Decide where to spend marketing time

Aloha from Karen,

    I am still driving between Connecticut where my Dad is still in the hospital and Maryland. That shifts the day I blog as it can be hard for me to get online in Connecticut at time.

   With so many choices of where to spend time and money marketing, it’s important to make good decisions before allocating the time, effort, and cash.  We can become overwhelmed with too many marketing ideas. Let’s chat about how to make wise choices.

There are many directions to go in marketing.   Start with a need and find a solution to fill that need.

1. First, identify your need in specific terms.
You know you need to promote your book.
You know you need to reach the right audience.
Those are general needs.

2. Brainstorm and research options and then sift through those options.
    Marketing options include internet, media, tours, etc.
Brainstorm specific ideas.
    Specific options would be contact bloggers who target my audience, contact local radio stations, and set up a book tour in the closest big city (including stores and radio interviews).

3. List the pros and cons of each  to see if you want to continue pursuing the idea at this time.

4. Identify steps are needed to implement the idea.
    List any costs, research needed, time it might take, and what would be part of the action plan. For example, to contact bloggers of my audience for a tween book on inspirational crafts,
1.  I must research blogs for moms of tween girls, blogs for girls, and blogs related to crafts.
2. Then I must read some of the posts of each, note how many people post comments and see if I can find out the audience size.
3. Before I contact the bloggers, I must have a plan. Will I introduce myself and offer to be a guest? If so, I must have a good pitch of what I can offer the audience. Will I offer a free book?  Will I offer a new craft not in the book (free email to anyone who emails me—so I can grab email addresses? And in this case I must require the emailer to be of legal age for this). Or will I offer a discount on my book to anyone who reads the interview?
4. Then I can start making contact by either
posting comments on the blogs
or
directly contacting the owner of the blog with my pitch

5. Consider the time and your areas of expertise
    You may want a u-tube clip but don’t know how to create one. So, you can look into hiring someone to do it or take training to learn how. Either way, you’ll still need to spend time watching U-tube book promos to get an idea of what you like and what turns you off. And you’ll need to plan what you want in the video clip (including the book title, your name, book cover, and a link to your site).
    You don’t want to hire someone until you have an idea of your goals and what you want included in the work contracted.

MAKE A DECISION
    Choose whether it is worth investing time/money or not. If not, then go back to step 2 and choose another option. If yes, go to step 5.

6. Take action to implement idea
    Once you have gotten past the first 4 steps and decide to go ahead, take action as soon as possible.

7. Evaluate the outcome.

How can this play out in real life?

Example 1
Step 1. I identified my need
I decided a few weeks ago that I needed to develop my image as a time management expert more. I knew that with my Father’s condition I needed to work in a portable way, so print seemed best.

Step 2. I researched opportunities and found that one publication for pastors and leaders wanted some new short-column writers.

Step 3.  I listed the pros and cons. I knew it meant spending a little time quarterly to write and submit. I could afford that time.
One pro was that my name would get out to more people with little effort.
One con was that I’d need to have lots of ideas that fit the needs of leaders. I brainstormed ideas I could write about and came up with a dozen (3 year’s worth), so I knew I could do it for a while.
It’s quarterly and I get paid to do it. It’s for pastors and ministry leaders, so I’ll be establishing myself before an audience of influencers.

Step 4. Consider the time.
    I knew I only needed to write very short pieces and only 4 per year. I wrote a few samples (needed to as part of application anyway). I realized I could be concise enough and yet offer some good information. I kept track of how fast I could write and edit short articles.

Make the decision
    I decided to go for it.

Step 5. Take action
I applied

Step 6. Outcome
    In this case I got a fast acceptance. I followed up and completed the contract from they sent. That's not the end. I will need to see how it works when the articles are published. I will see if there are ways to follow up with some of the readers for other opportunities.
    I can go back to step 2 and look for more opportunities.
Or I can decide that went well and now let me invest time in another area of marketing.

But, if this had been a rejection, I would have gone back to step 2 and researched another opportunity.

Example 2
Another real example where I received a rejection was when I decided I needed to start speaking more and I chose an affinity group I wanted to speak to, in hopes of speaking to many groups in the same organization.  I followed the steps, had a plan that included a talk that I practiced. I contacted a group and got booked to speak. However, it didn’t go that well. I didn’t meet their needs in a speaker.
    So, I went back to step 2. At that point I still wanted to connect to this group. I researched them more, attended meetings, and got to know members. I started to understand their needs better. A year later I set up t speak with a different group (recently) and it was a great success. It looks like I will be asked to speak to other groups. I also chose another group to speak to and started to connect to them. I do have an opening to speak, but at this point I’m not making a lot of speaking commitments (due to Dad’s health problems).

In spite of all my time I''m investing in my Dad now (and he invested lots in me over the years so I am truly happy to do give time to him), I have still done local speaking (and will speak three times in May plus go to Florida to see my son graduate and also hold my new granddaughter, the third child of my younger daughter). And I did spend time developing a new outlet for writing that connects to my audience. I spent the little time I had making the most of it and didn't let yself feel guilty for lack of time.

   

Comments

[Jean Wise]

Karen, first of all, I am sorry your dad is still sick. I have had him on my prayer list.
Second, congrats on getting the column. This post is full of wisdom and good advice. Thanks for sharing it. I need to tell you I keep a computer folder with marketing ideas and your posts are in there a great deal. You are a teacher, a writer, and a friend. Thanks Jeanie

[Tom Tucker]

Hello Karen,

I enjoyed your post on book marketing. I am a former news anchor who has interviewed dozens of authors on book tours.

I am now using social media tools to help authors promote their books, and one of my target markets is Christian writers.

I am happy to be of service.

Please check out my site:
http://socialmediabooktour.wordpress.com/

[Mira]

Hi Karen! I was looking around your website when I had some down time at work and saw this column. Congrats on getting the column you applied for!

[Mira]

Hi Karen! I was looking around your website when I had some down time at work and saw this column. Congrats on getting the column you applied for!