network technologies now available to all companies, large or small." —Jim Lynch, director, corporate quality, Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Price: $55.00 USD

In an effort to halt increasing media competition and decreasing audience shares, Branding has become the new mantra among television station and network executives. Branding TV: Principles and Practices second edition goes beyond the jargon of branding to explain the essential principles underlying successful branding and offers many practical strategies to measure, build and manage television brand equity. For instructional purposes, the book pays particular attention to the local commercial TV station and its news franchise. Written by broadcast professionals with years of experience, this book shows how the notions of branding are no more prevalent than in the battle for dominance in local news. The practical suggestions in the book will help the savvy manager understand and take advantage of branding in their efforts to move their property to the forefront in the marketplace. * Includes definitions of branding concepts, ways to measure brand equity, and a discussion of legal considerations *Published with the National Association of Broadcastersone of the leading broadcast organizations * Author team has more than 50 years combined experience! * Second edition is fully revised to include transition to digital, ownership consolidation, and the marketing relationship between stations and networks

Price: $56.95 USD

Foreword by Ray Harishankar, IBM Fellow. "There are many books on the market on the topic of SOA and SOA's business and technology value. This book focuses on one of the key technical values of SOA and does an excellent job of describing SOA-based application integration by clarifying the relationship and patterns of SOA with other integration technologies in a distributed computing environment." Sandra Carter, IBM Vice President for SOA, BPM, and WebSphere Marketing. "Services Oriented Architectures present many challenges today in the integration of existing systems and new systems, along with many times, old legacy mainframe applications. This book successfully addresses many of the complexities we see in the integration of SOA and mainframe legacy applications, presenting options and approaches to integrate the applications with the rest of the enterprise. The author takes a clearly defined pattern-based approach discussing the advantages, tools and methods. Readers will benefit from the insights in this book whether they play the architect role or a developer role on a SOA project." Sue Miller-Sylvia, IBM Fellow and Application Development Service Area Leader

Price: $59.99 USD

This books offers a definitive text on the vital topic fundraising. It provides students of fundraising and nonprofit professionals access to the most relevant theories and includes concrete examples of modern fundraising practice. The book contains clear learning objectives, recommended readings, case studies, summary self-test questions, and exercises at the end of each chapter. The Principles and Practice of Fundraising comprehensively addresses all the major forms of fundraising and critical topics such as donor behavior and fundraising planning. Praise for fundraising principles and practice. "Not only will fundraisers benefit from this comprehensive yet accessible text, but this should be required reading for all nonprofit practitioners and scholars. Reading this book will provide valuable insight on a vital subject and enhance the success of any fundraising effort.". ?John B. Ford, president, Academy of Marketing Science and professor of marketing, Old Dominion University. "This is not just a how-to-do-it book. Rather, it provides deep knowledge about the nonprofit sector, its role in society, and the values and psychology of giving that is essential to responsible and effective fundraising.". ?Paul Brest, president, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and author, Money Well Spent. "Adrian Sargeant is the world's foremost fundraising scholar. This text will be invaluable to the beginner, but new research findings mean it should also be a must read for established practitioners.". ?Steve Thomas, co-chair, Resource Alliance, and chairman, Stephen Thomas Ltd, Toronto. "Designed and written to fill the void in current fundraising and development textbooks for both undergraduate and graduate students studying nonprofit management and leadership, Fundraising Principles and Practice surpasses my expectations for a comprehensive approach that will benefit American Humanics programs.". ?SueAnn Strom, vice president, Academic Partnerships, American Humanics?, Inc. "Sargeant is the accessible academic and this is typical of his work. It is rigorously researched, clear, concise, well written, well presented and entirely appropriate. Any fundraiser who knows what Adrian knows will outperform the others. It's as simple as that.". ?Ken Burnett, author, Relationship Fundraising and The Zen of Fundraising

Price: $60.00 USD