Showing posts with label innovative marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label innovative marketing. Show all posts

Innovative Book Marketing: Three Clever (Cheap) Ideas

We all know about marsomeone keting now, don’t we.  From a book promotion point of view, you’ve got a website, a blog, you’re working social media like a buzzing bee, offering your books free or at deep discounts some times, doing giveaways. These things are all your baseline – they’re all necessary, but the problem is that everyone else is doing the same thing.  It’s crowded market.  So how do you get noticed?  The simple, and slightly irritating answer, is that you need to be innovative – to stand out from the crowd.  That’s easier said than done, of course, especially if you’re an introvert.  Sure, you could pole dance at your next book launch (especially if your book is about pole dancing…), you could bring in a band and turn your poetry reading into a rock concert, or you could do something really controversial like Amanda Palmer and disrobe on stage.  But for real lasting appeal, the following three innovative book marketing ideas will help you stand outside of the crowd without the need for gimmicks or unsavoury wrecking balls.

·         Check out some of the super clever signs in this blog post:
You’re a creative writer so why not come up with your own blackboard slogans or images.  Blackboards are cheap and it’s possible that your signing venue already has one.  It’s just chalk and a blackboard and you don’t need to be an artist – just think a little outside the (blue) box and you’ll come up with something really eye catching, humorous and persuasive. 

·         Can’t go past Fivver for $5 innovations.  The sky’s the limit on what you can buy here or how you can use it to promote your book.  I’ve bought video voiceovers, had videos made for me, had Facebook pages set up, and even a graphic image done, but you can go zanier.  Why not get a cartoon made of your book cover or of you holding your book cover and use it in a press release? Have someone hold up a sign promoting your work and put it in a blogpost.  Get flyers left for you in a high volume Starbucks.  I could go on and on and for only $5, it’s probably going to fit even the most stringent budget.

·         Try a new promotional venue.  If you can link it to some theme in your book so much the better.  Have you written a novel about an art theft?  Why not contact your local museum and ask if you can do a reading there.  How about the local Laundromat, the barber, your town’s botanical garden, a playground, a health spa, or a clothing boutique?  Think about the settings, plotlines, concepts in your books or target market and pick a place that matches.  If you can find a way to share in the booty (bringing in more customers and a little media), then most venues will likely let you do a reading, a presentation, or a book signing in their venue.  If you pick a busy time, you may well get a lot more customers than you would in a bookshop. 

I’m sure there are plenty of other opportunities for innovative marketing that you can come up with.  The main thing is to think ‘fun’ and ‘fabulous’.  If it’s interesting for you, it will be interesting for your readers and for the media, and that’s the intersection where viral happens.  If you do decide to take on any of these ideas, or come up with your own, I’d love to hear about it.

Magdalena Ball is the author of the novels Black Cow and Sleep Before Evening, the poetry books Repulsion Thrust and Quark Soup, a nonfiction book The Art of Assessment, and, in collaboration with Carolyn Howard-Johnson, Sublime Planet, Deeper Into the Pond, Blooming Red, Cherished Pulse, She Wore Emerald Then, and Imagining the Future. She also runs a radio show, The Compulsive Reader Talks. Find out more about Magdalena at www.magdalenaball.com.

WOTM Editing Like a Pro (Grey/Red)


5 Innovative and Proven Marketing Strategies

By Karen Cioffi

This is an exciting week at Writers on the Move and I get to kick it off. The whole week we’re focusing on marketing innovations and proven strategies to help you write publish, and market your book. We wanted to do something special to thank you for taking the time out of your busy days to read what we write.

Starting off the week, I wanted to give an overview of some 2013 marketing strategies. While researching the topic for my post, I came across some very interesting information. Here are some of the highlights:

5 Innovative and Proven Marketing Strategies

1. Marketing is ever-changing.

This is especially true of inbound marketing. The changes are so fast, that it’s tough to be the first or even get on the wagon of a new strategy before it’s old-hat.

Because of this, it’s wise to stick to the marketing strategies that are working for you. Stay true to what works.

This is not to say you can’t venture out and try new tools and strategies, just be aware that they may not be here tomorrow, or they may not be as effective as the ‘marketer’ is purporting them to be.

2. Innovation doesn’t always mean ‘new.’

In an article at Marketing and Innovation, Yann Gourvennec noted that, “innovation isn’t always about disruption, it is often about making things better.”(1) In other words, it’s not always about creating something new. A revised or renewed product or service can be innovative. It might be in making a product or service better, or adding something to it.

3. Inbound marketing is still one of the top strategies.

In a recent survey conducted by HubSpot and MIT, the results showed that “92 percent of HubSpot’s customers increased traffic.” Seventy-five percent of those customers saw a 75 percent and more traffic increase. (2)

This proves that inbound marketing works effectively.

4. Co-branding can be a profitable marketing strategy.

The source article of this topic dealt with offline business. It gave the example of a local restaurant teaming up with a local movie theater to offer discounted tickets if the customer spent a certain amount on dinner. (3) But, this strategy can be translated into book marketing.

As an example I’ll use my children’s bedtime picture book, Day’s End Lullaby. I could research infant and baby bedroom and bedding stores to see if there is any interest in co-branding. Buy a bed set and get a bedtime story free or for a minimal fee.

The perk to the store is offering something more to its customers, helping to make that personal connection. The benefit to the author (me) would be the store buying the book at a discounted rate.

5. Gaining discoverability through Freebies.

The source article for this topic discussed the innovative marketing strategy that NAL/Penquin used for “You Knew Me When” by Emily Liebert. The publishing house sent “advance galleys with a three-bottle set of nail polish.” The book is about a successful cosmetics executive. This particular author and publisher took it to a new level – the source article is worth the read, see reference #4 below.

Stayed tuned tomorrow for a post by Annie Duguid.

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References:

(1) http://visionarymarketing.fr/en/blog/2013/05/innovation-what-new-really-means-the-data-center-robotics-example/
(2) http://www.shebangdesign.com/7-innovative-marketing-ideas-to-get-the-roi-rolling/#.UnVvKBAljW4
(3) http://www.shebangdesign.com/8-great-marketing-ideas/#.UnVtfhAljW4
(4) http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/style-blog/wp/2013/08/09/a-polished-book-marketing-plan-nails-it/

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Oh, I did have Part 3 of the three-part series on Small Business Marketing scheduled for today, but because of our special marketing week, I'm moving that post to December 30th.

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P.S. To keep up with writing and marketing information, along with Free webinars, join us in The Writing World (top right top sidebar).

Karen Cioffi
Award-Winning Author, Freelancer/Ghostwriter, Author/Writer Online Platform Instructor
http://karencioffi.com

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