Naked Marketing Month – Best of the Web!

Happy July, fellow marketers!

June has come and gone, and what a month it’s been!

Not only have we done tons of exciting webinars and featured some truly excellent guest posts, but it was also Naked Marketing month; we launched my new manifesto, published the Naked Truth about Marketing video series, and most recently, I’ve decided to go ahead and turn the manifesto into a book (with the help of many of you!).

Now, as great as it’s been for us here at Firepole Marketing, we aren’t the only ones who have been up to some really interesting things.

So, without further ado, let me share with you my picks for the very Best of the Web from the last four weeks:

Overcoming Obstacles

There has been a lot of thought and writing this month about the difficulties we face in our lives and how to get over, around or through them. I found these posts helpful and inspiring, and I think you will too…

• The Day I Didn’t Want to Run (Rad Life Rocks)
• How To Get Up When Everybody Else Keeps Pushing You Down (Action Overtime)
• eBooks, Podcasting and Why Marketing is Hard (Ryan Hanley)
• How Your Comfy Couch Can Help You Achieve Success (Achieveology)
• Is Digital Stress Hurting Your Brain And Heart? (Vic Magary)
• The Lessons of Life NO SCHOOL really TAUGHT ME (Nischala Murthy)
• Thom Yorke, Eviction, And The Floodgates Of Traffic (Traffic Generation Café)

Interesting Points of View

These are some of the most fascinating posts that I read over the past month. New ways of looking at things are always a bonus, right?

• Does Google Really Reward Quality, Original Content? An Interview With AsktheBuilder Tim Carter (The Average Genius)
• The Difference Between a Mediocre and a Great Website (Copyblogger)
• 3,200 Thank You’s Later… Gary Vaynerchuk’s Book & a “Thank You Box” Case Study (Amsterdam Printing)
• Here’s Why TED and TEDx are So Incredibly Appealing (Forbes)
• Your problem is an optical illusion (The Groove)
• Is Google Actively Removing Your Blog From Search Results? (DIY Blogger)
• How Local Destinations Use Social Media in Quebec [STUDY] (Frederic Gonzalo)
• Noticing: The key to effortless improvement (The Groove)
• The Shocking Truth About Disappointment: People Who Believe In God Are Happier (Window of Inspiration)
• Dear Blogger – Remember Me? (Best Blogging Tips)
• Trust Me, I’m An Internet Marketer (Power Income Dynamo)
• The Barnum & Bailey Guide to Internet Marketing (Problogger)

Guides and How-To’s

As always, smart people are sharing their knowledge with the blogosphere in the form of comprehensive guides, how-to’s and in-depth studies. Enjoy!

• The No B.S. Guide to Getting Quality PR (Think Traffic)
• If Only You Could Write Like Malcolm Gladwell (The Story of Telling)
• Time management: How an MIT postdoc writes 3 books, a PhD defense, and 6+ peer-reviewed papers — and finishes by 5:30pm (I Will Teach You To Be Rich)
• 3324 Words To Pinterest.Com – Everything You Need To Know (Social Hacks)
• Sunday Shorts – Being Strategic About Social Media Edition (Danny Brown)
• Space Rockets and Agile Programmers Are Doing It…Why Aren’t You? (LifeHack)
• Pricing is always a challenge, but how do you know if your prices are right? (Ameena Falchetto)
• How To Build A Business From Scratch (Forbes)
• It Had To Happen: Disruptive Correction, and the Death Of Internet Marketing (100K Blueprint)
•  How I use beta tests to rapidly optimize new products (I Will Teach You to be Rich)
• How to Apply Buzz Marketing Principles for Effective Internet Marketing (Kiss Metrics)

Information and Ideas… by Numbers!

