Monday Morning Marketing Tip - August 16, 2010

This week's focus:
There's a silent financial killer plaguing the author community called "trinkets." Trinkets are those inane little products that you see some writers trying to sell, such as T-shirts, mugs, pens, figurines, jewelry, etc. There's nothing wrong these items on their own. The problem is they can kill your cash flow when you don't sell them quickly. I know several authors who bought too much inventory and now their garage is filled with useless trinkets and they're struggling financially.

Unless you can turn inventory on a frequent basis and maintain a high profit margin, avoid trinkets altogether. Stick to the essential author products that expand your message, such as books, audio CD's, DVD videos, ebooks, workbooks, study guides, etc. Leave trinkets to the retail professionals, and keep your business running lean and mean.


Chew on this:
"Financial peace isn't the acquisition of stuff. It's learning to live on less than you make, so you can give money back and have money to invest. You can't win until you do this."
Dave Ramsey, bestselling author of The Total Money Makeover

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© Rob Eagar 2010. All rights reserved.

Monday Morning Marketing Tip - August 9, 2010

This week's focus:
If you want the world to treat you like a professional author or speaker, then you've got to act and appear professional. Yet, I'm surprised by how many of you shoot yourself in the foot by presenting a homemade image that damages your credibility. Here's a few tips to help influential people take you more seriously:

● Use a professional email address to communicate with your audience. If you're still using an old AOL.com email, it means you're an "Amateur On Line." The same goes for Gmail / Yahoo / Hotmail and similar email services. You're email should be your first name followed by @yourwebsitename.com

● Don't try to save money by getting a family member to build your website on the cheap or using a free blog service. Get serious and hire a legitimate graphic artist and website designer to create your website and marketing materials. The saying is true, "You've got to spend money to make money." If you don't want to spend money to be a professional author, you're in the wrong business.

● If you're dissatisfied with your book sales or lack of speaking engagements, invest in your professional growth. You can't grow if your skills remain stagnant. Take a class, join a critique group, read insightful books, attend a writers conference, hire an expert consultant, etc. Spending money to make yourself better is never an expense - it's an investment, which creates long-term benefits.

● Don't title yourself: "Jane Doe - Author, Speaker, Consultant, Mother, whatever..." Nobody cares. People want to know how you can improve their lives. Instead, create a personal brand that showcases your expertise, such as Jane Doe - "The Stress Buster," "Seatbelt Suspense," or "Leading Women in the Adventure of Faith."

If I sound harsh it's because your success is at stake, and I've got your best interests in mind. Some of you reading this tip need to get serious about being an author or find another line of work. Life is too short...why waste your gift when you can maximize it?


Chew on this:
"The master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.'" - Matthew 25:23

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© Rob Eagar 2010. All rights reserved.

Great joke about Facebook

"Facebook announced that it now has more than 500 million users...which may help explain why unemployment is around 10 percent."

- Jimmy Kimmel

Monday Morning Marketing Tip - August 2, 2010

Rob Eagar's Monday Morning Marketing Tip is written to help authors, publishers, and organizations spread their message like wildfire.

This week's focus:

My wife and I are huge fans of Bobby Flay's show on the Food Network called, "Throwdown." Bobby is a top-level "Iron Chef" who challenges unsuspecting local chefs that he can top their best dish. On a recent episode, he battled the Vermont Brownie Company in a chocolate-lover's brownie fest. However, he lost to the local chefs who had the best brownies I've ever seen. In fact, they were so good that I ordered a half-dozen from their website to satisfy my craving...which brings me to marketing.

When I received the package of brownies, there was a business card in the box with the typical company information on the front side. However, on the back side, there was a coupon code to use on your next purchase. I wondered to myself, "Why don't authors and other organizations do the same thing?" For example, create a business card with your contact information and book cover or product photo on one side. But, on the back side, put cool information, such as:

· Special discount code or coupon towards a purchase
· Link to a hidden part of your website for exclusive content
· List helpful tips for the reader in a concise, bulleted format

Anyone could use these promotional cards as a viral giveaway tool for speaking events, book signings, order package stuffers, etc. Pass them out and encourage people to give them to friends. Word of mouth won't spread unless you give it a reason to spread. So, what are you doing to generate buzz for your message? Now, back to my brownies...

Chew on this:

"You will get more word of mouth from making people happy than anything else you do."

Andy Sernovitz, author of Word of Mouth Marketing

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© Rob Eagar 2010. All rights reserved.

Monday Morning Marketing Tip - July 26, 2010

Rob Eagar's Monday Morning Marketing Tip is written to help authors, publishers, and organizations spread their message like wildfire.

This week's focus:

If you want to sell books through public speaking, usually someone of influence has to invite you to address their organization. For example, leaders of businesses, non-profits, trade shows, churches, book clubs, and universities frequently request authors to speak to their groups. But, in order to get a leader interested in the first place, you must understand how the booking process works.

Most leaders make their booking decisions based on one simple factor - trust. The reality is that leaders aren't really interested in booking speakers. Instead, they want to book experts who happen to speak. By positioning yourself as an expert, rather than an author, you increase a leader's ability to trust you.

Chew on this:

"People who address audiences have the potential to create tremendous value or create tremendous harm. The only reason to hire a speaker - no matter what his or her specialty - is to improve the condition of the audience and, frequently, the organization which they represent."
Alan Weiss, author of Money Talks

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© Rob Eagar 2010. All rights reserved.

Monday Morning Marketing Tip - July 19, 2010

Rob Eagar's Monday Morning Marketing Tip is written to help authors, publishers, and organizations spread their message like wildfire.

