Holly Tierney's Blog

By now you’ve probably heard of the Law of Attraction, the principle that a person’s thoughts, intentions, and feelings are powerful enough to shape their reality and future. The Law of Attraction says that life is more than something that happens to us; we create it. But how can these principles of attraction marketing be used to grow your marketing and branding success?

In simple terms, we all are constantly putting our energy out into the world, not just by how we act, but even by how we feel and what we think about. That energy or frequency acts like a magnet, resonating more with some people than others. So, we attract that which is like us and repel that which is not like us. This means that by focusing on the positive, we’re more likely to get positive results. And, of course, the opposite is also true. 

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If this belief system is new to you, it can be exciting (I have the ability to change my own life?!) but it can also be daunting (I have the responsibility to change my own life?!). It means you have all the possibility in the world!

If this sounds interesting to you, there are many inspiring speakers and teachers whose books, lectures, and podcasts are inspiring and educational. Even if you’re skeptical about how literally to take this theory, the practical applications of it are undeniable. You can see a list of some of the more famous Law of Attraction theorists at the end of this article. Now that you’ve got the gist of the Law of Attraction, let’s talk about how it can be applied to your marketing efforts.

In Simple Terms: Attraction Marketing is about Pulling, Not Pushing

Did you watch Mad Men? Even if you didn’t, you probably know that this used to be that the way products were marketed:

A company made a product.The company hired an advertising agency to promote their product.Some people who may or may have been familiar with the product brainstormed about ways to “get people” to buy this product.Some kind of ad was decided upon using narrow-focused marketing tactics that were either based on what the manufacturer had decided was the selling point of the product (“This toothpaste fights cavities! Just focus on that!”) or marketing tactics that were trending (“Put a housewife in it!”)

Here’s what wasn’t usually taken into consideration:

How do people feel about the brand that’s putting out this product? (For example, if the advertisement was for a new laundry detergent called Zipp, manufactured by Soapy Products, was Soapy Products’ reputation and “brand” considered? Usually not.)
Was this product needed or wanted in the first place?
What’s the best way to reach people who might want this product? If the manufacturer went straight to an advertising agency that focused on magazines and newspaper ads (we’re going back in time here) when radio ads would have been more effective, they missed the mark before they even started.

What worked in the 1950s and ’60s doesn’t work today!

Saying goodbye to “Push” marketing

The approach of creating a product and then pushing it out to the masses is the exact opposite of Law of Attraction marketing. Thankfully, it’s not the way most marketers work today. However, traces of this kind of marketing are still common. What’s the biggest problem with “push” marketing? Well, it doesn’t work that well and it doesn’t build the lasting relationships and brand loyalty that Attraction Marketing can build.

Let’s look at Soapy Products’ practices and think about how they could have more success with a contemporary product.

Homework time

Imagine that it’s the current day and Soapy Products now has an in-house marketing team that works closely with the product development team. Before a new product is launched, these teams work together to do research to figure out whether people even want it. If the research says they do, the teams figure out what attributes the soap should have that will set it apart and help it compete in a tough, over-saturated market already filled with brands that have loyal buyers. 

Features like organic ingredients, lavender oil, and being safe for sensitive skin while still being tough on stains could set Zipp apart enough for Soapy Products to take the plunge.

Once it’s ready for the marketing team to really work their magic, this product is already in a far better place than products of the past. The marketing team won’t have to “push” a potential dud out to the world; they’ll be ready to share a new, wanted product with eager consumers.

What can the marketing team do to make this new product a success?

Content marketing is an Attraction Marketer’s best friend! In case you’re not familiar with the term, content marketing is the creation and sharing of interesting, informative content that often tells a story. Blogs, social media content, newsletters, and videos that show carefully crafted personas of the ideal Zipp consumer, or showing the benefits of Zipp and other Soapy Products brands, are a great way to get people interested. You want people to think of their household as a Zipp household. As strange as it sounds to think that people can identify with something like a laundry detergent, it happens all the time. 

The psychology behind content marketing

There’s a reason influencers keep influencing, despite how cringy and eye-rolly it can be to people looking in from the outside. It works! People are susceptible to others’ opinions of them, and care about how others define them. This is why people like labels. Labels tell the world “This is who I am” in clear, readable, immediate terminology. This goes for everything from the brand of cellphone, shoe, water bottle, and soda a person buys all the way down to things like laundry detergent. And seeing other people who look like the kind of person you aspire to be using a certain product can actually make you want to use it too.