Yep, these are list posts, but only the very best of the best: the ones that deliver awesome value and generated some excellent discussion, too! Here are my favorites from this month:

• The 7 types of Effective Retargeting (infographic) (Chango)
• 14 Free Traffic Strategies 2012 that Don’t Depend on Google (Steve Scott Site)
• CORBS: 5 Letters That Can Keep the Drama on the Page and Out of Your Critique Group (Writer Unboxed)
• 10 Lessons From Publishing the #1 Bestselling Short Story on Amazon (Think Traffic)
• 40+ Tips on How to Become a Social Media Rock Star on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ (SMB Contest)
• Landing Page Optimization: Don’t kick your customers out the door (Right Mix Marketing)
• Five Questions You Should Answer Before You Start a Blog (Blogging Tactics)
• Content Compilation – 15 Epic Content Marketing Resources to Drive Business Results (Ruth Zive Copywriting)
• Top 7 Books Every Professional Blogger Should Read ASAP (Writing Happiness)

Videos, Infographics, and other Fun Stuff

Great videos, infographics and items of interest. Take a little time and go through them – you’ll be happy that you did!

• Conversion Clinic: How to Grow Your List (and Audience) With A Manifesto (Marketing Show)
• Is Saving Money the Number One Reason for Spending It? (5 North Marketing)
• Social Planning A. (Businesses Grow)
• KickStarter Failures Revealed! What you can Learn from KickStarter Failures (AppsBlogger)
• The social web — A place for made-up facts (Businesses Grow)
• Brian Clark Reveals Revenue Figures, Talks About The Importance Of Audience Building, And Differences Between Selling Software vs. Info (Marketing Show)
• I failed my first 8 YEARS in business, and all I got was this lousy video… (Internet Marketing for Business Owners)
• Re-Connect With Your Younger Business Self: My Top 4 Picks of 2012′s Commencement Addresses (Steve Baines)
• The Amazing Bento Laptop Concept (Melting Pots)
• Accounting for time (Economist)

Naked Marketing Awesomeness

Of course, a round-up of Naked Marketing Month wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the Naked Marketing awesomeness that’s bee going on all over the web!

Topping the list was our very first Naked Marketing Audit, of my friends over at PadiAct. Here’s the link to listen to the audit (well worth it!):

• What makes PadiAct tick? (PadiAct)

In addition to the audit, a lot of my Naked Truth about Marketing videos were syndicated all over the web, and a few of them were done with lots of extra great information by the blog owners:

• Building a Personal Brand (Bonnie Cranmer)
• 5 Tips to Start Creating Qualified Leads Online Quickly (Linked Into Accounts)
• Content Marketing With Video 18 – Video Guest Posting Part 1 (One Spoon at a Time)
• The Drawbacks of Getting Email Subscribers With Opt-In Bait (My Social Game Plan)

Interviews and Kind Mentions

It’s still weird for me that I’m suddenly popular enough for other people to write about, but that doesn’t stop me from feeling honored and grateful!

• The 100 Blogs You Need in Your Life [LWB 100 - 2nd Edition] (Leaving Work Behind)
• The 13 Business Bloggers All Freelance Writers Should Read to Earn More (Make a Living Writing)
• Social Media Solutions (Evan Carmichael)
• Choosing a brand name and stripping it naked | The Anatomy (Ultimate Domain Manager)
• Build your brand and credibility | with Danny Iny (Ultimate Domain Manager)
• Danny Iny of Firepole Marketing on Selling (Depantsing the Clones)
• INTERVIEW: Danny Iny – Straight Talk About Sales And Marketing (parts 1 & 2) (Depantsing the Clones)
• INTERVIEW: Danny Iny – Straight Talk About Sales And Marketing (parts 3 & 4) (Depantsing the Clones)
• Are you ready to conduct naked marketing? (Small Business Advocate) (you can listen on Forbes, too!)
• Multi-faceted small business marketing strategy (Small Business Advocate) (you can listen on Forbes, too!)
• Create A Burning Passion For Marketing With Danny Iny (Suitcase Entrepreneur)
• Danny Iny interview (Maria Consulting)

And a couple of guest posts, too!

And of course, there have been a couple of guest posts as well…

• Five Dangers of Hyper-Effective Marketing (DIY Marketers)
• Has A Customer Ever Seen You Naked? (Write to Done)

We’ve listed a lot of great content here, but if you think we’ve missed out on anything important, please let us know in the comments!

Danny Iny (@DannyIny), a.k.a. the “Freddy Krueger of Blogging”, teaches marketing that works at Firepole Marketing. Together with Guy Kawasaki, Brian Clark and Mitch Joel, he wrote the book on building engaged audiences from scratch (available on Amazon, or as a free download).

Tagged as: Best of the Web, Danny Iny