BUSINESS & PERSONAL FINANCE

Bullseye Marketing: How to Grow

Your B2B Business Faster, Second

Edtion

Louis Gudema | PWedgewood Press

393p, e-book, $16.95, ISBN 978-1-732-20368-6

Marketing exec Gudema focuses solely on business-to-business marketing in his second edition of Bullseye Marketing. Basing his model on the image of a bullseye, Gudema breaks down marketing into three distinct phases that work “from the center out”: first, a focus on existing marketing assets, followed by catching the interest of potential customers who want to buy immediately, and eventually increasing brand awareness in future populations. Readers will find a wealth of handson tools, and Gudema promises that working through his distinctive phases will land businesses an increase in sales and customer reach, launching them “way ahead of the vast majority of companies out there.”

Gudema favors actionable tips over lengthy exposition, though he delves into his three phases with enough detail to bolster any company looking to achieve forward movement. The first phase makes use of already available resources—including an in-depth analysis of how to

A refreshing marketing guide that emphasizes cost-effective, practical methods.

leverage current customers, redesign suggestions for an on-target website, email marketing tips, and more—and Gudema’s wisdom is evident in his use of low cost, onhand resources for company growth. He goes on to widen the net, emphasizing the importance of website data and search ads to fine-tune marketing campaigns, and rounds out the guide with down-to-earth advice that ranges from building a master team to effectively utilizing social media. The ripple effect of Gudema’s method creates an opportunity for a sizable target audience—and a bigger return on potential marketing investments.

Perhaps most useful in Gudema’s guide are the many practical tips: when building a strong team, he cautions to “hire slow, fire fast,” and the technical advice (search engine optimization, podcast guidance, and even conversion analytics) is spot on. Backmatter includes a sample 12-month action plan, with a caveat that not all of Gudema’s programs will be a perfect fit for every company—in his own words, “focus and execute.”

Great for fans of Seth Godin’s This is Marketing, Nicholas J. Webb’s What Customers Crave.

This metaphysical self-help book and memoir argues that you are the co-creator.

I Go Barefoot Koby Deane | Paradise Island Media 44p, e-book, $2.99, ISBN 978-1-956840-01-8

In Deane’s playful picture book for children, a group of five friends in a coastal community shows that going barefoot is more than just an aesthetic choice—it is a lifestyle. The narrator, a tall, athletic young man with sandy blonde hair and striking blue eyes, details the ways he and his pals spend their days sans shoes. They play sports on the beach, visit the farmers market, and even hit the ice cream shop and attend school with naked feet. While many places require shoes indoors, that’s not the way of this beachy town. “Our teacher knows, it doesn’t upset her, that when we are comfortable we learn much better,” the narrator enthusiastically reports.

Throughout the story, the rhyming prose provides a sense of fun and lightheartedness, inviting kids to consider a new way of experiencing temperatures and textures such as soft carpet, cool tile, or hot pavement. One oft-repeated refrain sounds like the chorus of a song: “I go barefoot when it’s warm outside. I go barefoot. My feet no longer hide.” (In fact, it’s just that: a free musical audiobook comes with the book.) While most

Going barefoot is a jubilant lifestyle in this lighthearted picture book.

people have positive memories of wandering without shoes through sand or dewy grass, they can also likely recall stepping on something hard or sharp. Deane addresses those concerns, showing the characters tiptoeing around prickly plants or bits of broken glass.

The story is accompanied by Deane’s colorful digital illustrations that toe the line between photorealistic and the cheerily imaginative. The narrator and his friends are shown smiling broadly while swimming, surfing, playing volleyball, and enjoying sweets from the bakery—all without shoes on their feet. While going barefoot as often as this story suggests won’t be possible for most kids due to climate, safety, and other concerns, it allows a glimpse at a laid-back way of life, and an invitation to kick those shoes off next time the sun shines.

Great for fans of Heather Neilly and Ruth de Vos’s Barefoot Bea, Sheree Fitch’s Summer Feet.

Cover: A- | Design & typography: A- | Illustrations: A- Editing: A | Marketing copy: A

A ghost train powers this spooky historical mystery.

Phantom Express: A Young Explorers Adventure ST Cameron | Bakaloo Media 164p, e-book, $4.99, ISBN 979-8-88623-021-5

The second entry in Cameron’s Young Explorers series keeps things on track with an exciting, well-paced story that finds 11-yearold CJ Kask, his friends, and their archaeologist parents searching for artifacts from a North Dakota train crash from the 1880’s. Set in an engagingly realized 1917 with a story that turns on of-that-moment technology, Phantom Express finds the heroes facing not just a fascinating find—100 lives were lost in the crash, the result of an attempted train robbery gone bad, and the town still feels it. Upon beginning their dig, they learn that the town of Danford is still haunted by a spectral locomotive which crashes off the same bridge again and again. Artifacts recovered from the dig prove to have strange effects on some of the Explorers themselves, and CJ and company must solve the mystery of the identity of the lone survivor, one of the original gang of robbers who could have changed everything—but didn’t.

Cameron spins a good adventure yarn, one that boasts a cozily creepy atmosphere, many good possible suspects for the villain, parents who extend patience and grace to their children, and the fun of figuring out which characters are of this world and which ones are not. Above all, the series turns on the Young Adventurers themselves, a group of friends who choose to stand up for each other and the greater good, even in the face of danger. The supernatural elements are scary but not overwhelmingly so, and the story is appropriate for its middle grade audience.

Cameron continues to seize the opportunity, in these books, to introduce readers to geographical and historical eras that may be unfamiliar to them and which may spark an interest in learning more. Even in 1917, this story reminds us, kids had their favorite movie stars (Charlie Chaplin, of course), This nice blend of fantasy and history is told in direct yet engaging prose that will draw young readers in to see what adventure awaits.

Great for fans of Linda Fairstein’s Devlin Quick series, Sharon M. Draper’s Clubhouse Mysteries.

Cover: A- | Design & typography: A | Illustrations: – Editing: A | Marketing copy: A