Friday, March 13, 2015

Is Speed Marketing For Authors & Book Publicists?


There are any, many ways one can promote and market a book.  In fact, the slew of options can feel like a curse, as all of the different roads that lead to the same goal can seem overwhelming.  Your precious, dwindling, resources of time, money, and mindshare can only absorb so many tasks and obstacles.  So what’s an author to do?

Speed marketing.

Ever hear of speed dating?  That’s when you attend an event where single people gather and interview each other in three to six minutes. At the end of an hour, you may have spoken to 15 or 20 prospects.  You may have even eliminated a few before you spoke to them, just based on certain criteria such as age and appearance.  It is such an effective and focused way to filter through people and at least dismiss those you don’t have an interest in pursuing.  You may not find true love in three minutes, but you’ll be on your way to seeking out a potential mate.

Book marketing can be done similarly.

Here’s how speed marketing can help you:

1.      You can experiment with a number of marketing services and tools and quickly see if they meet your needs.  Dismiss the ones that aren’t a fit and commit to go heavy on the rest.

2.      Once you know what you’ll focus your time and resources on, give yourself time limits to zero in on singular tasks and then move on to the next one.  This may sound like the lifestyle of one with ADHD, but it can really help you maximize your time and sustain your focus on book marketing.

Often with book publicity and marketing you need to try multiple approaches.  For instance, you can’t just rely on one type of media when doing publicity.  Do at least two of the big four: TV, radio, print, online.  Further, you need to utilize at least two or three social media platforms – not just one or none: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, blogging, podcasting.  Additionally, you can’t do just news media promotions or just social media marketing.  You need to do both – simultaneously – and you need to do other things such as speaking engagements, pursue bulk sales, do bookstore signings, buy select advertising, etc.  Speed marketing can help you set a course for success.

First, map out your overall book marketing plan – setting a start and end date (based on your book’s publication date).  Identify how you plan to reach your targeted readership and then break it down into daily and weekly tasks.

Second, designate set amounts of time to a project – and then move on when the time runs out.  Success doesn’t happen in a vacuum or under ideal terms.  We go to war with the soldiers we have and do our best to fight under the known and existing conditions.  We can always do better with hindsight or unlimited resources but we need to be realistic and operate under the circumstances at hand.

Third, be prepared to rotate or adjust your plans.  For instance, if you end up getting through a task faster than planned or you determine it’s not a worthy task, move on.  Be positioned to switch out one task with another, and to reallocate resources to proven areas of success.

One thing that results from this is clarity.  Due to the self-imposed time constraints we force ourselves to think smarter, to be more efficient, to confront our fears, and to challenge our assumptions or dreams.  Time is real, permanent, and concrete.  You must work within its limitations.

So let’s say you have 90 minutes you can dedicate to book marketing today.  Break it down into smaller segments, maybe three half-hour modules.  Assign a task to each half-hour. Don’t allow for any disruptions during your work time.  That’s right, don’t check your email, make a call, or put up the laundry, or check on an eBay bid.  Be distraction-free.

For each task, think of the best way to get it done.  For instance, if you delegate 30 minutes to Twitter today, what specifically will you do?  Will you just read comments, send out tweets or search for connections?  Will you spend time learning how it works or will you use time to look up those who post using hashtags of relevance to you?   In this session will you connect with 15 people?  Will you retweet 20 posts?  Will you learn 3 things?  Set goals. Quantify and qualify your actions.  Hold yourself accountable.

If speed dating can lead people to find the love of their life then authors can use speed marketing to promote the love of their life – books!

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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer.  You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2015

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