This is why content marketing works so well – it creates a story and PULLS you into it. It doesn’t feel like anyone is convincing you. The desire feels like your OWN idea. This creates relationships that bond you more to a product, using it longer, buying it more often, and talking about it to others. PUSH marketing will never work that way.

Years ago, coupons and discounts were the way to go, but they often trained people to see a product as worth less than its advertised price. Content marketing that builds up not just the product but the brand behind it will make consumers feel better about the brand, have more interest in it and loyalty towards it, and will result in a longer lasting impact.

The Law of Attraction can be applied to your marketing efforts in two main ways: The first is by focusing on positive messages, brand building, and all other efforts that draw people TO your product instead of pushing your product AT them. This can be confusing at first, but it gets easier to see and feel the difference over time. And customers’ reactions will help you see and feel the difference. If you need more than feelings to go on, make spreadsheets or use other measuring tactics to chart your efforts and the results. 

The second way to apply the Law of Attraction to your marketing efforts is to actually apply this principle to your personal life, which will flow over into all other areas of your life, including your professional life.

Applying the Law of Attraction to yourself, both personally and professionally through Visualization, Goal Setting, Gratitude, and Generosity

Visualization

By vividly picturing ourselves in a place of having already completed big goals, we align our subconscious mind and our desires. This builds a path for the manifestation of our goals to actually happen.

Create a vision board filled with images representing the signs of professional success you want to achieve. This could be an actual poster, album, or notebook filled with inspiring photos from magazines, catalogs, or snippets of inspiring words. It could also be a Pinterest board. You can share with others or keep it private. You’ll be amazed how when you create a vision board and look back on it years from now, so much of it will have been accomplished, sometimes in eerie detail to an image you selected years earlier.

Goal setting

Studies like this one and many others have supported the importance of writing down our goals if we want to achieve them. (While the article I’ve linked to here suggests that telling a friend your goals reinforces them, other studies have suggested that telling people your goals actually makes it less likely you’ll achieve them, since you get a small burst of dopamine by talking about it, and that in itself can be enough of a reward.) Whether you share your goals or not, WRITE THEM DOWN! Breaking them down into small, attainable chunks can help too if your goals are big. 

Gratitude and Generosity

Gratitude and generosity are different things, but they’re closely related. By feeling and expressing gratitude for what you already have and by not clinging greedily to it, you’ll attract more abundance into your life. Having a mindset of abundance rather than scarcity or poverty is vitally important to tapping into the Law of Attraction. 

Beware of Sriracha Syndrome! What’s that? If you douse your food in Sriracha when you go to a restaurant just because you’ve heard it’s expensive, you need to change your thinking. 

The laws of abundance are going to take a detour around you until you start to believe that there is more than enough of everything to be graciously shared and enjoyed by all. If you’re having trouble seeing the world this way, start by making an effort to never hold anyone else back in any way. Compete against your past self, not others. If everyone mastered that mentality, we’d all be thriving. But you can only control yourself, so master this mentality, give freely and fairly when you can, and you’ll be on your way to abundance.

In conclusion, the Law of Attraction is not just about sitting around, thinking positive thoughts. It needs to be fueled by a lot of consistent hard work, ongoing goal setting, and tenacity. But there is a certain kind of magic associated with it. When you’re in a positive place of purpose and on a path of self-belief, the journey feels easy and fun. Kind of like you’re paddling a canoe with the tide instead of against it.

If you’re interested in learning more about the general rules of the Law of Attraction, there are many talented, thought-provoking teachers out there. Here are some resources for you:

Rhonda Byrne
Joe Dispenza
Gabrille Bernstein
Wayne Dyer
Esther Hicks (Abraham-Hicks)

Images created in Canva.

Share and post this free infographic in your office to help you stay on the right Attraction Marketing track!

About a year ago, my very talented friend Tony completed a project for me that I’d been dreaming about for years. He built a little library for my yard that was modeled after the look of my own house. I added some stones to the front of it to make it an even better match and had it installed in my front yard.

Unfortunately, Wisconsin winters can be hard on little libraries! By this spring, it was already getting quite damaged.

You can see evidence of the wood making up the roof and sides separating and splitting, below (pay no mind to that crispy brown grass!):

I knew I needed to take action before this handmade treasure was too far gone to repair, so I took it down got to work!

Here were my steps to repair it and hopefully give it years of all-weather life ahead of it:

Step one: I broke off all the exterior layers that were warping out away from the original structure and were too damaged to save.

Step two: Using an electric sander, I smoothed out all the remaining uneven surfaces the best I could. The roof looked the worst, but I didn’t worry too much about its appearance, since that portion of it was going to be covered.

Step three: I added several layers of exterior paint. Not only did it help hide the damage and further smooth things out, but it will act as a protective coating.

Step four: When I was satisfied with the paint job, I added several layers of clear, not-super-shiny polyurethane coating to every bit of it.

Step five: I touched up the stone exterior, adding a few new stones where some had fallen off and additional grout. Once the grout was dry, I sealed it all up with more polyurethane.

Step six: The most important part! Time for a new roof! Using real shingles left over from when my garage roof was done last year, I cut the shingles into small, imperfect pieces since I want my little library to have a quirky, handmade feel. Then I nailed them to the roof, just like you’d do with real shingles. Start at the bottom, going row by row, so the shingles go in layers and rainwater can run down them appropriately.

DONE! Here’s the finished product:

With these improvements, this book lending station should be able to keep readers happy for years to come!

All photos by Holly Tierney. Copyright 2023. All rights reserved.

It’s been a while. As in years!

I just felt like getting the ol’ blog going again. To start things back up, here are some design-inspired books I highly recommend. Some, I’ve enjoyed recently. Others are old favorites I keep coming back to.

Work in Progress: Unconventional Thoughts on Designing an Extraordinary Life by Leanne Ford and Steve Ford

This is Home: The Art of Simple Living by Natalie Walton

Habitat: The Field Guide to Decorating by Lauren Liess

The New Design Rules: How to Decorate and Renovate, from Start to Finish: An Interior Design Book by Emily Henderson

Home with Rue by Kelli Lamb

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

It's been over two years since my last book came out, so I'm thrilled to bring you not just a new book, but the start of a whole new cozy mystery series! This series takes place in picturesque Snowflake Valley, Idaho, and features all the characters you know and love from The Snowflake Valley Advice Fairy, plus newcomer Delilah Crumbworthy.

Here are the details:The Muffin Shop Murder: A Delilah Crumbworthy Mystery

Introducing... A New Book from the Author of classic cozy mystery Murder at Mistletoe Manor!

The McArdles have the best bakery in town, until rumors begin swirling about the corners they're cutting to save on costs. When a tragic accident takes place at their bakery, there's no recovering and they're put out of business.

Delilah Crumbworthy steps in to take over the quaint old bakeshop on Main Street. From her first day on the job, she finds herself swamped with customers, new friends, and menacing happenings. Does she have what it takes to run a business, make friends, keep up with the beautiful people of Snowflake Valley, and solve a mystery or two?

This is book one in the new Delilah Crumbworthy Mystery Series.

2020 Cozy Mystery Reading Challenge

Welcome to the 2020 Cozy Reading Challenge!

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This reading challenge is for bragging rights, the fun of discovering new books, and badges you can display on your social media pages. Each month there will be 4 featured titles to choose from. Read as many as you’d like, and then share the news with your friends. If you read three or more, you get a badge! Use hashtag #2020CozyChallenge to tag your posts so you can connect with other readers taking this challenge. This is all on the honor system. Have fun discovering your favorite new cozy books and authors!

While you don’t need to post reviews to participate, we authors sure appreciate when you do!

Taking part? Here’s your first badge to display and the link to connect to the challenge!

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To claim your monthly display badges: Join our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2020cozychallenge.

I’ll share each month’s brag badge at the start of the following month.

 

Here are the January and February reading lists. You can see future months’ choices when you visit our Facebook group.

 

JANUARY CHOICES:

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Mooved to Murder by CeeCee James

 

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Murder in Cherry Hills by Paige Sleuth

 

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A Death at Eastwick by L.C. Warman

 

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Another Saturday Night and I Ain’t Got No Body by Jennie Marts

 

FEBRUARY CHOICES:

 

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Beaches & Bodies by Nic Roberts

 

 

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A Cop & A Coop by Hillary Avis Reece

 

 

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It’s All Greek to Me by Maggie Aldrich

 

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Apple Pie and Arsenic by C.A. Phipps

 

 

Thank you, BRMaycock’s Book Blog, for reviewing Murder at Mistletoe Manor!

BRMaycock's Book Blog

Amazon purchase link

What they say: Klarinda Snow is the innkeeper of a beautiful, historic bed and breakfast in Windy Pines, Idaho. Guests come to Mistletoe Manor to escape from their troubles while enjoying the scenic mountain town.

When all seven rooms of the inn get booked on a Tuesday night in December, Klarinda is excited about having so much business, but a little confused as well. After all, her inn normally isn’t exactly a destination hotspot.

The guests have barely settled in before strange things begin happening. Is this the most accident prone group of travelers ever, or is someone out for revenge?

If you love closed-room mysteries like And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, you’ll love this holiday who-dunnit. 

This is the first book set at Mistletoe Manor in Windy Pines, Idaho. Don’t miss the others, including new release (November, 2019) IN THE HEART OF WINDY…

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Thank you, MJB Reviewers, for including In the Heart of Windy Pines on your list of new releases!

mjbreviewers

Here is a list of some of the new releases for the week of November 24th, 2019. I am going to divide the list into 5 days because there are so very very many of them for the week. Today is the second day of my list for this week. Hope you find some selections for your weekly reading. Enjoy and happy reading.

Winter blizzards bring a flurry of cases to solve in this riveting new foxhunting mystery featuring “Sister” Jane Arnold and her incorrigible hounds from New York Times bestselling author Rita Mae Brown.

Frigid February air has settled into the bones of the Blue Ridge Mountains, making for a slow foxhunting season, though “Sister” Jane Arnold’s enthusiasm is not so easily deterred. With the winter chill come tweed coats, blazing fireplaces—and perhaps another to share the warmth with, as the bold hunting scarlets worn by the men in…

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Thank you, Little Miss BookLover 87!

Little Miss Book Lover 87

I have to say a huge thank you to Holly for this wonderful audiobook to review.

Description:

If you love cute Christmas stories and sweet holiday romances from authors like Robyn Carr, Jenny Colgan, and Debbie Macomber, you’ll adore The Snowflake Valley Advice Fairy!

At just twenty-five years old, Elinor has landed the job of her dreams: She’s going to be Merry the Advice Fairy for the Snowflake Valley Gazette. She’s ecstatic that she’s about to embark on a fun, cushy career while living in the cutest, quaintest town she’s ever known.

She’s barely settled into her desk at work when that famous Snowflake Valley shimmer starts to fizzle. The real Snowflake Valley bears little resemblance to the picture postcard tourist destination she and her family loved when she was a child. Her new co-workers are uninspiring, to say the least, and the problems that people are submitting to…

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HERDING CATS

Thank you to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for organising this tour and to Holly Tierney-Bedord for a copy to read in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

Giveaway to Win a $5 Starbucks Gift Card (Open to US Only)

*Terms and Conditions –US entries welcome.  Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfillment of the prize, after…

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Thanks, Colin Garrow, for reviewing Murder at Mistletoe Manor!

Colin Garrow

Murder at Mistletoe Manor

Innkeeper Klarinda Snow gets confused when a bunch of guests turn up bearing mysterious invitations for an all-expenses-paid night at Mistletoe Manor. Following an anonymous delivery of cash to pay for the rooms, the situation doesn’t get any less opaque when Klarinda realises most of the guests seem to know each other. When a series of bizarre accidents starts happening, Ms Snow starts to put two and two together.

I got the audiobook of this cosy mystery, which is entertainingly narrated by Christopher Lane. The author tells a witty and amusing tale with her cast of mostly annoying characters and though the plot is a teeny bit obvious and features a group of moronic police officers who probably couldn’t find their own backsides with both hands, I really enjoyed the story. Also, in true Agatha Christie mode, Ms Tierney-Bedord provides a floor plan of Mistletoe Manor…

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