How to Avoid the #1 Marketing Mistake
Monday, March 28, 2011
Monday Morning Marketing Tip - March 28, 2011
For something a little different, I thought I'd share my new Marketing Minute Video Tip...more to come in the future.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Monday Morning Marketing Tip - March 21, 2011
Rob Eagar's Monday Morning Marketing Tip
is written to help authors, publishers, and organizations
spread their message like wildfire.
This week's focus:
Last week, I received a promotional postcard from a well-known author advertising a new novel. One side of the card featured a large picture of the book cover, while the back side listed typical marketing text about the plot and a couple of endorsements. Aside from the publication date and a website address, that was all that appeared.
After looking over this promotional piece, I thought to myself, "This postcard may have been adequate ten years ago, but we live in 2011. How could this author fail to take advantage of all the modern marketing options that are now available? That boring postcard could have been much more powerful." For example, the author could have sent the postcard with these features on it:
· An enticing coupon with a 15 - 20% pre-order discount.
· A QR code that linked to a compelling video for the book.
· A link to a free resource that pertained to the book.
· An invitation to join her Facebook page or follow on Twitter.
I see this same problem with other direct mail promotions that fill my mailbox, such as store announcements, restaurant mailers, newsletters, magazines, etc. If you're going to promote your book or business, you can't just tell people that it exists. You have to give them an attractive to purchase or take the next step to building a relationship with you. Some people think direct mail is old-school, but there are plenty of new-school tools you can use to boost success.
Question:
What new ideas have you used to make your direct mail marketing efforts more powerful using today's new technology? Leave a comment below.
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© Rob Eagar 2011. All rights reserved.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Please help the survivors in Japan
In wake of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that has affected the people of Japan, please join me in making a financial donation along with your thoughts and prayers. Below are two organizations that are working diligently to provide aid and support:
Monday Morning Marketing Tip - March 14, 2011
Rob Eagar's Monday Morning Marketing Tip
is written to help authors, publishers, and organizations
spread their message like wildfire.
This week's focus:
A big I may be a marketing expert, but I learned a valuable lesson last week. After announcing my "Forward to a Friend" contest, I received a copy of an email that was forwarded by a subscriber which said:
"I am not one who usually forwards, but Rob's newsletter is one I've been receiving faithfully for 6 months, and I've found every single one to offer value. I'm sorry it took a contest to get me thinking about who else could benefit from what he's got to offer. Take a look!"
Here's what got my attention. I've been doing these Monday Morning Marketing Tips for over 40 straight weeks, and I've sent out monthly email newsletters for over four years. Yet, until last week, I had never offered a contest that encouraged people to share my value with their contacts.
The comments in the email above reminded me of a foundational marketing principle: "You can't expect your customers to do your marketing for you." Yes, a great product and excellent service can help generate repeat business and word-of-mouth. But, sometimes, people still need a little incentive to get them to take action.
This principle explains why promotional tactics, such as contests, coupons, sweepstakes, quizzes, back stage passes, and freebies can be so productive. Occasionally, even your best customers will lose passion for your message. Therefore, what are you doing to wake up your book readers or business customers? Learn from my mistake, and look for ways to regularly give your audience the incentive they might need to help spread the word for you.
Question:
What activities have you found to be most helpful in getting your readers or customers to take action promoting your message? Leave a comment below.
Your Feedback Requested - Author Workshop Survey
Based on the success of the one-day author workshop I conducted in Atlanta last November, I'm planning to schedule another one in the coming months. However, I'd like to include your feedback and preferences in the planning process. I plan to send out a brief survey to solicit your comments in the next week or two. Please be on the lookout for this survey, and I hope you'll take a few minutes to share your thoughts with me. Thank you.
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© Rob Eagar 2011. All rights reserved.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Monday Morning Marketing Tip - March 7, 2011
Rob Eagar's Monday Morning Marketing Tip
is written to help authors, publishers, and organizations
spread their message like wildfire.