This week's focus:

If you're a sports fan, you've no doubt followed the drama of NBA basketball star, LeBron James, leaving his hometown team in Cleveland to join the Miami Heat. The interesting part, however, is that James stated his primary reason for defecting was to join two of his closest friends, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, and create their own mini dream team. He believes that they have a greater chance of winning a championship by joining forces and relishing the camaraderie.

This same idea can benefit you as an author. Writing and marketing your book can be a lonely business. Pulling the weight all alone gets exhausting. So, why not copy LeBron's motive and join forces with other authors to help boost your platform. For example, you could partner with small group of similar writers and:

· Go out on a book tour together or conduct a local book-signing as a group.
· Share free resources or special content as prizes to give away to your readers.
· Trade or combine your personal databases of media contacts or influential leaders to send out newsletters and press releases.
· Meet regularly as a support group to discuss best practices of book marketing.

There's strength in numbers. Take advantage of the potential friendships and marketing power of working together with your fellow authors.
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If you have a personal example of generating success by working together with other authors, email it to me at Rob@StartaWildFire.com and I'll share it with everyone here.

Here's a good tip from Diana Cosby:

"Rob, I enjoy your newsletters and always read them for valuable insight. Joining with other authors to share idea, tips, or do book signings is a great idea. To me, you take this sharing to another level when you make the venture one that matters on a personal level. My goal in life is to make a positive difference in others lives. One way I do this is to donate 10% of my royalties to a charity of my choice. One of my charities is Habitat For Humanity, with one of my life goals to sponsor an entire home. In addition to donating to Habitat For Humanity, when a new home is under construction, I organize a group of romance writers for one of the build's days. I also contact local media to let them know the details, which often is covered in press and on local TV. In the end, everyone wins, more so as it's so personal. To me, that a needy family will receive a home is such a blessing, and to know that however small, that I've made a difference in their lives is something you can't buy."

Chew on this:
"By yourself you're unprotected. With a friend you can face the worst. Can you round up a third? A three-stranded rope isn't easily snapped." - Ecclesiastes 4:12

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© Rob Eagar 2010. All rights reserved.

Monday Morning Marketing Tip - July 12, 2010

Rob Eagar's Monday Morning Marketing Tip is written to help authors, publishers, and organizations spread their message like wildfire.

This week's focus:

During the recent housing crash that devastated our economy, a lot of builders built homes based on "spec." With spec homes, the house is planned, designed, and built before a prospective buyer has been found. Spec home building has the benefit of speedy construction. But, it comes with the risk that once the home is built there may not be a buyer. This exposed risk eventually put a lot of builders out of business and left a lot of new homes sitting dormant.

Sometimes, authors and publishers make a similar mistake. They produce books assuming people will buy them. Yet, the author never seeks critical feedback from focus groups during the manuscript phase. Or, the publisher never conducts a true buyer analysis. Books are published in quantity hoping that enough succeed to sustain the business.

Avoid writing a book based on speculation or assuming that people will buy it. Instead, take time early in the process to test your ideas on enough people who qualified to give you beneficial feedback - even if it's negative.

For example, when I wrote my first book, I assembled three separate focus groups that covered the main demographic segments of my intended reading audience. I gave my manuscript to these individuals and asked them to honestly critique my content. Their feedback caused me to rewrite every chapter three times each and my first chapter nine times! You can imagine how frustrated I felt when their criticism was negative. But, once the process was completed, I knew I had a dynamite book because my intended readers told me so. Today, that book is still selling in most Barnes & Noble across America.

As you work on your next book, consider these points:

· Do I know the exact kind of results my book can produce for the reader - because I tested it first?

· Have I experienced these results in my own life?

Take a lesson from the housing crash. Don't publish a book unless you can guarantee a buyer.

Chew on this:
"80% of all word-of-mouth still happens offline. The Internet just helps it move faster."
Andy Sernovitz

Author of Word of Mouth Marketing


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© Rob Eagar 2010. All rights reserved.

Monday Morning Marketing Tip - July 5, 2010

Rob Eagar's Monday Morning Marketing Tip is written to help authors, publishers, and organizations spread their message like wildfire.

Happy July 4th Holiday!

This week's focus:
God created humans to be responsible individuals. We know this is true, because we're usually happiest when we have responsibility and take care of it, such as handling our job well or being a loving parent. In contrast, irresponsibility usually leads to blame, which leads to conflict by blaming others or blaming ourselves. Where there's blame, there's shame. And, shame shuts people down in addition to destroying their future. Thus, a person will never reach his or her full potential by shirking responsibility. Excusing and blaming is like running in place - you wind up exhausted and you've gone nowhere.

This universal principle applies to you and me as authors. How? Responsible authors realize that the success of their books lies primarily in their own hands, rather than in their publisher, agent, or publicist. For instance, irresponsible authors tend to blame their publishers for low book sales. Similarly, these authors don't stay up-to-date on new trends or technology that can help market their books. The problems they face are everyone else's fault.

Avoid falling into the mental trap of blaming others. You will be a happier author if you take responsibility for your book sales and platform growth. Try looking at your writing career as the responsibility to help other people, regardless of whether you write fiction or non-fiction. Are you holding yourself accountable to teach, inspire, and satisfy your readers?

If you're dissatisfied with your book sales, listen to any blame talk that's running through your thoughts. Be honest and identify how much of the problem is attributed to you. Then, make a conscious effort to take ownership for your part of the issue and take responsibility for making progress.


Chew on this:
"Are you hiding behind your prayers to avoid taking responsibility?"
Andy Stanley
Senior Pastor, North Point Community Church
(Never thought you'd hear a pastor say that!)


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© Rob Eagar 2010. All rights reserved.