When you're planning any advertisement for your book or your brand, stop for a moment and really pay close attention to commercials on the TV. Think about some of the most annoying commercials that come to mind. For me, right at the moment, my most dreaded commercial is the ad for the Fiat mini hatchback (I can't remember what the model is called off the top of my head). I'm sure you've seen it: there are several shots of women in multi-colored yoga pants, just from the waist down, circling the car in a jerky manner and repeated several times while irritating music plays. There are a few other commercials for the car that have similar themes.
Why do I bring this up? Well, the advertisement did its job, didn't it? It made itself memorable to the audience. Even negative advertisement can make an impression on the viewers. And you may have noticed how some of the big book publishers are starting to use commercials on TV and radio for their big-name authors. I've recently seen one for James Patterson's new novel Burn. It's nothing more than the author sitting on a stool and passing his book from one hand to another, claiming it's "too hot to handle". And I know I've heard some radio advertising for authors on those rare occasions I'm in the car listening to the radio.
Am I telling you to run out and try to buy advertising space on the radio for your books? No, of course not. Most of us indies can't afford to do so, and you should always remember this rule of thumb for marketing: don't ever spend more than you think you can earn back in sales. The easy alternative, of course, is to make your current marketing, such as in social media, more memorable.
Look at Twitter, for example. Most of my tweeting is done on my phone, with a small screen. So there's a very small window of opportunity for you to reach someone before your tweet vanishes forever in the pile of other tweets. Several marketing experts have said that using a photo in your tweet increases your visibility. And it really does. Think about it: a tweet that's plain simply blends in with the rest of the tweets. One with a photo stands out and increases your chances of visibility. If you can, using color variations in your text or brightly-colored symbols, as I've seen many others do, also serves to draw the reader's attention.
Anything you do to make your marketing more visible, more memorable, more accessible to viewers will increase your chances of making a sale. Instead of printing out black and white flyers, for example (for a signing or posting on bulletin boards), try printing one in color. Try attaching photos to emails or tweets. Make your blog or website as appealing as you can to the public. Sometimes even changing the layout or fonts can add to your appeal.
Check out my own website here and look at some of the changes I've made recently. I changed to a slightly brighter color, added a slideshow to the bottom of the home page, and changed the font on my header. Like the site while you're there, if you do, and leave me a comment (these are at the bottom of each page). This didn't cost me anything to do, and it may increase viewership. So give it a try in your own marketing. Remember, you're trying to stand out in a crowd of other advertising. Make yours as memorable as you can!
Saturday, November 8, 2014
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Promoting Your Brand
Yes, your brand! You might say, I'm an author, I don't have a brand. But that's not true, because you do have one! Your brand is...drum roll, please, YOU!
So, it's important to realize that, as you're trying to promote your brand, you are, first and foremost, promoting yourself. This is something that I have a really difficult time with, as I've never been a good salesperson. I worked at Auto Zone for a year, but that's not really the same thing as being a salesperson; after all, ANY customer that walks through the door needs something that we have! And I've always had trouble with, say embellishing a resume, for example. I don't quite have the self-confidence that I need to be able to effectively sell myself.
But I feel like I am making strides in the right direction. I purchased and copyrighted my butterfly logo when I "founded" my publishing company, Metamorph Publishing. At the moment, Metamorph's only author is myself, but both of my daughters are also writers, and you never know what the future may hold. I paid $10, I think, for the simple butterfly clip art. I added my own text to it, and it's become my company logo! Truthfully, I've fallen in love with it for its simplicity.
So in an attempt to spread that "brand", I've been using this logo for all social media "avatars" that I use for my business. It's also on my website, and you can see it's here as well. I'm also trying to integrate it into the email signature of my "business" email, and in as many other places as I can think, like my About.me page.
Why is this important? Well, according to Mark Coker of Smashwords, one of our marketing goals should be to get our links (to books, website, author page, etc.) in as many different places as we can. Doing this changes our positioning in the search engine algorithm when people do a simple search online. The more times our links show up, and in the more places, the higher we will get in the search engine's results. I don't understand much about how this all works, but Mark explained it pretty nicely for someone as non-tech savvy as myself.
Taking that a step farther is what I'm doing with my publishing logo. It's on my blog, my website, my Facebook page, my Amazon page, my About.me, LinkedIn, and so on. I'm even printing it on the new cover of Once Upon a Western Way, and considering printing it on the bottom of my copyright pages. Not sure how well it will turn out in the digital versions, but it should look nice in the print format.
I think the longer my butterfly brand is out there, the more people I will get to follow me. Once this brand is established, especially if I continue to strive to put out quality books (new and revised older ones), I think it will continue to attract more and more people.
So, it's important to realize that, as you're trying to promote your brand, you are, first and foremost, promoting yourself. This is something that I have a really difficult time with, as I've never been a good salesperson. I worked at Auto Zone for a year, but that's not really the same thing as being a salesperson; after all, ANY customer that walks through the door needs something that we have! And I've always had trouble with, say embellishing a resume, for example. I don't quite have the self-confidence that I need to be able to effectively sell myself.
But I feel like I am making strides in the right direction. I purchased and copyrighted my butterfly logo when I "founded" my publishing company, Metamorph Publishing. At the moment, Metamorph's only author is myself, but both of my daughters are also writers, and you never know what the future may hold. I paid $10, I think, for the simple butterfly clip art. I added my own text to it, and it's become my company logo! Truthfully, I've fallen in love with it for its simplicity.
So in an attempt to spread that "brand", I've been using this logo for all social media "avatars" that I use for my business. It's also on my website, and you can see it's here as well. I'm also trying to integrate it into the email signature of my "business" email, and in as many other places as I can think, like my About.me page.
Why is this important? Well, according to Mark Coker of Smashwords, one of our marketing goals should be to get our links (to books, website, author page, etc.) in as many different places as we can. Doing this changes our positioning in the search engine algorithm when people do a simple search online. The more times our links show up, and in the more places, the higher we will get in the search engine's results. I don't understand much about how this all works, but Mark explained it pretty nicely for someone as non-tech savvy as myself.
Taking that a step farther is what I'm doing with my publishing logo. It's on my blog, my website, my Facebook page, my Amazon page, my About.me, LinkedIn, and so on. I'm even printing it on the new cover of Once Upon a Western Way, and considering printing it on the bottom of my copyright pages. Not sure how well it will turn out in the digital versions, but it should look nice in the print format.
I think the longer my butterfly brand is out there, the more people I will get to follow me. Once this brand is established, especially if I continue to strive to put out quality books (new and revised older ones), I think it will continue to attract more and more people.
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