This week's focus:
A big complaint among published authors is the torture of waiting up to six months to get royalty statements from publishers to determine their actual book sales. Imagine if a chef had to wait six months to find out how much food his restaurant sold, or an artist waiting six months to find out if a gallery ever sold one of her paintings. This ridiculous delay hinders authors from gauging the effects of their promotional efforts - and keeps publishers in control.
Fortunately, those dark days are over, and the solution appeared from an unlikely hero...Amazon. In an incredibly generous gesture, Amazon started offering the official Neilsen Book Scan retail bookstore sales data to all authors - for free!! Yes, I said this information is free!
Starting a few months ago, Amazon began to provide the Nielsen BookScan sales information, which includes the actual nationwide book sales information from major retailers, such as Barnes & Noble, Target, Borders, Waldenbooks, Deseret Book Company, Hastings, Follett College stores, Buy.com, Amazon.com, and some independent booksellers. Stores currently not included are WalMart, Costco, and religious chains, such as Family Christian Stores, Parable, and LifeWay. Nielsen estimates that their BookScan data captures around 75% of the total print book sales in the U.S. retail market. However, their numbers only reflect printed book sales, not the e-book versions.
In addition to the Book Scan sales data, Amazon also provides each author with a national map that displays where their books sold during the past 30-day window, with a lag time of about a week. You can see a list of the top cities across America where books are selling the most. Plus, you can view a graph of the Amazon sales ranking history for each of your books.
The benefit of this data is you can now see if your book sales peaked or dropped over time based on your promotional efforts. This free service from Amazon is the closest thing to real-time aggregate sales data available to publishers, and it's not cheap information. Major publishers can pay over $100,000 per year for this same data. So, the fact that Amazon lets author gain access at no cost is truly amazing.
To review the sales data for your books, go to: https://AuthorCentral.Amazon.com and setup a free author account. You will be asked to prove that you're the author of your books and create a bibliography of all your titles. Once you're account is setup, you can log-in and find a tab at the top of the main page that says "Sale Info." Click on that tab and see your actual sales history for the past 30 days, which may be exhilarating or depressing. However, it's better to know the truth from Book Scan than obsess over Amazon's the faulty sales ranking system.
Enjoy this new feature from Amazon. They may be the enemy to some people, but they've just proven that they're a friend to authors.
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© Rob Eagar 2011. All rights reserved.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Monday Morning Marketing Tips - February 28, 2011
Rob Eagar's Monday Morning Marketing Tip
is written to help authors, publishers, and organizations
spread their message like wildfire.
This week's focus: Breaking the rules of becoming a bestseller
The publishing industry is going through an incredible amount of chaos and transformation. Some of this change is good, such as new technology, lower prices, and easier ways for people to get access to information. In contrast, some changes are bad, such as Borders Bookstores filing for bankruptcy, publishers working with lower budgets and less staff, and authors finding it harder than ever to land new publishing contracts.
In the midst of this change, the rules for becoming a New York Times bestseller are also getting rewritten. For example, if you asked most publishers 10 years ago to explain their marketing strategy for creating a bestseller, they would probably emphasize the following five activities:
1. Secure numerous national-level TV and radio interviews.
2. Urge the author buy 10,000 - 15,000 of his own book directly from various retailers.
3. Schedule a whirlwind speaking tour in major cities across America.
4. Place expensive advertisements in major magazines and newspapers.
5. Setup as many bookstore signings as possible.
These ideas no longer hold sway. Gone are the days of boring bookstore signings and pricey print ads. In addition, national media has lost much of its power as more programs cater to specific niche audiences. In contrast, we now live in an era where the author has more power than ever before.
For example, I just helped a client hit the New York Times bestseller list for over a month without doing any of the five rules listed above. Instead, she succeeded by breaking the rules, building her own platform, and making personal connections with thousands of readers. Here are the results of the marketing strategy we conducted:
1. Drove over 100,000 unique visitors to the author's website in the first 30 days.
2. Created a free resource that was featured for 21 days on over 350 niche radio stations.
3. Hosted a 6-week online webcast that garnered over 20,000 views per week.
4. Captured exciting success stories and promoted them both online and offline.
5. Utilized the power of viral video to create a catchy book trailer and helpful author videos that received over 25,000 views in 30 days.
