From Library Journal
Spoelstra (Ice to the Eskimos: How To Market a Product Nobody Wants) offers another fine book on creative marketing strategies and motivation. His book, which shows how considering marketing problems "outrageously" but consistently can benefit an organization, is instructive in its marketing ideas and stories of triumph. President of the professional sports division of Mandalay Entertainment, Spoelstra has held positions or served as a consultant with several sports teams, including the Portland Trail Blazers, New Jersey Nets, and Dayton Dragons. Here he describes how in his own experience a lack of adequate funds for marketing and advertising goals led to his "outrageous" approach. In each of the 17 chapters, Spoelstra illustrates one of "ground rules" of marketing, claiming that, for instance, each company must differentiate itself and that budget constraints need not prevent a company from doing its best work. His concerns for increasing revenue through marketing will be useful to professional marketers and students of marketing. Recommended for the academic and public libraries that serve them. Littleton Maxwell, Business Information Ctr., Univ. of Richmond, VA Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Book Description
Jon Spoelstra, one of the country's best sports marketers,contends there is less risk and more payoffs in creating outrageous marketing.


From the Inside Flap
Too Much Revenue?Have you ever known a company to be in trouble because of too much money coming in? Of course not. The best way of beefing up the bottom line is to feed the top line. Jon Spoelstra, one of America's top sports marketers, offers provocative ideas that will help boost both your top and bottom line. Jon's 17 Ground Rules will show you how to• Think differently about Marketing Outrageously and understand why it's the safest way to go.• Use Jon's famous "rubber chicken" method to get people going down the slippery slope to sales success.• Scoop cream off the top that will impact both your top and bottom lines.• Differentiate yourself from your competitors.• Use the big question "What's It Going to Take?" to challenge the thinking of those you work with - and to dramatically increase sales.This book is not just for sales and marketing folks - it's for anyone who influences the course and attitude of your company. Get all your employees on the same page with this book. It will transform their thinking about increasing revenue.


About the Author
Jon Spoelstra is president of the Professional Sports Division of Mandalay Entertainment, one of Hollywood's leading independent production companies. Generally regarded as a master of sports marketing, Jon has consulted with major sports organizations including baseball, hockey, soccer, and basketball in the United States, Spain, and Japan. He was general manager of the Portland Trail Blazers for eleven years. Later, as president of the New Jersey Nets for three years, he increased that team's revenue by almost 500 percent. Jon has also been an adjunct professor at the University of Portland. Jon was the focus of what was perhaps the strangest trade in sports history. Portland was in need of a guard to fill a hole created by injury. The guard the Blazers wanted was the starting point guard for Indiana Pacers. A deal was struck; the compensation to the Pacers wasn't a player, but one week of Spoelstra's time. During that week, Jon played a key role in the restructuring of the Pacers' front office.Jon is the author of Ice to the Eskimos (Harper Business, 1997) and Success Is Just One Wish Away (Delstar, 1999). He lives in Portland, Oregon.


Excerpted from Marketing Outrageously by Jon Spoelstra, Mark Cuban. Copyright © 2001. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved
Boy on a BikeWhen I was thirteen, a boy in suburban Detroit, I had a paper route. I delivered fifty papers every day. It took me about an hour. However, at least half the houses I passed didn't subscribe to my paper.It took me a few months to figure it out. If I could turn these folks into paying customers, it wouldn't take much more time to deliver the paper to twice as many people. I began to think: How can I get them to subscribe?I did some research. I learned the names of the people who didn't subscribe, the people whose houses I rode by each day. I mailed a hand-written letter to each family:I'm the paper boy for the Detroit News. You may have seen me. I ride my bike past your house at the same time every day, rain or shine. I could easily deliver a paper to you, just like I do to your neighbors.There's a lot of interesting articles in the paper, and I think you'll really enjoy the Detroit News.If you'd like to try it, just hang the enclosed card on your doorknob, and I'll deliver the News for a week at my expense. If you like it, I'll just keep on delivering it. I collect once a month.Within three months, I was delivering 100 newspapers in about the same time as it had taken me to deliver 50. I had effectively doubled my pay. A few months later, I tried the same letter on an adjoining neighborhood. Soon I had 150 subscribers, and it didn't take much more time. For a little extra effort, I was making three times as much.Now, when I see America Online, Gillette, and other companies giving away free merchandise to gain customers, I think: I did that! I thought it up on my own. It seemed pretty outrageous at the time - whoever heard of giving it away? But it worked!

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Looking for ways to increase your sales by 50%, 75%, 100+%? Using predictable, bland marketing is not the way! Jon Spoelstra, one of the country's best sports marketers, contends there is less risk and more payoff in creating outrageous marketing. Whether your company is a fast-track dot.com or a hundred year old business, he offers powerful principles that can turbocharge your revenue.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal