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From Authors Guild site:
Publishing and Marketing Have Been Wonderful, So Far......
A Brief Introduction
Hi--and thanks so much for stopping by. I'm JoAnne Alter, and I've been extremely fortunate to have enjoyed an extensive and successful career in publishing and marketing. Currently, I serve as the Owner/President of JBA Media Group, an integrated marketing company that helps owners of small businesses and professional services firms to:
Our Focus: Give customers what they want, need, and will value
Our marketing is built on a fundamental premise: Consumers today don't want sales pitches. They want to find out how to solve their problems. They want information and guidance that is helpful, interesting, accessible, and visually engaging.
Our marketing programs are expressly designed to accomplish all of those goals. Please see examples of some of our most recent marketing programs.
Starting point--We begin every engagement by listening. We learn what the client wishes to accomplish and what his or her prospects want and need. That helps us work with the client to determine which types of programs will--and won't--help them achieve their goals.
Initial discussions also help determine if extensive interviewing will provide the needed information, or if additional research is also required.
How we work with clients
What differentiates us from most of our own competitors is that the content of every marketing program we create is original. We've had decades of success in explaining complex subjects to readers or site visitors simply, thoroughly, and beautifully.
We don't copy material that clients have been using for years--material that may be outdated or that no longer meets their--or their customers'--needs.
In working with clients, we never specify a predetermined amount of "interview time." We spend as much time as it takes to thoroughly understand clients' businesses and their business challenges--as well as their customers' desires and problems.
We explore how our clients work. We learn how they meet their customers' needs, so we can provide useful insights, advice and tips, as well as real case studies whenever possible. We demonstrate our clients' knowledge and experience, so that prospective customers will view them as thought leaders and as credible and valuable resources.
We also don't use templates. Every JBA Media Group initiative is original and custom-designed for each client. When we do multiple programs for a client, they're all designed to present a distinctive, professional, and cohesive look.
Strategy and tactics
Our marketing programs help clients stand out both online and in print. Among the programs we offer:
Longer content can be presented in or readily converted to any of a variety of formats. Among them:
Everything we create is written to show readers where any information has come from. For example. a casual brochure or Web feature will always indicate sources and/or contain links to the original material. On the other hand, some professionals expect to see the exact sources for all information in footnotes. If that's what our client needs, that's what we do.
Our own programs
In addition to creating an extensive array of custom marketing programs for clients, we publish Websites to support our own businesses. For example, we publish (and are in the process of revising and updating) Celebrate with Style, an online magazine for people interested in creating beautiful and affordable parties and special events. The Website also serves as a marketing showcase for professionals in various event planning businesses.
In addition, we're now revising and expanding Tips from the Experts, which will provide yet another way in which we can help clients with branding and visibility.
Sites to support other business ventures are also in production.
Health care publishing
For nine years prior to starting JBA Media Group, I was co-owner of and served as Editorial Director of Vericom Custom Publishing, Inc., a successful health care custom publishing company.
When Vericom unfortunately had to close its doors, about six months after 9/11, I continued health care custom publishing with the launch of JBA Media Health.
Altogether, we have created and produced more than 70 single-sponsored magazines and newsletters, as well as numerous Web and other digital programs in the health care field. Among our clients have been many of the world’s most well known global pharmaceutical companies.
Target audiences for whom we created publications and web information included consumers, employers, business executives, physicians, and a wide variety of health care professionals.
We also developed the overall editorial concept and all article ideas for several consumer magazines on behalf of one of the nation’s largest and most prominent integrated marketing companies.
Consumer publishing
Our consumer publishing experience is equally extensive. For 13 years, I enjoyed serving as a contributing editor of Family Circle magazine. In that capacity, I created and produced single-subject magazines, special sections, and features on a wide range of subjects.
In addition, I've had dozens of articles published in highly diverse consumer and trade magazines, newspapers, and Sunday supplements. Among them: Better Homes & Gardens, Journal of Accountancy,Self, Financial Manager,and the New York Daily News Sunday Magazine.
Yet another enjoyable publishing venture was writing the first comprehensive guide to alternative work arrangements that was ever published in the United States.
A Part-time Career for a Full-time You, published by Houghton-Mifflin, was distributed in both hard cover and trade paperback editions. The book was critically acclaimed and prompted a book promotion tour that included appearances on a dozen TV shows and more than 100 radio programs.
A bit of bio information
Finally, here are some other bio details: I got my B.A. degree, with honors, from New York University. I taught magazine feature writing in the continuing education program of C.W. Post College of Long Island University. I served as Communications Chair of the Long Island chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO). Currently, I serve on the Board of Directors of the Long Island Entrepreneurs Group (LIEG). I also belong to the Great Neck Business Circle, and the Business Breakfast Club of Queens and Long Island.