By utilizing a modern marketing strategy, the author sold over 100,000 copies in the first 6 weeks of her book's release and landed on the New York Times, USA Today, and CBA bestseller lists. And, all of this success cost a lot less than a publisher's typical marketing budget.
This week's action step:
You may be an author or a business owner. Regardless, what are you doing to build your own customer base? Are you relying on antiquated methods that are outdated and ineffective? Add at least one new marketing activity this week that relies on distributing free value via the Internet. For example, you could develop a free resource, newsletter, product sample, behind-the-scenes video, customer testimonial, webcast, etc. If you have legitimate value to provide people, the old barriers that hindered distribution no longer exist. Take advantage of the new opportunities that are now available.
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To receive Rob's Monday Morning Marketing Tip directly to your email inbox,
© Rob Eagar 2011. All rights reserved.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Monday Morning Marketing Tip - February 21, 2011
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 big fans of the organization, Compassion International, who helps provide food, education, and medical treatment to children who are stuck in poverty around the world. As a supporter of Compassion, we receive their quarterly print newsletter that looks like a first-rate magazine.
However, I'm most impressed with the incredibly emotional success stories that are highlighted in each issue. Compassion doesn't gloss over the awful conditions that so many children face. However, their stories of hope and how they make a difference in individual lives is very powerful. The more I read these success stories, the more I feel a sense of respect for the work that Compassion maintains, and the more excited I feel to give financially to their causes.
How does this apply to marketing? Spreading your message like wildfire is difficult to do when you don't have powerful success stories to share with a skeptical world. If you're having trouble getting attention for your business products or books, then examine if you have adequate success stories that reveal the results you create for others. Examples can include case studies from satisfied customers, testimonials from happy readers, and endorsements from respected leaders. Once you have these elements, use them as a prominent part of your promotional campaigns.
This week's action item:
If you have captivating success stories, look for three new areas to showcase them in your marketing materials, such as your website, newsletter, brochure, social media posts, etc. If you do not have any success stories, then I suggest making that a top priority in your marketing strategy. Contact some of your recent readers or customers, and ask them to describe the results you've helped them experience. Success breeds success, and one person's story of life-change can be the best way to create another.
For an example of how to use success stories in your marketing efforts, take a look at these pages on my website: client success and client videos.
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To receive Rob's Monday Morning Marketing Tip directly to your email inbox,
© Rob Eagar 2011. All rights reserved.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Monday Morning Marketing Tip - February 14, 2011
Rob Eagar's Monday Morning Marketing Tip
is written to help authors, publishers, and organizations
spread their message like wildfire.
This week's focus:
Let's face it...controversy sells. Our society harbors a guilty pleasure towards juicy news, shocking revelations, and scandalous topics. Some of the biggest products and programs in the world are predicated on mocking established traditions and social mores. For example, Dan Brown's bestselling book, "The DaVinci Code," and MTV's top-rated show, "Jersey Shore," created a firestorm of attention, because so many people were intrigued by the controversy they generated. The debate even fueled some religious and political groups to publicly ban the book and TV program from their organizations.
Since controversy works, does it deserve a place in an author's publicity strategy or a company's marketing plan? Here's my take: Controversy just for the sake of shock value can be detrimental. You may get a lot of attention in the short run, but windup sacrificing your reputation in the long run. Once you lose your integrity with the public, it's hard to ever get it back. Instead, I recommend that you focus on a better alternative: Be counterintuitive, rather than controversial. There's a big difference between the two.
Controversy tends to adopt a selfish approach, because the motive is more about gaining attention, rather than providing value. In contrast, a counterintuitive approach centers on helping people by challenging the way they think. You attempt to benefit others by pushing them beyond the status quo and offering an unexpected set of options. At first glance, these two styles may appear the same. But, at their core, there's a fundamental difference in value that most people can sense. Thus, leave controversial marketing to the short-sighted shock-jocks, and let a counterintuitive approach gain you an audience that will respect you in the end.
Action item: Come up with three counterintuitive ideas about your book, product, or company that could garner attention if presented in a press release, blog post, or unique article.
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© Rob Eagar 2011. All rights reserved.
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